Here is my issue and question, in short hand. I bought a house in MA (two family) that was built around 1920. During the closing, we were given a partially executed lead disclosure statement, signed by us. The seller’s attorney was to get the sellers to sign the statement (no known lead paint, but house is old) and be done with it. At the time I didn’t have children and it seemed like a simply paperwork matter. The seller’s attorney never sent the executed statement (this will make sense soon), but I also didn’t think anything of it.

However, 7 years later I sold the place when I sold the place, it is now dominating my life and bank account. During my sales process, the buyer made a solid offer, but I had better offers and rejected it. My original sellers contract had the usual clause for mandatory inspections and finance verification. The buyer (now owner) then came back with a counter offer and affirmatively (without any suggestion from me or my representatives-this came out in depositions) waived the inspection, lead paint report, and finance clause- “in order to sweeten the deal” and “insure he got the property”-his words. The closing attorney for the buyer at my sale turned out to be the same attorney that did our closing when we bought, but represented the seller at the time.

Anyway, about a year went by after I sold to the buyer and I got a demand letter from the new owner for more than $90,000 in lead paint damages. As of today, more than 5 years after the sale, no de-leading work has been done, his children are all well over 6 and he is not selling. So, no sales have gone bad.

I refused his demand, noting that he had waived everything and that his agent and lawyer were involved in every step of the the sale. If he thinks he was wronged, he needs to look to his counsel and agent. I noted that he simply made a calculated decision to waive the clause and accept the risk in order to get the property. He even paid about $50K more than the asking price (miss those days).

Now he is suing me alleging 1) I did not disclose a lead paint report on a state website -the website didn’t exist when I sold; 2) that his attorney (remember the same lawyer that did the closing for the seller when I bought it) has produced a report/lead paint statement with handwritten notes (not initialed or signed by me or my representatives) that shows there “maybe lead paint due to age of property”, but that we never noted it in the disclosure. Now mind you, I didn’t have the report cited by his attorney and the attorney never sent it to me. Also, my broker advised me in writing to fill out the lead paint statement as “no known knowledge” based on the fact that neither of us had specific knowledge-accept to note the place was built in 1920.

I’m shocked that me and my broker are being sued for this by the seller -and you guessed it-the same lawyer that has now done two closings in less than a decade on the same property.

Where do sellers and real estate agents get from under the liability of covering buyer’s stupidity and lazy lawyer syndrome? There has to be a water’s edge, and clearly it isn’t the P&S Contract or the 10 day window provided in MA.

If there had been a lead paint issue, I promise I (or my broker) would have disclosed it. We had every incentive to do so, as we had multiple offers for more than the asking price.

When a buyer takes the extraordinary measures my buyer did to get the property, while being advised by a seasoned broker and a lawyer (practicing since 1966 in R E) that had done a previous sale of the property to me, some level of reasonableness has to be recognized. Have you ever heard of this kind of debacle? What are your thoughts?

I recently purchased a home in Tennessee, but have been unable to live in the home since I bought it! The home has a horrible infestation of brown recluse spiders and fleas! Neither were noticeable the several times we saw the property before we bought. However soon after we moved in my 7 year old son yelled that a spider was crawling across his floor. My husband wen up to kill the spider and he noticed it was a brown recluse. My husband previously worked for a pest control company right out of high school and knew a lot about spiders, insects etc. My husband then put out sticky boards and soon we had dozens on the sticky board. We have two children and do not feel safe staying in the home because of the infestation. Do we have any legal options? We have hired a pest control company and spent hundreds just in the last month trying to get rid but the spiders are VERY hard to get rid of once your home is infested. We are at a loss and don’t know what to do!!!!