Imagine you spend months looking for a home to purchase. Eventually you find one that’s perfect, you put in an offer, and it is accepted. You hire a home inspector (as we recommended in one of our previous blogs) and you are given the green light and the house has no major issues. Some time passes (maybe weeks, months, or even years) and you discover there is a major issue in the house that existed before you purchased the home. What can you do? Homebuyers in Ontario have the right to purchase a property that is free from defects. However, defects can remain hidden or undisclosed, which can cause serious financial and legal issues. This is where latent defects come in. In this article, we will discuss what a latent defect is, what you can do if you discover one, and how Sondhi Defence can help.

What is a Latent Defect?

A latent defect is a hidden defect that is not easily discoverable during a regular home inspection. This means that the defect existed before you purchased the property, but was not visible or disclosed at the time of the sale. Some examples of latent defects include faulty wiring, plumbing issues, structural problems, and mould. A latent defect is typically defined as: “A defect that cannot be discovered by inspection and ordinary vigilance. In determining whether something is a defect, the intended use of the land is a relevant consideration” (Kingspan Insulated Panels Ltd v Brantford (City), 2010 ONSC 4610). One means of ‘vigilance’ is to hire a home inspector. However, sometimes home inspectors will miss an issue, like faulty wiring, because of the nature of their inspection – they won’t rip holes in the walls to check the wiring, and you don’t want them to do that either.