Q: We bought a waterfront place six months ago and now have a real problem.

The septic system has failed completely and the septic people we’ve talked to say that it’ll take months to try to get a repair project through the County. They also warned us that it will be very expensive because it was an inadequate system to begin with. Apparently the elderly lady who lived there didn’t use much water. When we moved in with our family of five we “blew out the system” in his words. We’d like a recommendation for an attorney since we want to sue the real estate agent that sold us the house.

A: I’m sorry to hear of your troubles. Many of our waterfront homes have very marginal septic systems and, sadly, your story is not all that unusual. I am not an attorney of course, but you should review the booklet The Law of Real Estate Agency (available in our office). Under state law an agent does not have a duty to investigate matters or do research. They must disclose material defects, but only those known to them or obviously observable by anyone.

In my practice of real estate, I do a great deal of investigating, but frankly, this puts me at risk because I am stepping beyond the role assigned to me by law. I have had many years of experience with things like failed septic systems, flooding basements, slide hazards, and other such issues, so I am very concerned about what can be seen and (even more importantly) what can’t be seen.

I think that most of the best agents are willing to dig a little deeper to discover everything they can about a property when they represent a buyer. But keep in mind that real estate agents are not inspectors or engineers and some of these problems and defects are not easy to discover. It might have taken a real leap to consider that your larger family would have overtaxed the septic system.