House that I just bought has termite infestation
Location: New London County, CT. AKA Eastern Connecticut
My fiancé and I, both 25, just bought our first house. We bought it in mid February of this year, got an inspection and went through a realtor- the whole nine yards. The people that lived here before us only lived here for about a year and a half, which we were told was because of issues within their family that was causing them to move. Although I do think this is true to an extent, I wonder what else made them move after living here for the past few months.
To preface: the house is built near a lake (not lakefront, but about a 3 min walk from water) and was built in 1959. We got an inspection which came back clean except for mold, which we treated when we moved in. We have made some changes to the property since moving in, including painting, mold remediation, cleaning the HVAC system, and fumigating for nicotine smell that was caused by the previous home owners Its also important to note that the house was also flipped not long ago, after it was bought by an LLC in my state in 2017. My fiancé and I tried our best to look into the records from the town to see what exactly was done in terms of this flip, but couldn’t find much documentation on that specifically. Just to sum up. The house was owned by 4 people including us- the first who lived in it from 1959-2017, then it was bought by the LLC from 2017-2022 (apparently the person who was flipping the house was also living her according to neighbors) and then the people that sold the house to use from 2023-2026, and now us as of February 2026.
Current Situation: We have termites- bad. It was totally missed on our inspection, though now that I know the signs to see, I am really questioning how these people could have missed the obviously covered damage (ex. Bore holes in the wooden beams of the living room being painted over, etc.). We had an exterminator come over on Saturday after realizing that the bugs we were just now seeing were termite swarmers, which were coming out of the living room floor (wood floor) and through a small ledge near a window. The exterminator also showed us termite bait traps around the house that were missed on the inspection, as there was snow on the ground (CT in February). He said the traps were placed too far from the house and at least a few years old, and had not been properly maintained. We then opened up the floor to find that our house has a footing, but no slab underneath, legitimately just dirt which was where all of the termite mud tubes were. We now are facing paying tens of thousands of dollars to exterminate these termites as well as pour a slab of concrete, completely buy and build a new floor, and more.
The Big Question: Do we have grounds to sue either the previous owners for not disclosing the termite situation, or if the didn’t know, could we potentially sue the LLC that flipped the house? We obviously need to fix this, but it is going to be a huge challenge financially for us. We have already put money into the house to improve it, but this was not something we were expecting or can afford to fix.
Other Info: not sure how important this info is, but thought I should mention it. Our neighbors both had termite infestations within the last 10 years and got them fixed. Our water table is high, making the dirt under the living room not super dry, my fiancé and I would be considered lower middle class (I am a teacher & he is an RN) and we cannot afford to pay for an attorney if we don’t have a case.
Should we seek our legal counsel? Or should we eat the expense and take out a new loan to fix our house?