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vice caché in newly bought house
We bought a house in September and were never told up the purchase by the estate agent or the owner that the basement floods slightly when there is a lot of rain. When we were about to move in the vendor brought us on a personal tour of the house. There was some water in the basement and he said "oh yes, when it rains there can be water in the basement" and it has since flooded a few times, one time covering quite a substantial area, although not very deep. The boiler is also located where it floods and a new one was installed by the previous owner very recently and I'm guessing the old one may have gotten flooded. Do you think this was a vice caché and should we contact a notaire? Does anybody out there have any experience in this regard? TIA
I suspect that 'anon' is wrong.
'Clearly in this case, you were aware of the problem before you bought the house,'
As the OP says that they were only told about the problem 'after we had signed the papers and they were moving out', I cannot see how this can be considered to be BEFORE the house was bought and, in these circumstances, it would seem that the seller did DELIBERATELY conceal the problem. Waiting until the last possible moment to reveal the problem is hardly being honest and up-front.
Whether it is worth spending money to do anything about it is another question.
> a new (boiler) was installed by the previous owner very recently
You should be able to get the details of who did the job from the receipt/invoice of the person who did the job. As a home owner needs to be able to prove that the work done was done legally, they must have handed you over such receipts to prove that the work was not done in the black.
You can therefore find out from the person who did the job why the boiler was replaced.
@ kasseistamper, thanks for pointing that out. In fact, I read through the various posts too quickly and didn't see that they'd signed already.
However, I still stand by my post. Deliberately concealing a fault with a house is a very different legal proposition to not telling someone about a potential problem.
Not being "up-front" about potential flooding isn't a "vice caché". It's the buyers responsibility to do proper due diligence when buying a house.
And this isn't a Belgian thing, it's the case anywhere where you buy a house. A simple humidity test by the buyer would have shown that there was potential problems (even many weeks / months after the most recent "flooding").
Of course, if the buyer chose to buy the house, and make the biggest single investment of their life, without taking a proper structural survey, or other outside advice, then that's their choice. In fact, most people do it that way.
However, as I mentioned, basement flooding is a "normal" feature of many basements, unless there is a proper sump and pump fitted.
My advice to the poster is still the same. Get a builder and add a sump.
Damp and flooding in cellars is normal in Belgium. Builders here don't know about and have never done damp coursing when constructing! Lots of good advice provided on how to cope and deal with the problem. Save your money and avoid the courts. You'll still be at it in 10 years time.
I bought a house in the Flemish country side. The former owner told me the day of the signing at the notary they sometimes had humidity problems in the small cellar ( a low cellar, there is another basement that consists of 3 rooms). First winter, that small cellar had 10 cm of water. And in the basement were cracks where water seeped through. I was still renovating, not living in the house. I had the complete basement and cellar waterproofed by a specialist company. It cost me 8000€. Everything is dry now. No risk of humidity or mould. The amount of money hurt my budget big time. But going to court would have hurt my health big time. As you can read from other people, many years of court and not even a guarantee you'll win. So I decided to suck it up. Have a company look at your basement and see what can be done. I highly recommend Bodima.
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