“Can we take the seller to small claims court? Is that a worthwhile option?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Joe Flood

“Dear PoPville,

I recently moved into a new condo building, which had been redone (it used to be a 4 unit apartment building).

While we have moved in, before we closed on the condo, we signed a separate document with our seller acknowledging the work they still need to do on our place, which includes fixing our call box (which currently does not work for our unit), and a number of other minor things.

Although we have minor problems, our neighbor in the building has more serious issues, and the contractors never finished the neighbor’s closets that she request built in the condo as part of the settlement.

We also recently found out, upon the transfer of the DC Water bill, that he had not been paying the water bill for months.

We have tried multiple times to reach out to the realtor for the sellers information, or for the contractors information. While we continue to contact the contractor, he has not responded. The realtor also refuses to give the contact information about the seller, and on all the documents, there is only the listed LLC (although we have seen the individual in the past, and even found him on Twitter, which is a whole other deal).

All told, everything that needs to be done probably costs about $800-1000, which we have in writing that the seller agreed to do. Can we take the seller to small claims court? Is that a worthwhile option? And is it possible (legally) to take him to court as an entire condo association, rather than individuals, and would that help?

Any advice would be appreciated – we want to get this settled quickly.”