Chat Plus

Real estate editor Maryann Haggerty and columnist Elizabeth Razzi respond to a question adapted from a recent online chat.

Furnace inspection?: My husband and I bought a house in June, did some renovations (kitchen and baths) and moved in. As part of our purchase, we asked the sellers to have the furnace inspected. They provided what looks like a generic invoice with some writing on it that says "cleaned and serviced furnace." Last week, we smelled a gas leak, called in a local heating company and -- sure enough -- the furnace is on its way out. Is there anything we can do to recoup any of the cost of a new furnace? I'm pretty sure the leak hasn't sprung up since we bought the house. The furnace is 28 years old, if that matters.

Elizabeth Razzi: Instead of asking the sellers to get an inspection, it would have been better to hire your own home inspector, who would have reported the condition of the furnace and other household components, directly to you. It seems that the sellers did what you asked by providing proof of an inspection. But if the furnace was leaking gas (or carbon monoxide) at the time, the inspector should have red-tagged it as unsafe, no matter who was paying.

Maryann Haggerty: Any competent furnace company should have caught an active gas leak while cleaning and servicing, so it is indeed possible that the problem is new. After all, the furnace isn't -- the life expectancy of a furnace is 15 to 20 years, according to the National Association of Home Builders. A home inspector could have told you that the useful life of this component was nearing an end, so that you could have taken that into account.

E.R.: Gas leaks do happen suddenly -- you smell trouble, and you have to call a contractor, the gas company or the fire department. Fighting with the sellers won't be easy. How can you prove the leak wasn't caused by the renovators, or is just to be expected from a furnace that old?

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