Real estate agent liability: your rights & options

Questioner

Ir/Madam, I recently bought a house with a flat roof through the real estate agent. The house had a serious leak in the roof. The house belonged to the bank. This roof was then completely re-glued and some bad pieces of roof boarding were replaced. This was done on behalf of the real estate agent. The realtor always said during the viewings that the roof had been completely renewed. He also advertised this as his; roof renewed. Now I don't expect a completely new roof, but I do expect the repair to be done professionally and that what is needed has been done. But after the removal of the plaster ceilings, I have been able to determine that the repairs have not been done properly. There are several pieces of the roof boarding that are rotten through and through. The real estate agent blames the roofer and he says he will do no more than what he has offered. This involved replacing 1m² of roof boarding and re-roofing 35m². In the end, the roofer replaced roughly 3M². My new neighbor was then on the roof and spoke to the employee of the company. When the neighbor responded to the poor condition of the roof, the employee literally replied: I'm not allowed to do anything more to it. In my opinion, the real estate agent provided false information and the roof was deliberately closed again in poor condition. The roofer cannot/will not say who told him not to do any more work. I would like to hear what I can do about this and who I can hold liable for this. I'm getting really fed up with being passed around from pillar to post.

Lawyer

From the information you have presented, I think that you should hold the broker liable in a strong letter for the misleading information provided and for the damage suffered and possibly yet to be suffered, with the request to commence the necessary repair work within a (reasonable period) of 10 days (based on a prior inspection and quotation by an expert company). The broker can always take recourse against the first roofer if it turns out that he did indeed make a mistake. But that is not at all certain. good luck Aim your arrows at the broker and if necessary, call in a lawyer. Report the matter to your legal expenses insurance if you have one and if you want to use this insurance. You can indicate a preference for a lawyer with most legal expenses insurers.

Lawyer

Not only the broker, but also the selling owner can be held liable. The latter is actually the most obvious. Although it is often chosen to hold both parties directly liable if there is litigation. A misleading broker can be liable for committing an unlawful act (6:162 BW). The seller is liable if the property does not contain the properties that you could reasonably expect. The doctrine of the seller's duty to disclose and your duty to investigate is leading in this respect. The main rule is that you were allowed to rely on the seller's statements (via the estate agent) and did not have to investigate whether what you were told: renewed roof, was correct. However, you must include what you could observe directly upon external inspection in your own investigation. This may consist of asking the seller questions. I think that you were allowed to expect a renewed roof. Moreover, the following applies: you are allowed to expect the properties that are necessary to be suitable for normal use.