- Apr 26, 2009
- 14
A very close friend of mine just purchased a home with a pool, since I am anal about pools and love swimming, they asked me to maintain it for them in exchange for usage. I advised them in the buying process to have the pool professionally inspected before closing, which they did. The inspection report looked pretty cursory, it was a one page report with some of the pool specs and some check boxes for the condition of the pool and patio equipment. The only thing of note was that the area under pool liner/cover condition was marked as "Poor" and in the notes section on the bottom of the page it said that the liner "should be replaced in a few years". Today, we pulled the cover off the pool in order to begin the opening process, we immediately noted that the liner was in deplorable condition. On one side the liner was stretched and peeling off the edge, the corners had all pulled away, the other side was full of tears from end to end and one corner had some extensive patchwork that was coming apart. Furthermore, there was an entire glass tabletop shattered in the bottom of the pool. Aren't these all things of note?
Maybe this is common practice in the pool industry, but I have no idea why they paid a pool inspector if he didn't actually INSPECT the pool and report his findings. Do people typically just patch of the entire side of their pool for several seasons before replacing their liner? It looks like hillbilly heck in the back of this otherwise exceptional home and patio. Furthermore, they were going to pay to have the pool professionally started BEFORE the closing so that they could be assured of its condition, however their real estate agent insisted that they couldn't/shouldn't do this. It seems that they were burned by the pool maintenance company (they had it inspected by the same company that had maintained it all these years, in fact the owner of the company performed the inspection) and by their real estate agent. Now, the entire point of performing a pool inspection and having it started is so that the buyers can be made aware of the condition of the pool, however, the real estate agent and pool company have both found a way to completely undermine those measures and effectively scammed the buyer. Now, they have to front the cost of new liner in order to have a pool this summer, what's the point of buying a brand new house at the start of pool season with a beautiful walled in patio/pool if your going to be staring at a pool cover for your entire first year?
Something else I am curious about, the report said that the lining was 7 years old, I thought "well, they usually last 10-15 years, so I guess they can ride it out a few more seasons". However, the liner was completely worthless, even if they could somehow patch it up for this year, I don't think anyone would even want to swim in it due to its discoleration and tears. It seems that only gross negligence on behalf of those maintaining the pool would cause it to fall into such horrible disrepair. We found all of the pool chemicals sitting outside floating in pot full of water, they had clearly been there all winter, I performed a quick water test, EVERYTHING was low, PH was at about 6.6! All of the signs seem to point to extremely poor maintenance. If you take excellent care of a pool with daily readings and treatment and use a solar cover, is it typical to just get 6 years out of a brand new, high quality liner?
Is there any recourse for their predicament? From the looks of it, the pool inspector robbed them of $200 for the worthless inspection and failed to put information in his report that would have armed the buyers with critical information and the real estate agent tied their hands from ever obtaining it on their own.
Maybe this is common practice in the pool industry, but I have no idea why they paid a pool inspector if he didn't actually INSPECT the pool and report his findings. Do people typically just patch of the entire side of their pool for several seasons before replacing their liner? It looks like hillbilly heck in the back of this otherwise exceptional home and patio. Furthermore, they were going to pay to have the pool professionally started BEFORE the closing so that they could be assured of its condition, however their real estate agent insisted that they couldn't/shouldn't do this. It seems that they were burned by the pool maintenance company (they had it inspected by the same company that had maintained it all these years, in fact the owner of the company performed the inspection) and by their real estate agent. Now, the entire point of performing a pool inspection and having it started is so that the buyers can be made aware of the condition of the pool, however, the real estate agent and pool company have both found a way to completely undermine those measures and effectively scammed the buyer. Now, they have to front the cost of new liner in order to have a pool this summer, what's the point of buying a brand new house at the start of pool season with a beautiful walled in patio/pool if your going to be staring at a pool cover for your entire first year?
Something else I am curious about, the report said that the lining was 7 years old, I thought "well, they usually last 10-15 years, so I guess they can ride it out a few more seasons". However, the liner was completely worthless, even if they could somehow patch it up for this year, I don't think anyone would even want to swim in it due to its discoleration and tears. It seems that only gross negligence on behalf of those maintaining the pool would cause it to fall into such horrible disrepair. We found all of the pool chemicals sitting outside floating in pot full of water, they had clearly been there all winter, I performed a quick water test, EVERYTHING was low, PH was at about 6.6! All of the signs seem to point to extremely poor maintenance. If you take excellent care of a pool with daily readings and treatment and use a solar cover, is it typical to just get 6 years out of a brand new, high quality liner?
Is there any recourse for their predicament? From the looks of it, the pool inspector robbed them of $200 for the worthless inspection and failed to put information in his report that would have armed the buyers with critical information and the real estate agent tied their hands from ever obtaining it on their own.