Barry Stone

Q: We sold our previous home about eight years ago but have continued to live just a few doors away. A few years ago, a trash truck got stuck in the mud at the edge of the property and damaged the leach lines in the septic system. The broken pipes were sticking out of the ground, so the owner pulled them up and threw them away. Since then, smelly water from the septic tank drains onto the street. The house has been sold since then, and the new owners refuse to fix the problem. They say the county has determined that the water is from a broken sprinkler pipe, not the septic. But that can't be true because water in a sprinkler system would not smell so awful. Is there anything we can do?

Q: Before buying my home, I attended the home inspection. In the master bathroom, I asked the inspector what he thought of the roughly patched wall just outside the stall shower. He said it was probably caused by seepage at the shower door. Then he turned to the seller and asked if there had been any leaks. The owner said, “No.” So, the inspector made no further investigation, and no mention of it appeared in his report. But last week, a tile fell from the shower wall and revealed the wet moldy drywall and insulation inside. If the inspector had taken time to look, he would have found water stains and mold in the cabinet next to the shower. The inside of the cabinet was so wet, the seller must have known there was a leak. So now I'm stuck with thousands of dollars in repairs because my home inspector listened to the seller instead of doing his job. What should I do?

Q: We just accepted an offer to buy our home, and our agent made a strange request. She asked that we not be home during the buyers' home inspection. This seems unreasonable to us. We don't like the idea of people walking through our home when we are not there. If the buyers are permitted to attend the inspection, why should we be asked to leave?

Q: We bought our home in wintertime, so our home inspector did not test the air conditioner. He said the outside temperature was too cold to run the system. But that left us with an undisclosed problem. The summer arrived with 100-degree temperatures, and we found that our air conditioner did not work. The contractor we called said the system had not been fully connected when it was installed, but this was not reported to us during our home inspection. Is the inspector liable for failing to report this problem?

Q: In a past article, you stated that an FHA appraisal is not a reliable disclosure document for homebuyers. In it, you advise buyers not to rely on the findings of an FHA inspection in place of a home inspection. I think that article was an unfair treatment of FHA appraisers and am wondering if you have changed your mind since you wrote it.

Q: Our home inspector seemed to do a pretty good job when we were buying our home, but after moving in, we found two problems that he missed. One of the window frames is cracked, and the ice dispenser in our refrigerator does not work. These things are obvious and should have been caught by our inspector. Can we ask him for compensation?

Q: When I bought my house, the home inspector found nothing wrong with the furnace, but his report says, “The furnace may need maintenance or repair soon.” This did not seem urgent at the time, so...

Q: We are buying a foreclosed home from a bank and are concerned about three issues. 1) There is a plumbing leak in the upstairs bathroom, with water dripping from the garage ceiling. 2) The previous ...

Q: Our home is currently for sale and is located across the street from a landfill that is not currently in operation. There is a tree buffer at the front of that property, so it is not apparent t...

Q: When we bought our home, no one disclosed the defective flat roof over our living room, not even our home inspector.