I acquired a house thru the estate of my deceased cousin.I planned on using this property as a place for my son to live.After 1 year of residency there we started having problems with the sewer system.Gileece plumbers were called in to repair the system and found out that the line was comprimised by tree roots for sometime.I later found out that this property has a history of sewer problems.This was not disclosed to me when I acquired the property.Do I have any legal recourse as to who would be held responsible for repairing the sewer line as the cost of repair is quite expensive?

Pennsylvania's Seller Disclosure laws require that the seller of real estate all defects or problems with the property that are known or should have been known by the seller.  Proving that a seller knew or should have known of a problem with the real estate is often difficult to do. It is even more challenging when the seller of real estate is an estate and the representative of the estate is not an owner of the property, has not resided in the property and has no knowledge of its condition. In that case, the estate/personal representative cannot be held liable for failing to disclosing some condition of the property that they obviously had no knowledge or reason to know about.  Also there is generally a section at the bottom or end of a disclosure statement that is specifically for sales by an estate and is a disclosure to you as a buyer that the estate representative has no knowledge of the condition of the property and makes to representations or warranties as to its condition.  In short, in absence of a clear showing that the representative of the estate knew or should have known of the sewer problem with this property, you will be unable to hold the representative of the estate and the estate liable for the costs of these repairs.  If you have further questions or would like to discuss the facts of your circumstance in detail, please feel free to contract me and I would be happy to discuss it with you. Thank you Sincerely, Angela Stevens Pyrah Stevens Law Firm 570-718-4900