October 2016 // Real Estate & Home Builders Guide // 21W
THINKSTOCK
IMAGE
Plumbing in
newly purchased
home fails, but
who’s to blame?
By Ilyce Glink
and Samuel J. Tamkin
Tribune Content Agency
Q
: My daughter bought a
10-year-old home in North
Carolina this year and now
they have pipes bursting inside
the walls, apparently due to a
plumbing product (PEX) system
that is failing.
She will need to completely
repipe the entire home at great
expense, which will not be
covered by insurance. What
recourse does she have to
recoup the enormous cost of
this project? There are some
class action lawsuits against
this product that are currently
pending but this avenue will
take years to complete. Who
else should she go after for this?
Can she go after the builder,
seller or the town that approved
the installation, etc.?
This is horrible, as she
cannot afford this expense.
: Before we talk about
going after people, you
and your daughter need to
understand that there are risks
to owning real estate. Many
people buy homes thinking
that the purchase is a risk-free
investment. But, it isn’t. Owning
a home is expensive and when
something goes wrong, it’s even
A
more expensive.
When new home buyers
purchase electronic devices,
appliances and cars, they
assume that they’ll be covered
by the manufacturers’
warranties for a year or so for
defects in these products. When
it comes to cars, some buyers
have become used to warranties
of up to 10 years. In some cases,
these warranties are bumper-to-
bumper warranties.
Real estate is a different
animal. It’s still a buyer beware
market out there, and the more
information a buyer has before
the closing, the better off the
buyer will be.
Consider that there have been
homes with defective drywall
that caused homes to become
uninhabitable, old lead pipes
that can cause lead poisoning,
older homes with lead-based
paint causing lead poisoning in
children, homes built over land
previously used for industrial
purposes with contaminated
soil, rooing materials that
failed, siding materials that
captured moisture leading to
mold growth in walls, and even
carpeting products and glues
used in construction causing
medical problems with their
homeowners.
Can you protect yourself
from all of these issues and new
ones that are found? Probably
not. But you certainly can
minimize these issues by using
a good home inspector when
you purchase a home. We’ve
worked with home inspectors
who have alerted home buyers
to the faulty installation of
siding in homes, the installation
of recalled mail electrical boxes,
the installation of aluminum
electrical wiring instead of
copper wiring in homes, and the
installation of galvanized pipes
for water supply lines in homes.
These are just some of the
many issues we have seen over
the years. There are dozens
of others, of course. Some
municipalities are criticized for
their “old fashioned” application
of laws. For example, these
municipalities won’t allow the
installation of anything other
than copper piping for the supply
of water, and won’t allow the
installation of electrical wiring
in the home unless the wiring is
in conduit -- where the wiring
is inside a pipe from the main
electrical box to each and every
electrical source in the home.
These municipalities may
stick by the older method of
installing these items and may
claim they are a “better” way of
doing things. Others communi-
ties are open to newer options
for mechanical systems. It’s not
for us to say which is better, but
the older methods tend to be a
bit more expensive. The newer
methods allow home builders
to build a home at a lower price,
with lower labor and material
costs.
Sometimes these newer
systems are great, but in other
situations, it takes quite a bit
of time to verify that the new
systems are as reliable as
the older ones. I think your
daughter is experiencing this
with her purchase. We don’t
know if she had a professional
home inspection, but if she
did, we’d hope that the home
inspector would have disclosed
to her the existence of the type
of water supply system in the
home. If the inspector did
disclose this to your daughter,
it would then be up to her to
understand the risks involved
and determine whether she
wanted to go forward with the
purchase of the home.
Furthermore, there are
companies out there that offer
home warranties for home
buyers. Some of these home
warranties may only cover
appliances and some limited
coverage to certain types
of ixtures in the home. But
other home warranties do
cover electrical and plumbing
systems. For some home buyers,
these home warranties might be
a lifesaver if real big issues arise
after the home is purchased.
While these home warranties
may not provide complete
coverage for a person like your
daughter, they might have
provided quite a bit peace of
mind. The warranty company
would probably have replaced
faulty valves and replaced other
components. Your daughter
might still have been out of
pocket for big expenses, but
she would have had coverage to
limit her exposure.
All that said, it could be a
seller disclosure issue. If the
seller knew of the problem with
the pipes and failed to disclose
it to you, you may have a claim
against the seller. We doubt that
you have a claim against the real
estate agent or broker unless they
knew of the issue, had a duty to
tell you and didn’t say anything.
The home is 10 years old and we
don’t know if the builder is still
around. You know of the class
action against the manufacturer
of the pipes so you might be a
member of that class.
We think that your daughter
should talk to an attorney, ind
out if she can be a member of
the class action lawsuit, and
once she has an idea of her
legal options, igure out what
to do. She’ll need to ix the
pipes, of course, but in terms
of going after someone, she
should know that it’s likely she
will have to pay out of pocket
for that attorney, which may be
affordable.
In any case, we’re sorry she
has this problem and we hope
she can ind a solution that’s
affordable.