Absolutely the agent and buyer should pay for all costs.

Your agent should deal with this, and the buyer agent and/or buyer should pay for all costs.

perhaps add it to the price of the house. Or, small claims court ?

How unbelievably unprofessional of the buyer agent!

Yes, they are responsible!

Please keep us posted.

Read your listing agreement. It may say that agents are not responsible for damage or loss to your home.

It is their responsibillity. Turning the faucet on is one thing, but they should not have turned on the water that had been shut off. They may have been afraid that there was a problem, but that is what the inspection is for. Yes, it's easy enough to turn that valve, but it isn't their house, they weren't given permission to change anything, and what they didn't know and didn't ask will come back to bite them. It's easy enough to see how they would test the water supply, but they should have owned up to it -- and the agent? Shouldn't be an agent in my book.

Sylvia, the listing agent may not be responsible (and shouldn't be), but I'm not so sure about the buyer's agent who was not exercising any care and was negligent of her duties. Regardless of the situation with the agents, the buyers were given permission to enter and view the home, not make any changes. They did something they didn't expect to cause a problem, but it did, and they need to deal with it.

If you hadn't told anyone not to turn it on its unreasonable to expect them to think the situation would be anything but normal. You created the potential for the problem by not having it working properly and allowing people in your home without your supervision or a warning not to turn it on- of course they turned it on, thats what potential buyers do to make sure there aren't hidden issues.

I do think it is unreasonable for the buyers to go the extra step to turn on the water valve. They were there just for a walk through. If any thing seemed out of the ordinary they should have contacted the listing agent...not try and fix it themselves. The fact that nothing was said to the owner, and they tried to get away with it speaks volumes. They definitely should pay for all repairs, the buyers and especially their realtor are at fault.

First, I don't understand how purging the pipes has anything to do with this. Purging the pipes means that you have air in them and should get that out to avoid the pipes making noise. Is your plumber saying that the air in the pipes was bad enough to shake the pipes loose? Which I would consider a dangerous water pressure problem.

Second, I doubt they are responsible for breaking your pipes and or sink but they might be responsible for not making an effort to contain any damage, if that is what they did. You are basically claiming negligence. So long as their actions are consistent with those of a reasonable person in their position then they are pretty much off the hook. I think turning on the water in a house I wanted to buy is reasonable.

However, if they didn't act immediately to contain any damage, and their lack of action caused additional damage then that part is probably their responsibility. This doesn't mean you can't ask them or the agent for money. You can ask for whatever you want from whoever you want.

Despite what your plumber says, I don't see any way that turning on the valve under a sink can cause the plumbing or the sink to burst. My best guess is that the pipes froze and ruptured while the water was off, and the buyers turning on the water on merely caused the water to spray out of the leak that was caused by the pipes freezing.

So I agree with bry911 that if they turned it on, saw it spraying, and left, then they have some responsibility. But if they turned it on, saw it spraying, turned it off, told someone about it and left, IMO they would have responsibility for the damage caused by the water that sprayed which would likely be minimal, but not for the sink itself.

It's hard to believe that turning on the water caused damage to perfectly working and properly installed plumbing/sinks. My guess is that something was extremely close to breaking and it just happened to happen when they turned on the water. It's not really their fault.

Should they have turned on the water? Probably not. But it shouldn't really have been that big a deal that they did.

The other side of this coin are the buyers and inspectors that get alarmed and dramatic about a perceived problem because they can't figure out simple home functions. So, I don't fault the buyers for taking the initiative to turn on the water in a supposedly working bathroom during a walk through. But, they and the agent are at fault for not immediately informing you about the watery mess and for not taking steps to make sure there wasn't any further water damage.

One other item to note, once the contract is finalized and inspections finished as a seller try to restrict the number of "kicking the tires" visits by the purchaser. They are not just opportunities to place furniture and bring in the decorator. They are opportunities to hunt for defects and nitpick you to death. This was advice from a very experienced agent to us many years ago. The buyer wanted to bring her decorator, then her mom, then her cousins, etc. We had to put a stop to it, nicely.

HC, that would have been a BIG problem for me! I needed access to measure and required multiple visits to do so.

You can measure during your initial visits, during the inspections and during your final walk through. No need to keep bugging a busy seller for your personal conveniences.

Anglophillia, You will have plenty of time after you put your money and signature on the line. Your priorities are not my priorities. Until you sign, you are a guest in my home. I don't want to have to entertain you as nice as you may be. I don't want strangers disturbing my peace, upsetting my dogs and inconveniencing me while I pack up the house. It's just too stressful. Nor, do I want any of your professionals rummaging through my home while I still live there. Professional visits should be made after the closing. It's a business transaction not a social engagement.

Your home is your home until I transfer my money to you so I would never intrude on a seller with multiple decorating visits. We measured the rooms and took pictures during the home inspection. Anything waited until the keys were in our hands.

Water problem: agent should not have made himself at home in your home, clearly unprofessional. However I all plumbing to be in working order when I am looking at purchasing home. One big hint I was given long ago was to check the water pressure by running the sink, flushing the toilets and running the shower (before writing up a contract).

This is what you have homeowner's insurance for. Lots of "coulda, woulda, shoulda" in the behavior of the people involved, but bottom line, it was an accident, and is covered by your insurance.

There's no way that turning the supply valve on would cause a pipe to burst; there was already a serious defect present.

The most unfortunate part of this, IMO, is that the buyers and agent just left the mess without contacting you or your agent and without making any attempt to contain the mess; especially with something as potentially damaging as a broken water pipe.

Even more unfortunate, there's a sale at stake and either side could get on the "wrong side", in this situation. Here's hoping the OP has her agent in chats with the buyers under contract. Let them work it out.

I hope we hear back on how this all turned out.

Your homeowner's insurance covers it. Because turning on the water and some mysterious pressure causing a flood is complete BS. You had a bad shut off valve that should have already been replaced. And it's normal for buyers to check the water flow. It's also logical for them to assume that turning off the water would stop the problem.