Winnipeg homebuyer who says he found mushrooms growing from basement carpet, 'deluge of water' sues seller

Vera-Lynn Kubinec · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 20, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

After buying a location and past discovering mould passim the basement, a Winnipeg antheral has filed a suit claiming the location seller did not accurately disclose the basement moisture issues earlier the sale.

The purchaser paid $640,000 for the location successful westbound Winnipeg's Kirkfield neighbourhood and took possession in September 2022.

That fall, helium recovered mushrooms increasing retired of the carpet successful the basement, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2023, "he discovered a deluge of h2o pouring into the basement from a model well," causing important damage, according to the suit, filed successful precocious March successful Manitoba Court of King's Bench.

After that, "significant semipermanent mould maturation was recovered passim the basement, necessitating the implicit gutting of the basement and requiring extended remediation to region the mould," the tribunal papers says.

The suit alleges the grade of mould and rot recovered successful the basement indicated the occupation had been going connected for immoderate time.

The location purchaser is suing the erstwhile proprietor of the house, arsenic good arsenic the existent property cause for the sale and Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate, the brokerage the agent works with.

The plaintiff, Antonio Rinella — who is besides a existent property cause but works for a antithetic brokerage — is seeking an unspecified magnitude successful damages. 

The allegations person not been tested successful tribunal and the defendants person not filed statements of defence. 

A spokesperson for Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate declined to comment.

Had 'some h2o seep' into well: seller

The suit claims the moisture infiltration and model good flooding were exacerbated by the information that the crushed sloped toward the location successful the backmost yard, causing h2o to excavation determination and yet seep into the basement.

Rinella couldn't observe that earlier helium bought the location due to the fact that of a ample platform that had precocious been constructed implicit the area, the assertion says.

Prior to the location merchantability successful 2022, the seller filled retired a spot disclosure connection that became portion of the merchantability agreement.

The suit alleges she responded to 1 question successful the spot disclosure by saying "she was not alert if the spot contained oregon erstwhile contained mould."

But the suit argues the seller "either knew of the beingness of mould oregon other was reckless to the precise existent anticipation that mould could person been present."

In different answers on the spot disclosure statement, the seller said she was alert of flooding oregon seepage affecting the property, but explained that during thawing successful 2022, she had "some h2o seep into the model well," the connection of assertion says.

"It was dealt with immediately, happened lone erstwhile and ne'er happened since," she wrote, according to the lawsuit.

Renovations allegedly done without permits

The seller and her precocious hubby bought the location successful 2015 and did extended renovations portion they owned it, the suit says. 

It alleges the City of Winnipeg did an inspection of the spot portion remedial enactment was being done, astatine which constituent it was discovered permits hadn't been obtained for the renovations done earlier Rinella bought the house, according to the connection of claim.

It alleges the seller had deliberately answered 2 questions successful the spot disclosure connection inaccurately "to conceal the information that permits had not been obtained" for the work.

The city issued a usurpation announcement for the unpermitted work, and "various structural, plumbing, and electrical deficiencies were discovered that the plaintiff is required to remedy," the suit says.

The suit besides names a institution antecedently owned by the seller's late hubby arsenic a defendant, alleging it oregon its employees did "significant renovations" astatine the property.

But the company's wide manager told CBC it was not progressive successful immoderate renovations at the house.

The suit besides alleges the existent property cause and Royal LePage were negligent successful their work to notify the location purchaser of the property's defects, and that the cause had an work to explicate to the seller "the value of answering the questions connected the spot disclosure connection truthfully and accurately."

The connection of assertion says Rinella has already spent astir $25,000 addressing the moisture issues, such arsenic remediating the mould successful the basement, having the instauration decently waterproofed and correcting the batch grading issues.

It besides says helium expects much costs related to the renovations done without permits, specified arsenic engineering costs related to structural changes and important electrical enactment needed.

In all, the suit claims it volition instrumentality much than $75,000 of enactment to rectify the issues and marque the location a harmless spot to live.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Stephan Thliveris, says his lawsuit does not privation to remark connected the lawsuit astatine this time.