Looking for Legal Advice

[Ssynister13]

Hi everyone,
I am having an issue with a brand new house that I bought and I was hoping I could bounce some ideas off of a member that may have legal background.
Basically I bought a house with a two car garage under and on one side of the garage I cant even fit my wife's Honda Accord.

Can anyone help? I would rather discuss over private messaging especially if I may take this to court.

thanks!

[shiftytim]

did you measure the garage before buying the house? Look at a plan w/measurements on it? Any responsible consumer would have done this at the very least and did you sign a waiver allowing the builder to make changes to the plan at any time? You could always buy a smaller car.

[Spiffav8]

Originally Posted by shiftytim

did you measure the garage before buying the house? Look at a plan w/measurements on it? Any responsible consumer would have done this at the very least and did you sign a waiver allowing the builder to make changes to the plan at any time? You could always buy a smaller car.

Kind of a rude tone you've got there....not many cars smaller than a Honda Accord and who would want a car smaller than that anyways.

[Vegas69]

I have seen many builder contracts and they aren't very buyer friendly. Most do say that the builder may make changes to the plans if needed and it was definitely your responsibility to make sure the garage was large enough when you signed the papers and definitely before you closed the deal. A two car garage in Vegas is 400sqft to 500sqft.

[shiftytim]

Originally Posted by Spiffav8

Kind of a rude tone you've got there....not many cars smaller than a Honda Accord and who would want a car smaller than that anyways.

Obviously irony is lost on you. Nothing I wrote was intended to be rude. I find it ironic that the overall attitude was that someone does not plan ahead and the first course of action is to sue someone for his own oversight. Responsibility has no more meaning, and we should all coddle the unprepared is what you are saying and you wonder why we have the economic problems we face.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by shiftytim

Obviously irony is lost on you. Nothing I wrote was intended to be rude. I find it ironic that the overall attitude was that someone does not plan ahead and the first course of action is to sue someone for his own oversight. Responsibility has no more meaning, and we should all coddle the unprepared is what you are saying and you wonder why we have the economic problems we face.

I agree with your personal responsibility views, and that they're lost in this country. On the other hand, I've never seen a 2-car garage that couldn't fit an Accord on one side either, so it's not something I would necessarily looked out for in advance.

Jody

[Ssynister13]

Originally Posted by shiftytim

did you measure the garage before buying the house? Look at a plan w/measurements on it? Any responsible consumer would have done this at the very least and did you sign a waiver allowing the builder to make changes to the plan at any time? You could always buy a smaller car.

There are a lot of details here I could spend days typing out and listing for everyone to understand the situation better. I truely do appreciate feedback, whether it helps or hurts my case. At this point in the process I an NOT suing anyone! I just want to make that clear. My intention is not to sue...my intention is to get the builder to give me and my issue the attention is deserves. I am in no way a lawsuit-happy ambulance chanser like a lot of people in this country.

I saw the house when I bought it. Unfortunately I dont carry a tape measure with me and honestly never thought that I would have to measure a garage if I was being told by that it was a "two car garage". I have floor plans but the plans for the basement/garage area were never made available for review. I did not sign any waiver that stated any changes could be made without my consent. I was very careful to review anything I signed. Those are most of my facts.

Again, thanks for the feedback...any arguements toward my case will only force me to make my arguement stronger.

Thanks guys!

[shiftytim]

That's the way to look at it. I'd approach the builder and question the length of the garage, and their description of "2 car". Again, though, the responsibility is with the buyer and you should always question every aspect of a purchase before signing. If you were buying a car, wouldn't you make sure it didn't have frame damage or hidden issues first? You'd check it out with a fine tooth comb. A home is a huge investment, and in todays market a builder will save anyplace they can on materials. Does your builder have available spec homes to view? If they do, send a friend to look, and have them measure a couple of homes, and see if there are any variances. If so, you've strengthened a case that at this point is lacking real muscle.

Is the garage shorter on the side with the water heater I assume? Best wishes with this, and a hard lesson to learn but it could be much worse.

[chet]

most homes we looked at that said 2 car garage were like yours. I think if 2 cars will fit thats all that matters no where does it state you have to be able to move around the cars!

I know it sucks but if it was important you should have double checked before signing off.

[Vegas69]

How many square feet is the garage?