Consumer complaint received 2024-03-28 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — An existing modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or other loss mitigation relief
Company: Mr. Cooper Group Inc.
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
We purchased our home in XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. Some time after the new year we noticed some grey water stuff on the ground I called our agent who told me to call the county to ask for a septic record. Upon speaking with the county they informed me that they had no record of a septic for this address. A few weeks later the county was knocking at my door with a letter stating we are in violations of unpermitted residential structure and septic systems. Compliance must be met in 30 days or we would need to vacate or start getting fined {$270.00} a day until its brought to code.

Keep in mind when we bought this shop house we had this appraised and the appraiser did not check permits, the license home inspector did not flag the electrical services being unpermitted. The septic company who pumped it did not note the septic outlet or the issues with it not being permitted.

After getting the letter from the county we got a lawyer to go after the sellers because we then found out that they knew this entire places wasnt permitted but didnt disclose any of this.

The county was willing to work with us as long as we made progress on getting it up to code. They recommended before doing anything expensive to have a engineer come out and see if doing all of this was worth our time and money. We paid to have someone come out they went over everything and told us we would be looking at XXXX to bring the house up to code.. not including the septic ontop of that. He gave me a list of things that needed to be done via phone. Stating 70 % of this house would need to be demoed : The wall between the house and shop was not fire tapped, the secondary level flooring is failing by 120 % and would need beems placed in, the insulation in the roof isnt thick enough so that would need replaced but we cant lower the ceiling any lower so you would need to go in via the roof. All of the trusses would need replaced to support the heavier load. All the windows in the house are to small and need bigger, also sky lights put in, back up heating in each room, wired in smoke detectors, vapor barrier under the flooring that was put in. There was rough cut wood that was used in the build of this that needs to be replaced.. This was just a short amount of the issues. At this point of paying a {$3500.00} mortgage and a lawyer we then decided we can not afford to complete this. Our lawyer stated this is a buyer beware stated and it would be hard to prove fraud. He stated we had at 25 % chance of winning the inside issues and about 75 % chance of the septic. At this point the septic was our least worry. 

I called Mr Copper to ask them if they would be willing to work with us. We would need a loan to bring in a manufactured home with out our payment increasing any more and they recommended foreclosure.

At this point the county now deems this place as uninhabitable and in violation of code. The engineer said if it was up the them, they would red flag the place. 
Thank you XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company believes the complaint provided an opportunity to answer consumer's questions
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation