Search Q&A
Seller's liability
Hi,
I am looking for some info on seller's liability when selling an appartment/house. I heard that when selling property in Belgium, a seller is liable for 2 years if buyer find some serious problems after purchase. Actually it was an expert-evaluator who told me this ('dont worry if you find something is wrong with your appartment after purchase, it is the owner who is responsible for 2 years after sale') Do you know if this is true and where I can find more info about it?
Thanks.
You should speak with your notaire. It's known in french as "vice caché". However I wouldn't take your experts views so easily.
In order to have some claim on the seller, the buyer needs to prove that the seller
1) knew about the problem, AND
2) deliberately concealed the problem from you.
So for example, if you buy a house, and a year later decide you want to renovate the upstairs bedrooms. On ripping out some of the ceiling you discover the roof beams are full of dry rot, and you have to replace a large part of the roof. The seller could very easily claim that they had never known about the dry rot as it was above a ceiling and had been undisturbed for the last 20 years (or whatever?)
