Their house was plagued by so many problems, a South Okanagan family was forced to live in a trailer.
Six years ago, the Koldyck family bought a 900 square foot, one storey house in a friendly neighbourhood in Penticton for about $230,000.
“It was nice and cute. Everything was freshly painted. It was just in really good shape,” said Cat Koldyck.
The family did everything right, including hiring a home spector, who gave it a seal of approval.
But six months later, the problems began. The house had no foundation so it began tilting. There was also no insulation and behind the walls and ceilings were black and white mold.
“Totally and utterly ripped off,” Koldyck said. “We didn’t skip any steps. We got the home inspection, everything that we could have possibly done.”
After one look by another inspection company, the house was condemned. The family was forced to live in a trailer while the structure was torn down.
“It was pretty devastating. It was extremely stressful,” Koldyck said.
Grand MacDonald of Maccid Consulting says this falls on the original owner and the first home inspector. If the homeowner knew, MacDonald says it should have been disclosed before the sale. But if the home inspector had done the job properly, they would have noticed problems right away.
MacDonald says incidents like this happen far too often.
“We managed to resolve this one but nine times out of ten, we are not going to be able to resolve them. It’s going to be hard fought. People will end up in a home that they really have trouble getting out of,” he said.
Since the Koldyck’s did go by the book, they were able to reclaim much of their losses with title insurance. And with the help of some compassionate home inspectors, the family was able to purchase a new home a few months ago. But that was before spending an additional $100,000 just to get out of the mess.
The Koldycks tell CHBC News that they were going to pursue legal action but they were told by lawyers that it would cost tens of thousands of dollars and there was no guarantee they would recoup their losses.
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