Liability for Rat Problems after House Sale

Questioner

I bought a house in April 2018. Owner passed away. Family sold the house. Now since it got colder I have a rat problem. Neighbor says this has been going on for a while. Municipality says this has also been a problem for a while. Can I hold family liable? I don't know yet how much it will cost because they are starting to dig out part of the driveway. At night I hear them running above me, in the wall or between the ceiling, I don't know exactly. I'm really angry about this because you solve that first before you sell a house. What can I do? Family will certainly say that they knew nothing about this. As far as I know they had good contact with the deceased.

Lawyer

The presence of a rat problem can be regarded as a defect in the home. You can hold the seller liable for this if this defect meets one of the two types of defects for which the seller can still be liable after the transfer of ownership, these are the following two types of defects. - a serious defect - a defect that the seller has wrongly failed to report. A serious defect exists when the defect prevents normal use of the house. The buyer may expect the house to have the properties required for normal use. The seriousness of the rat problem determines whether it prevents normal use. The seller may be liable for this defect if the defect was already present before the transfer. This also applies if the seller was not aware of the defect. In the case of a less serious defect (that does not impede normal use of the home), the seller may be liable if the defect was already there before the transfer, and if the seller knew of its existence but did not say anything. In that case, the duty to disclose has been breached. The fact that the sellers have not lived there themselves may prevent an appeal to breach of the duty to disclose.