[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by collie1228

Sidney, that's a well written description of a sad situation.

I'm no lawyer, but I do deal with legal issues on a daily basis. While my business is not real estate or construction, I do occasionally have to deal with "latent defects". Here is the first sentence of the definition of "latent defects" in Wikipedia:

"In the law of the sale of property (both real estate and personal property or chattels) a latent defect is a fault in the property that could not have been discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection before the sale."

You should Google "latent defects" to get a more thorough understanding, but generally, a latent defect is a defect that cannot be discovered by a reasonable inspection at the time of purchase (i.e., the defect is underground and you would have to destroy your lawn to gain access for the inspection). On its face, your situation looks an awful lot like a latent defect. To my knowledge, there is no general time limitation on when you must discover a latent defect, but obviously Florida law should be checked, and also obviously, you would need to get an attorney involved, but it seems to me that this situation could be resolved in your favor, depending on how Florida law covers latent defects. You might also have a problem with the fact that you weren't the original purchaser of the home. Quite possibly your complaint might have to be lodged against your seller, who would have to lodge a complaint against the developer. As I said, I'm not an attorney.

Good luck - it appears that you would have to be prepared to take this all the way to the courtroom to get the developer's attention. A time consuming and expensive proposition.

I agree with the above by Collie.

Further, the sprinkler system probably required a pressure test witnessed and signed off by a county inspector as part of the building permit. It wouldn't pass a pressure test with an open end. I would ask TV and county building inspection dept for a copy of the permit sign off.

You're retired and have the time to mess with this injustice - - - go get em!