We closed on our apartment purchase about three months ago. There was a dispute in the process that we were extremely upset about. One of the big reasons that we purchased this particular apartment is that it was listed as having washer/dryer in the apartment, which is relatively rare in New York, but very nice to have especially we have little kids. The washer/dryer was stacked up on top of each other in a closet in the kitchen. When we went to see the apartment, it did not occur to us to check the plumbing/hook up -- our fault of course, but we treated it the same as the dish washer/stove etc. type of appliances, that we assumed everything was connected, and we assumed that the standard language in the sales contract ("in working condition") would be sufficient to protect us. Fast forward, we reached agreement on price, the seller signed the contract and sent it to our attorney. We went to our attorney's office, reviewed the contract, made a few changes on the version that the seller signed off on, and we signed the contract. As soon as we arrived home from our attorney's office, we suddenly had the feeling that something was wrong with the washer dryer. we emailed our attorney right away and asked him whether he had sent out our contract, and if not, he should add the language specifying that the appropriate plumbing, including building permission for such plumbing, be in place for the washer dryer, and that the waasher/dryer should be property connected and installed. The attorney emailed back on the same day and said that he had not mailed out our contract, and that he would make the changes to the contract as we instructed. All this happened on the same day of us signing the contract. We knew for a fact that he did not send out the contract until 10 days later. Fast forward again, on the day of closing, we did the walk through (the seller claimed that he did not have time to do it before closing date), and that's when we pulled out the washer/dryer and noticed that there was absolutely no plumbing in place for it. When we questioned the seller, he said that we could always drag the appliance next to the sink and hook it up to the sink every time we use it. That's certainly not our idea of "having washer dryer installed". We immediately talked to our attorney, and that was when he told us he never made the changes we asked for because he thought "the seller would never agree to the changes". He then said that he misunderstood us and thought we just wanted to make sure that washer/dryer was allowed in the apartment by the building. He said that the washer/dryer is considered "portable", and he has personally checked with the building that this is allowed. Note that he never saw the washer dryer, and the one in the apartment is not portable. He said that we had absolutely no case in arguing this because the washer/dryer was indeed in "working condition" (they are not broken down) therefore the seller was in compliance with the contract. He further said that our only option at that time was to close the deal or to lose the deposit. We closed the purchase.
After the fiasco, we contacted the building management, who said that portable washer/dryer is not allowed in the building at all (not surprising). We did an estimate on having the plumbing installed for the washer dryer, and it is in the magnitude of $10K. We are suing our attorney for negligence and ask for compensation for half of that cost. We feel that our weak point is that we asked our attorney to insert the phrase after we signed the contract, which the attorney may claim that we cannot do any way. However, he clearly stated in the email that he intended to comply with our request, meaning we could still effectively change the language in the contract after we signed the contracted, as long as the change took place before the contract went to the seller.
Any thoughts on whether we have a case here? thank you.
After the fiasco, we contacted the building management, who said that portable washer/dryer is not allowed in the building at all (not surprising). We did an estimate on having the plumbing installed for the washer dryer, and it is in the magnitude of $10K. We are suing our attorney for negligence and ask for compensation for half of that cost. We feel that our weak point is that we asked our attorney to insert the phrase after we signed the contract, which the attorney may claim that we cannot do any way. However, he clearly stated in the email that he intended to comply with our request, meaning we could still effectively change the language in the contract after we signed the contracted, as long as the change took place before the contract went to the seller.
Any thoughts on whether we have a case here? thank you.
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