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!

[mulisha00]

Sorry to hear of your troubles and I'm no lawyer so I can't offer any advice but had a similar situation one time. My customer and his foundation guy who was his friend wanted to build it for him. I sold the house (modular) and normally build the foundation but he had someone that would do it cheaper and insisted. Wanted a garage under his house, no big deal. His best friend built a foundation that was at least 9" out of square and his garage has a permanent support right in the middle of the garage. I mean this guy opens his garage door and four foot in was a support. You couldn't pull a lawnmower in much less a car. Any how they are in court now and no longer friends. $20,000 mistake so far on my customers part. Good luck.

[paul67]

What you need to find in your state is the legal definition of a garage,ie size wise, in the UK if a room is a min of 6ft wide it can be called a bedroom. Speak to an realitor. Hope this is some help.

[Paul_J]

I'm curious, did you buy this house unseen?

[Ssynister13]

No, I saw the house before I bought it. I just never in my wildest dreams ever thought to even measure the length of the garage. If I had another 6-8 inches the car would fit. So just eyeballing it I always thought it could fit.

The add clearly stated that it is a "2 car garage under

I am dealing with attorney that I work with, but I was just for other advice or points of view.

[ho428]

Doubt you'll win this one unless you have some sort of back out clause.
Buy a Mini Cooper

[Ssynister13]

Doubt you'll win this one unless you have some sort of back out clause.
Buy a Mini Cooper

I started this post to get differing opinions so I'd like to hear why you say I wont win it.

[paul67]

What is the size of the garage.

[Ssynister13]

I am not sure of the width but the length is only 15'8" to the track for the door.

[Bill Howell]

I seriously doubt you have much recourse since you looked at the house before purchase. That is the purpose of a walk thru and time for a home inspection. Eyeballing it was your fault, tape measures are cheap.

[Bow Tie 67]

No real help here, but it does bring up memories of driving my realtor crazy. I carried a tape measure and the first thing I did was measure the garage, I passed on many nice homes strictly based on garage size. I also realized that most two car garages are built small.

[bigvegan]

You're going to have a tough time with this one.

Especially since you STILL don't know the dimensions of your garage.

Rather than threatening lawsuits over a CLEARLY VISIBLE ISSUE, how about the following:

a) Call the builder and be nice and see what it would take for him to fix the problem, and what sort of discount he can give you so that you can get the two car garage you were expecting.

b) Make peace with the fact that YOU are as much to blame here as anyone else for not measuring the garage to make sure it could fit your two cars. If you can fit two Minis in there, it's a two car garage, and there are any number of cars that are 6-8 inches shorter than a Honda Accord. While it would have been nice if the builder had built a garage big enough for two Ford Excursions (and high enough to add a lift), you did the walk through and accepted the house as it was, it's not the builder's fault for not telling you the garage might not be big enough AFTER YOU walked through the garage and decided to buy the house.

I don't mean to be rude, but stuff like this is why people hate the American legal system. You f-cked up here, so own the f-ckup and don't try to make it somebody else's fault.

[vp23271]

That sucks!

If the garage was not built to code then maybe you might have a legal leg to stand on, but I don't think the depth of the garage is one of them. You will need to 2x check your local building code.

I have not seen your house, so I am not sure if this will work, but maybe you can get the front of the garage extended out. Usually the back of the garages have furnaces or hot water heaters with all the plumbing/ducting running thru the walls and floors. Plus the back of the garage probably shares a wall with a living space.

If you absolutely love the house and If you have to bite the bullet and open your wallet, maybe you can get the extra depth you need by adding a foot to the front. I know it sounds odd, but I bought an old duplex by the beach and one of the prior owners added the extra depth by doing just that. It won't be cheap, but just my 2 cents.

Plus renovationg a garage is not like renovating a kitchen or bathroom. You can bring in a work crew without having to worry to much about the valuables inside the house. Keep the crew confined to the exterior.

Good Luck

[class67]

Was there a model of the home you purchased?

[paul67]

You can buy a pre fab over here in the UK that is 15 ft 2" long so you could have a problem.

[shep]

If the garage walls are finished you could possiably remove the sheet rock and studs to allow the car to pull farther in. Assuming that it is not a structural wall. My wifes aunt and uncle did that to get their 1-ton Ford in the garage.