Dear PoPville – Legal Action Against A Seller?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Joe in DC

Dear PoPville,

Hi community, hoping someone out there can advise on the situation we found ourselves in after a recent house closure.

Upon the inspection of the house it was identified that the temperature differential on the AC unit was not functioning properly and needed to be repaired so that it was at a minimum of 15F. Work was supposedly done to repair it, however when we moved in there was no cold air coming into the house and the unit outside is not even spinning. The seller provided a receipt for the work which was either clearly not done, or not done properly as required by the contract. We tried contacting the service provider multiple times but all calls and emails go to an “answering service” who claims to only pass messages along rather than the actual contractor. All attempts to have the seller contact them resulted in no action as well, and the 30 day warranty on the work has now expired.

The question us, who do we wind up taking to court, the seller or the contractor? We’re inclined to have the AC unit repaired properly and then take the seller to court for the amount of that labor+parts for failure to meet the contract. Additionally, there is a leak in the fridge that goes onto the hardwood floors every day. When we were viewing the house the owner told us that water was from her son who had spilled some on the floor while helping her move. This seemed feasible ad it was only a small puddle. I’ve heard that if a homeowner knowingly lies about a defect with the home they can be sued for that as well, correct? Given that the leak occurs every day there’s no way this could have gone unnoticed and been simple ignorance.

Thank you kindly for any advice. This has been a real bummer to an otherwise happy occasion, since we can’t move in until we get actual cooling!