Homebuyers in B.C.’s Cariboo have been forced to live in their garage after an engineer they hired found structural defects in their recently purchased home, including a faulty foundation, and mouldy and sagging floor beams.

Couple lives in garage after Quesnel orders home demolished Back to video

Jillian Werk and Peter Martin said that had been assured in 2021 by the sellers and a licensed home inspector that the house was structurally sound but said the floor was so unstable “items on countertops vibrated when anyone walked through the kitchen,” according to a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit alleges negligence by the sellers, Michelle and Edward Sankey, plus the inspector who gave the all clear to buy the $549,000 house in Quesnel, and city officials who failed to keep records of the property over decades, according to the lawsuit.

Almost a year after they moved in, they paid more than $13,000 to bring the kitchen floor and basement ceiling below it up to code and a city inspector issued a “receipt of final inspection,” according to the lawsuit.

But then the couple was told it would cost up to $100,000 to bring the basement foundation up to code after an insufficient foundation wall was found.

That’s when they learned the house, built in 1991, was actually on a foundation of an older house.

They also learned the city couldn’t find the plans or building permits for the original house.

Before closing the deal to buy the house, they were assured by inspector Erin Reed that there were no structural problems and provided them with a 102-page report for a $572 fee, the lawsuit alleged.

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The lawsuit said a contractor later pointed out a gap above the beam that ran over openings such as doors and windows and discovered the insufficient foundation wall in the basement below.

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“The section of insufficient foundation wall would have been in clear view for Reed during” her inspection, the couple alleges in the lawsuit.

The couple hired their own engineer and his report in March 2023, listed “various building code violations in the structures of the residence,” it said.

A copy of his report was sent to city and on June 22, 2023, almost two years after the buyers moved in, the city sent them a letter advising them to demolish the residential buildings on their property, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, the city issued an order to vacate and an order to demolish, but granted the couple an occupancy permit so they could live in their garage, it said.

The couple says they need the money from the lawsuit to pay for demolition and reconstruction.

The couple is seeking damages for their losses, alleging negligence by Reed for failing to adequately inspect the property or to advise the couple to hire an engineer to investigate, it said.

They also allege the city of Quesnel is negligent because its employees and contractors failed to enforce the building code and permitting process for the property from 1965 to 2008.

The lawsuit also alleged that their real-estate agent, William Lacy, was negligent in failing to disclose the year the residential building was established on the property and for acting for both the buyers and sellers.

They are suing the Sankeys for their negligence in failing to disclose and in concealing defects including the foundation built in 1967, in not following the city’s approved plans for the addition to the building and not disclosing the structural defects, it said.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Requests for comment were sent to all parties but none had immediately responded.