Rihanna has won a key point in her legal war over a $6.9 million Beverly Hills mansion she bought that leaked, ruining her custom-fitted sound system and sprouting mold on her designer clothes.
In depositions in LA last week, the seller admitted he’d informed brokers Prudential California Realty of problems with the home, but said Prudential didn’t apprise Rihanna of them before she bought it in 2009. She’s suing for $8.5 million.
A source close to the star — who has since off-loaded the home and moved to a rented apartment in downtown Manhattan — tells Page Six: “It doesn’t rain much in California, but when it did, it rained inside the house. Rihanna never got to move in, but she started modifying it, building a custom closet and fitting in state-of-the-art audio. She didn’t know the house would leak, and the water ruined the new sound system and grew mold on the walls and on some of her clothes.”
The source continued: “Last week in depositions, the seller, who’s a developer, said he told Prudential about the problems with the property, but it was sold to Rihanna as a dream home.”
According to the original suit filed in 2011, “In or about January 2010, the property was subject to a moderate rainstorm . . . the rainwater pooled on the second-floor balcony and seeped into numerous rooms . . . numerous construction defects, which existed at the time [Rihanna] purchased the property were not made known to [her].”
Rihanna claims she was duped because “the actual value of the property at the time of purchase, taking into consideration the extensive construction defects . . . was millions of dollars less” than the price she paid for it.
Rihanna is suing the former owner, the inspector, the brokers and engineers who worked on the house for negligence, fraud and breach of contract. But the source said the new deposition “puts the focus squarely on Prudential,” whose Beverly Hills office has now changed to Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Their lawyer, Martha Mosier, didn’t get back to us.