We just bought 4.3 acres in a nice subdivision. Our builder went out to the lot and says there is a big drainage problem. There is storm water coming from the road above us and is eroding away the land. The land is at a gradual decline. The builder thinks that the developer should have made the land better. The devoloper had previously taken dirt from the property when designing the subdivision to fill a spring. The builder says it is going to cost an arm and a leg to excavate the land. The developer says it is not his problem. We don’t have the extra money to do a bunch of excavation on the land. The builder says we can’t build on the lot with the drainage problem like this.
Does anyone have any suggestions about this problem?
Replies
I hate to say this, but I recommend that you talk to a lawyer immediately.
Firstly, if the developer used some of ''your'' soil to fill a spring, it's my opinion that he has thusly affected ''your'' site adversely. For him to now say it isn't his problem is reprehensible and borders on fraud, in my opinion, as he supposedly ''developed'' this land so it could be sold and used to build on. *** Also, you might check with the local officials responsible for wetland conservation -- perhaps filling in a spring is against their ordinances (it certainly would be here in Massachusetts). If this is so in your area as well, then I think the developer will be in real trouble.
Secondly, the builder is stuck at the moment with having to fix the problem that the developer made by not having ''your'' land suitably handled. If the developer says he can't build as the land is now, without costly re-working/drainage, then I'd presume that the lawyer would get some results from the developer -- or be able to get you out of the contract you have signed to purchase this site.
Good luck! And please let us know how things turn out, so I can sleep at night. This sort of thing REALLY irks me.
I don't think the builder defrauded you in any way. He did not do anything to intentionally hide any conditions in the land. You saw how the land was and bought it. Then a builder took one look at it and saw all the problems. If the developer did something like bury hazardous waste there you might have a case, but the only thing that went wrong was that you didn't understand what you were looking at.
If you did not know the land could be built on for the budget you imagined then you should have sought the advice of a knowledgeable person beforehand.
It's a hard lesson for you, but now you own it. So you can either sell it and start over somewhere else, or pay what it costs to build on it.
I don't mean to sound so blunt, but I don't know how to say it more gently.
Your profile is not filled out so I can not tell where you are. I just read an article about this here in CA. In CA the person who owns the land that the water is draining into is responsible for the water-not the folks uphill from you. Unless the folks uphill from you do something specific to direct water in your direction.
Besides switching up developer and builder a couple times in the previous answers they are right. You need to talk to a real estate attorney right away.
Daniel Neuman
Oakland CA
Crazy Home Owner
We are the people up hill. I am in Missouri, Kansas City area. The water drains onto us from the road and the undeveloped land (developer still owns) next to us. As for a lawyer, I just found out that another person in a different subdivision by this developer is in the process of lawsuit against the developer. The lawsuit has been going on for two years now. The developer has money and will fight, so they say. I don't want to put money into a lawyer and then I lose. That money could have gone to the excavation of the land.
I could get out of this property most likely, but I don't want to. It is a nice piece of land and lucky that we got it for the price in the area. Land in that area is going for 80,000 for less than that size. Our builder talked to the planning and zoning and said nothing. What gets me mad is that it is on a cul-de-sac. All the other cul-de-sacs have proper drainage systems. Ours has an above groud cement culver that only goes close to 3 feet in to the middle of mine and the nieghbor's property.
Jean :)