I am purchasing a house, and during the inspection today we found a large area of water damage over the dining room area. It is toward the bottom of a vaulted ceiling, about 2 ft by 4 feet, with the worst of it down by the wall but not extending down the wall. (at least the wall sheetrock appeared solid) In looking outside it appears there is water leaking between the recently shingled roof and a wall that continues up from the roof for the second story. There does not appear to be proper flashing there, it should extend up under the siding and step down with each shingle. (step flashing)
The water damage has been repaired in the past with texture and paint, but is showing through now and very spongy and heavy, it's my best guess that it is currently being slowly moistened by small amounts of water as the snow and ice melts. There is also water coming down through the soffit and making dirty icicles, so I know it's coming through the house and not just running back from the edge.
Obviously I've got warning sirens going off in my head and I need to know if I'm taking the right actions. I called my realtor and said I wanted an explanation from the seller on the leak, and told him I was upset about the fact that it had been covered up (and therefore known about), but hadn't been disclosed in the condition report. I'm not at all sure he will communicate how upset I was with the seller's realtor, and by the time it gets to the seller I'm sure it won't carry a lot of weight, but I assume he will say that the leak was assumed to be fixed when the roof was shingled last year so he didn't think he had to mention it.
So my current plan that I suggested to the realtor is a roofer to come out and determine how to correct the leak, and a sheetrock contractor to come in and discuss how to fix the inside. If the seller will agree to pay whatever they say it needs, I'm fine. But I'm assuming he will want to offer money just to be done with the deal, and I wouldn't know how much to ask for because I obviously don't know the extent of the damage yet.
Anyway, we took some pictures and we will send them and the condition report when we get it tomorrow with the damage documented. Just interested in any advice anyone might have on dealing with issues like this during this stage of a home purchase.