Same Home Inspector Missed Major Structural Issue 5 Years Ago. Any Recourse? Virginia

Location: Virginia

I am in rural Virginia, and several attorneys have not responded to my emails/phone calls. I'm still trying to find a local real estate attorney, but I’d appreciate general guidance first on whether this type of claim is typically viable in Virginia.

Five years ago, I hired a licensed home inspector when purchasing my home. Recently, we put the house on the market, and by coincidence, the same inspector was hired by the prospective buyer to perform their inspection.

In the new inspection report, he listed a major structural problem (foundation/structural framing) that was not mentioned at all in his original inspection report from when we purchased the home. If it had been disclosed at that time, we likely would not have bought the property.

Contractors and an engineer who have looked at the issue say it’s a long-developing problem that likely existed — or had visible indicators — at the time of the original inspection.

I still have both inspection reports, the original inspection agreement, and recent photos of the defect.

My questions are:

• Do we have any potential legal recourse against the home inspector (for negligence or breach of contract)?
• How does the statute of limitations work in Virginia for something like this, given that we only discovered the defect recently?
• Is it worth talking to previous owners about the issue? If they knew they should have disclosed the issue, correct?
• Is it worth filing a complaint with the Virginia DPOR in addition to or instead of pursuing a claim through an attorney?

Not looking for anyone to do legal work here — just trying to understand whether this situation is something that might still be actionable or if it’s too late under Virginia law