We granted the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Cendant Mobility Financial Corporation “Cendant” to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred when it held in Asuamah v. Haley , 293 Ga. App. 112 4b 666 SE2d 426 2008 that the doctrine of caveat emptor did not bar a homeowner’s claim of negligent repair against the entity from which the homeowner had purchased the home, when the seller was not the builder of the home. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the reasons that follow. Appellant Cendant is a company that manages employee-relocation benefits, including the sale of a relocated employee’s home. Appellee Udeme Asuamah bought a townhome from Cendant in June 2005 and discovered water-related problems when she moved into the home a month later. Asuamah brought suit against Cendant and others, asserting, among other claims, that Cendant negligently repaired the townhome by accepting the work done by an independent contractor prior to Asuamah’s purchase. The trial court granted summary judgment to Cendant and its co-defendants, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment on all claims save that which alleged negligent repair on the part of Cendant. Id.
In its opinion 293 Ga. App. at 125, the Court of Appeals recognized that caveat emptor is the general rule in a sale of real property and that an exception to the general rule exists when a home builder is the seller of a home. See Worthey v. Holmes , 249 Ga. 104 287 SE2d 9 1982, affirming 159 Ga. App. 262 282 SE2d 919 1981. The Court of Appeals acknowledged that a seller of a house who had not built the house had never been held liable for negligent repair, but determined it had “left the door open” to such an outcome in Swiedler v. Ferguson , 195 Ga. App. 364 393 SE2d 456 1990. Asuamah v. Haley , supra, 293 Ga. App. at 125. The appellate court then walked through that open door and extended the exception to caveat emptor to cover Cendant, a seller of the townhome but not its builder, reasoning that “it could be argued that Cendant was ‘in a superior position to know of or discover latent defects which it created, and which the buyer could not reasonably discover.’ Swiedler v. Ferguson , 195 Ga. App. at 365.” Asuamah v. Haley , supra, 293 Ga. App. at 126. We granted Cendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari because we were particularly concerned with the Court of Appeals’s extension of the Worthey exception to caveat emptor to hold a non-builder/seller liable in negligence for latent construction/repair defects.
