It's Tuesday again, which means it's time to showcase another true life deficient condition.
While there is absolutely no correlation between a deficient condition in a house and a specific day of the week, I needed a category title and this was the best I could do.
Deficient Condition is defined in our purchase and sales agreement as:
"A structural, mechanical or other condition that would have a significant adverse effect on the value of the Property; that would significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants of the Property, or that, if not repaired, removed or replaced would significantly shorten or have a significant adverse effect on the expected normal life of the Property. Deficient condition does not include structural, mechanical or other conditions the nature and extent of which Buyer had actual knowledge or written notice before signing this Agreement."
The following deficient condition is an odd one as the deficiency stems from the installation of a brand new heating system. As you can see there is a new oil fired furnace in this basement. The problem? The oil feel line was never secured properly. Old school method was to dig a small trench and bury it. New school method is to go above everything from the tank and run it down to the furnace. Basically we want to avoid a potential leak, and in this case a trip hazard as well. Getting an oil feed line crimped is pretty easy to do when exposed. If there was a full tank of oil, possibly hundreds of gallons of heating oil could flood the basement. Then it becomes a DEM cleanup issue.
Thankfully, the sellers immediately rectified the deficient condition. They were shocked as well to learn this had been done improperly.
