Non disclosure laws

My DH and I just closed on a house a little over a month ago. We were pricing around for oil prices and we called the sellers old oil company. Lo and behold they told us that they would not deliever to us because the day of our closing when the company went to see how much oil was in the tank they discovered a leak. The oil company rep said she told the sellers attorney, even went as far as naming him as the person she told. Our oil tank is not underground but it is in a crawl space and hard to get to and see. The sellers attorney knew about this before we went to closing and never disclosed anything to us. Is this legal? Is there anything we can do about this or at this point are we out of luck?

Non disclosure laws

I'm not an attorney. Didn't you have one when you closed? I would ask him. I don't really know how that is handled, but I think it is definately worth a call to your attorney on that.

Re: Non disclosure laws

Did you hire a home inspector?

Non disclosure laws

Yes we did have a home inspection and at that time it wasn't leaking. It started between then and the closing. We did speak to our attorney and he said he is working on it and they were not allowed to keep this from us. I guess at this point, we just have to wait and see what happens.

Non disclosure laws

I could be wrong but I feel like we got a 500 credit at closing because most sellers won't sign the non disclosure forms..I could be wrong though

Re: Non disclosure laws

Re: Non disclosure laws

Yes...NYS allows sellers to pay buyers $500 for non-disclosure.


In CA we had to disclose everything we knew about as sellers.

Non disclosure laws

I looked through all my closing paperwork and I don't see that they paid us an extra $500. Would it be printed somewhere in any of our closing paperwork if they waived this form and paid us the $500?

Non disclosure laws

I remember that I had to sign a form acknowledging that I was receiving the credit.

Re: Non disclosure laws

In NY, sellers don't have to disclose much. It's pretty much buyer beware.

There is a New York state law that requires sellers to EITHER fill out a property condition disclosure law (stating what they know about the house, age of various items/systems, past repairs) and provide it to the buyers before contract OR give the buyers a $500 credit at closing. I have never known a seller to actually fill out the form -- their real estate attorneys never allow it (too much exposure to liability, even for innocent mistakes). Giving the $500 credit is the norm.

But this is really a separate issue -- Sellers can't conceal a "material defect" of the house and have to disclose material defects that a buyer can't discover through reasonable investigation. This is kind of a grey area -- whether a seller violated the law would depend on the facts of the situation.

I agree that the best thing to do is consult with your attorney about exactly what happened. But it really is a separate issue from the property condition disclosure form that others are referencing!

Non disclosure laws

Thank you so much everyone! We just have to get the oil company to send us their notes about when they spoke to the sellers realtor and attorney. Our lawyer says as long as the oil company cooperates (which they should, since they are the ones who told us a out it in the first place) then we should have a case. I appreciate all the advice!!