My wife and I purchased our first home back in December. When we viewed the home we noticed that there was a sump pump in the basement and that there was a raised floor in the laundry room. The laundry room is in the unfinished portion of the basement near the sump pump. The raised floor is basically somem pieces of wood on the floor, then plywood on top with some carpet. My wife specifically asked if the basement leaks in the spring. The seller told us "No". I asked how often the sump pump runs and was told "rarely ever".
Now that the ground has started to thaw and with some recent wet weather, the basement is leaking and the sump pump is running every 3 minutes. There is water everywhere. It isn't like there are puddles, but the concrete floor is wet and in some areas it is collecting. The water is also coming from under the finished floor. I started to investigate and noticed that much of the drywall close to the floor level is moldy. I have cut all of this drywall out. On the #220 form that we had the sellers fill out to disclose anything they initialled "Unknown" for the question regarding moisture or leaks... They must have known... why else would they raise the floor in the area that is most affected by the leak (laundry area)? Is this something that they were obilgated to disclose at the time of purchase? Do we have any legal course in this matter? Please advise!
Thanks a bunch!!

Unfortunately you're in sort of a murky area here.

Did the sellers know about waters issues?? They say "don't know" but you saw the sump pump and the raised flooring which are classic signs of a water problem of some sort otherwise why are they there??

In lots of older homes in my town water infiltration is a common thing along with sump pumps. I have a listing right now with both a sump pump, raised flooring to protect the basement contents from water, and damp to pretty wet flooring every time there is a significant rainfall. My sellers disclose that fact; it's a big problem to some, no big deal to others.

I'm guessing you bought this home directly from the owners, were not represented by a real estate licensee, and did not have a home inspection. Right or wrong???

An experienced Realtor would have or should have, noticed signs of water in the basement.

A home inspector would have almost certainly pointed out waters signs.

It's my opinion at this stage you would probably spend as much, if not more in legal fees to try to force the sellers to fix what you say is a problem. What they would most likely say is that they either didn't know about the water issue or that they knew water got in the basement that's why they had a sump pump which they told you about and you saw for yourself.

Going to court is always a crap shoot and in this case I think it's a real long shot for you to win.

Do you have any idea what it would cost to waterproof the basement??

I agree with jim, a home inspector should have seen this. Even if you didn't use an agent you should have had the inspection. As to whether they are obligated, can you prove they knew?

I did have a home inspector and I had the representation of a real estate agent (as did the seller). Since I purchased the house in the middle of winter, the ground was still frozen and therefore would not show signs of leaking. I cannot "prove" that the sellers knew about the leaks except for the question of "why would they build a raised floor in the area most affected by the water? When our home inspector came to see the house and was looking in the basement, the seller was standing over him and telling him specifically not to rip any of the wallpaper, etc... if he had been able to peel back the wall paper, he would have seen the moldy drywall. It is my "Belief" that the seller was trying to cover everything up. But the main question of being able to "prove" anything... no. I cannot. I am simply going to re-grade the property, put up new downspouts and hope for the best.

Signs of leaking are not limited to actual running water at the time of inspections there are several other signs, i.e. musty/moldy smell, stains, SUMP PUMPS, OBJECTS STORED ABOVE FLOORING, etc.

I think your home inspector shares some culpability with the seller on this one. That's part of the stuff you pay them to find and if he didn't find it he should have.