What to do in the first 72 hours after you find an undisclosed defect

You have pulled up a floorboard, opened a wall, or had a contractor say the words “this has been like this a long time” — and it is not on any disclosure the seller gave you. What you do over the next three days matters more than almost anything that happens afterwards, because this is the window in which the evidence still exists and none of your options have been foreclosed yet.

This is not legal advice about your situation and reading it does not make Jimmy your lawyer. It is the sequence he walks buyers through on the phone, written down so you can start before you speak to anyone.

Hours 0–24: preserve it, do not fix it

1. Stop, before anyone starts work. The single most common way a strong nondisclosure claim becomes a weak one is that the buyer, entirely reasonably, gets it repaired. Once the wall is closed up, the proof of what was behind it is gone, and you are left arguing about an invoice.
2. Photograph and film everything before it is touched. Wide shots that establish where in the house you are, then close-ups. Put something in frame for scale. Get the date on the file — your phone does this automatically, so do not screenshot and discard the originals.
3. Mitigate only as far as safety and further damage require. You do have a duty to keep the loss from getting worse, and nobody expects you to leave water running through a ceiling. Shut off, tarp, dehumidify — and photograph before and after each step. Preserving evidence and preventing further damage are not in conflict; destroying evidence to save a weekend is a different thing.
4. Keep whatever comes out. The cut section of pipe, the piece of subfloor, the sample of the material. Bag it, label it with the date and location, put it in the garage.
5. Write down how you found it while it is fresh. Date, time, who was present, what prompted you to look, exactly what you saw. In eighteen months this note will be worth more than your memory.

Hours 24–48: get the paper together

1. Pull your entire transaction file. The Transfer Disclosure Statement, the Seller Property Questionnaire, the Agent Visual Inspection Disclosure, the purchase agreement with every counter and addendum, all inspection reports you paid for, and the escrow instructions. Most people have these in an email thread or a portal from their agent.
2. Find the exact question that was answered wrongly. Not the general sense that you were misled — the specific line. “Question 5 of the SPQ asks about past water intrusion and the seller checked no” is a claim. “They never told us about the leak” is a feeling.
3. Pull the public record. Permit history from the city or county building department, the prior listing for the property and its photographs, and the sales history. Much of this is free and available the same day, and it is frequently where the proof that the seller knew turns up. See how to prove the seller knew.
4. Check your inspection report again. If your own inspector flagged the area and recommended further evaluation, that changes the analysis — not necessarily fatally, but you want to know it now rather than hear it from the other side.
5. Do not write to the seller yet. Whatever you send becomes evidence, and an angry email that overstates one fact will be quoted back at you for the life of the matter. There is no deadline in the next 48 hours that requires you to make contact.

Hours 48–72: get a number, and find out which clock you are on

1. Get an independent written assessment. A licensed contractor, a structural engineer, or for mold an industrial hygienist — in writing, with a scope and a cost. This is what converts “there is a problem” into a figure, and no claim gets taken seriously without one. Get it from someone who is not the person you would hire to do the repair.
2. Work out your dates. Note the close of escrow, the date of recordation and the date you took possession. Three separate limitations periods can run on the same facts, and the shortest — the two-year cap under Civil Code section 2079.4 on claims against a real estate agent for the visual-inspection duty — runs from possession and is not extended by the fact that you had no way of knowing. The deadlines are set out here.
3. Check your purchase agreement for the mediation clause. The California Association of Realtors residential purchase agreement most transactions are written on requires the parties to attempt mediation before filing, and a party who refuses a proper mediation request can forfeit the right to recover attorney fees even if they go on to win. More on that requirement.
4. Get an opinion before you make a demand. Not because a demand is wrong — a well-documented one resolves a good number of these matters without litigation — but because the first one you send sets the terms, and it is worth twenty minutes of someone’s time to get it pointed at the right party for the right thing.

Three things that quietly ruin good cases

• Repairing first and asking later. Covered above, and it is far and away the most common. If a repair genuinely cannot wait, photograph and film exhaustively, keep the removed material, and have the contractor write down what they found.
• The furious email. It feels good on day two. It is read aloud on day four hundred.
• Waiting for the seller to do the right thing. Sellers who did not disclose a defect before closing rarely become forthcoming after it, and the months spent hoping come out of your limitations period, not theirs.

What you will be asked for

Whether you call Jimmy or someone else, the first conversation goes faster if you have these to hand: the property address, the close of escrow date, the TDS and SPQ, your inspection report, photographs of what you found, and any written estimate you have obtained. If you have the prior listing or permit records too, better still.

If you want him to look at it, the form below is the fastest route — he reads every submission himself and replies personally, usually within one business day. There is no charge for that first review, and if the honest answer is that the matter is not worth pursuing, he would rather tell you now than after you have spent money on it.

Related reading: Seller Didn’t Disclose a Defect? California Buyer Options, 5 Signs Your Home Seller Lied on the Disclosure Form, Water Intrusion, Mold and Foundation Issues, Unpermitted Additions and Conversions, and How Much Is My Nondisclosure Case Worth?

Send Your Case Details