An outraged Pennsylvania couple have claimed their enjoyment of their stunning new home was ruined when they discovered Nazi symbols in its flooring tiles.
Daniel and Lynne Rae Wentworth bought the five-bedroom property for $500,000 in 2023, and said they were enamored with its stone aesthetic and leafy riverside location.
The couple purchased the home in the riverside borough of Beaver from an 85-year-old German immigrant who had lived there for almost 50 years.
But soon after moving in, they discovered tiling in the basement that resembled a swastika and a Nazi eagle.
The Wentworths accused the former owner of covering the symbols with rugs when they toured the home, and said in a court filing that they were left ‘mortified’ by the designs.
The couple’s lawsuit has weaved through the state court system for more than two years, sparking debate over what represents a ‘material defect’ in a home sale, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In a complaint filed in Beaver County civil court, the couple allege that the previous owner had violated the Pennsylvania Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, saying they would not have bought the home if they had known about the tiling.
They claim that it would cost more than $30,000 to replace the flooring, and say it is so offensive they can’t be expected to live in the home or sell it.
The couple’s attorney said they have been left heartbroken that their dream home is ruined by the eyesore.
‘This is just not something you’d ever expect to have to deal with,’ their attorney Daniel Stoner said.
‘They could have actual economic harm from the potential reputational damage if people thought they put it in themselves or were aware of it.’
The German immigrant who owned the home pushed back in court, saying that he never lied about there being Nazi symbols in the home, and argued they were not as offensive as the couple claimed.
‘Purely psychological stigmas do not constitute material defects of property,’ Albert A. Torrence, an attorney for the seller, said in a court filing.
Torrence also argued that his client ‘has no duty to disclose them.’
The attorney told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the former owner is not a Nazi supporter, but admitted that he did place the symbols in the home.
According to Torrence, the owner was reading a book 40 years ago about the swastika symbol being co-opted by the Nazi Party, and decided to include the emblem in a basement renovation project out of protest.
He said that he placed a rug over the symbol and forgot about it for decades.
‘And of course it fits into the narrative, ‘A Nazi lived in this house,’ Torrence said. ‘It’s just not the narrative that people want it to be.’
Under Pennsylvania law, sellers are required to disclose a long list of potential problems with a property when selling a home – including structural issues, termites, or poor heating.
But hate symbols are not on the list, and the former owner says the Nazi logos do not rise to the level of having an adverse impact on the value of the property.
The Beaver County Court dismissed the Wentworth’s complaint as it sided with arguments that the past history of a property cannot impact its value.
The Wentworth’s appealed, but late last year the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the initial ruling, saying that the tiling was not required to be disclosed under state law.
The judges wrote in their ruling: ‘A basement that floods, a roof that leaks, beams that were damaged by termites… these are the conditions our legislature requires sellers to disclose if they are known.’
‘We are not dismissive of the Wentworths’ outrage, nor their concern that the existence of the images could taint them as Nazi supporters,’ the decision read.
‘With this lawsuit, however, they have made a public record to counter any supposition in that regard.’
The couple’s attorney said they decided not to try and take their case to the state Supreme Court, and told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle they plan to remove the tiling once the legal issues have been resolved.
