When Carrie Forsythe, a Canadian woman and resident of
Winnipeg, purchased a home for $1 million last May, the last thing she expected
to find was a mice infestation. But that’s what
she discovered in September when she went in to start renovations on the
house.
The “dream home” is part of a 5,000 square foot lot, and is
a charming sight to view. But when Forsythe took possession of it in September,
it quickly turned from dream to disaster. When a contractor went in to begin
pulling out cabinets and parts of drywall for the renovations, he discovered a
nasty surprise: a complete infestation of mice.
“All you see is just feces and urine,” Forsythe said in an
interview with CNC News, “just puddles and piles.”
And when the extermination company came to look at the
infestation, they said she’d have to have a special crew come out and strip
everything. A second pest control expert was called in to have a look at the
damage.
“Wow. I’ve never seen that much,” he said. “And the key
thing here is that you’re seeing a lot of feces below the insulation, which
means that they’ve been tunneling for some time.
“Oh my God. Yeah, this is years, years in the making.”
Repairs are already costing Forsythe tens of thousands of
dollars. She says she believes that the previous owners should be held
responsible.
“Even if you didn’t know it was there, you still have a
responsibility to have not sold that house,” she said. Though she didn’t have a
formal home inspection, the previous owner did fill out a voluntary disclosure
form stating that, to his knowledge, there was no rodent infestation in the
house. When contacted by CBC News, he said he was shocked to find out and
wouldn’t have sold the house in that condition if he had known.
Home inspections don’t come cheap, but if you’re in the
market for a house and thinking of buying, it’s a good idea to have one. Yet
only about 77% of home buyers have professional inspections done before closing
on houses.
Forsythe now plans to sue the previous owners for damages.
إرسال تعليق