Couple Sues For Millions After Finding Out Their New $410,000 Home Was Infested With 7-Foot Long SNAKES

04 Jun, 2015 by Jennifer Van Laar

Print this article Font size -16+

Imagine buying the home of your dreams, and then being forced to carry around a machete because snakes have infested it. One Maryland couple has had to do just that – and now they’re suing their Realtor for $2 million for failing to disclose the infestation.

Jody and Jeff Brooks and their two children moved into their $410,000 Annapolis home in December but when the weather began warming up earlier this year, they learned they were not there alone.

They found eight black rat snakes, numerous snake skins and trails of snake feces – and despite spending $50,000 to try to get rid of them, they were forced to move in with family in April.

Speaking to WUSA9, Mrs Brooks said they had been petrified that the snakes might mistake their seven-month-old daughter, Lilly, for vermin and slither into her crib at night.

Black rat snakes can live for up to 25 years and grow to seven feet long. The non-poisonous snakes can enter homes through dryer vents, water pipes or cable wires, experts told the Capital Gazette.

Mr Brooks started carrying a machete around the home to kill any snakes that he came across in order to keep them away from his daughter and son, four-year-old Thomas.

‘I think in the sale of a home, a professional, you should let somebody know of every possible issue when you buy the house,’ Jeff Brooks said.

A local pest company, Home Paramount, said the infestation was unlike anything they had seen. When they advised the couple to tear down walls in the home to look for problem areas, they found tracks the snakes used to move around the home, as well as feces and skins, the lawsuit said.

Even if they did clean out the home of snakes, there is no guarantee they would not return, the couple’s attorney said.

The lawsuit, which was filed on May 19, names Barbara Van Horn – their realtor and neighbor – and the company she works for, Champion Realty, Inc. They are also suing the home’s former owner, Joan Broseker and the Joan Broseker Revocable Trust.