191 thoughts on “Property Misrepresentation Claims in Practice”
My partner and I have recently bought a house through an agent. A huge selling point for us was to have an open space area downstairs combining the living room and kitchen. In this particular house there is a wall in between the two rooms – we notified the agent straight away (during the viewing) that we would plan to knock it down if we were ever to purchase the property. We’ve put an offer down and it got accepted but before the exchange of contracts I asked the agent in an email to confirm in writing if the wall was non-load bearing. They came back to me saying that the seller confirmed that it is in fact non-load bearing. We went through with the sale. We got the keys and wanted to get rid of that wall as it was a crucial part of renovating the downstairs area. Unfortunately we came across block work. We managed to get a structural engineer in to check the wall and were told that this wall is load bearing and would need a lintel and a column if we ever wanted to get rid of it. The cost of removing the wall and putting the beams in is quite significant and of course not something we expected. We both feel like if we had known that the wall was load bearing we either wouldn’t have gone through with the sale or would have negotiated the price of the house. Is there any basis for us to request any compensation? Would really appreciate any help with this! Thank you!
Thank you for your comments on this and your enquiry regarding the misrepresentation relating to a load-bearing wall. While we cannot give specific legal advice in these comments, If you can show that the seller knew, or could reasonably have known, that the wall was load-bearing but gave a false statement as to whether this was the case when asked, then there may be a claim here. The issue, though, is that there may be non-reliance clauses in the contract that may affect the position. It would also depend on whether it can be shown that the seller did in fact know that the statement they gave was, in fact, false. Please feel free to telephone us on our office number if you wish to discuss this with us further.
I bought directly from a individual who signed the OTP that all warranties had been met including all plans passed by Gov and Local authorities. I moved in prior to transfer at agreed occupational interest, that was 3 months ago, transfer held up at rates office and can take 4 mths to redo plans and be passed, hopefully, I stopped the occ interest, this a fraudulent misrepresentation, together with severe storm water flooding, had these been passed these items would have been highlight as it is very clear someone has tried to patch a wall of the home and flooding internally as well. OPINION PLEASE going off my my head
Thank you for your comments relating to a possible misrepresentation over flooding. It should be noted that it is not necessarily a misrepresentation for the seller to withhold information, rather, you would have to be able to point to a specific false statement by them. This may be something we can assist you with as we may be able to go through the documents and plans and warranties that they signed and see if there are such falsehoods. Please feel free to contact us at our office number for a confidential discussion.
Thank you for your time, I also believe they signed docs knowing the issues ie that Gov and Local authority had been passed , they did alterations hence rate block, without approved plans which is fraud in my eyes
I’ve just bought a property which the seller stated is connected to a septic tank. I can’t find the septic tank and just as worryingly can see the kitchen sink waste emptying straight into the river. I can see the consequences of what will happen if Environmental Services become involved. Is there a case for the Seller to answer?
Thank you for your comment. While we cannot give specific advice on individual cases, whether or not this would be a misrepresentation depends on what exactly was stated in the Property Information Form and other written communications. If they stated that there was a septic tank for drainage but there is not, then that is potentially a misrepresentation. Though this will of course depend on the contents of that form and also the contents of the contract or other communications between the parties.
I recently purchased land described as an “former advertising site” from auction. I bought the land with the intention of using it as an advertising site and for this reason paid significantly more then the guide price. I viewed the legal pack and there was nothing to suggest that the site was not suitable for advertising purposes. The LA searches did not list details of a discontinuance order, planning breaches or enforcement notices involving the site. My decision to buy the site was determined by the details in the LA search document and the statement saying it was a former advertising site.
I have now been informed that enforcement action was taken against a billboard on the site and the planning inspectorate ruled the location was not suitable for billboards(something i wanted to install) . If I knew of the enforcement action, I would have never purchased the site. Due to the enforcement i have lost a contract i secured with a very large company who wanted to use the site for advertising.
My questions are:
A) Can a company use the phrase former when they know the site was no longer suitable? In my opinion this statement was misleading..
B) The local council failed to document the enforcement on their search, is this negligence?
I will be grateful for your opinions on this matter..
We are not so sure that there is a misrepresentation claim here. There is a case called Atlantic Estates Ltd v Ezekiel (1991) which we refer to in our blog on property misrepresentation claims in practice. In that particular case the auction pack described the property as a wine bar and showed photographs of it in use. It transpired that the bar itself did not have a licence and therefore could not be used as a wine bar. The Court considered this a misrepresentation.
However, that case could arguably be distinguished from your current matter insofar as the words “former” were used to describe the property. A “former wine bar” or “former advertising site” would necessarily imply that the property is no longer being used as such. It may be a push to suggest that this is misleading. The inclusion of the word “former” is probably sufficient to inform any prospective bidder that the property is no longer used in the same way as it was previously. Therefore it may be a step too far for the Court to find that this implicitly suggested that the property may be used in the same way again.
As for the search results, we are surprised to hear that enforcement notices were not identified in them. It may be the case that the enforcement notice is included elsewhere in searches and that you were only provided with an extract from it. If this was the case then perhaps there is some misleading statement of fact to the extent that the full situation was not made known to you and the information provided was factually inaccurate as a result.
Sometimes third parties can be held liable for negligent misstatements or misrepresentations. Ordinarily what is set out would need to be deliberately aimed at a class of people. In this matter, that class would presumably be all purchasers intending to rely on the search.
It is not uncommon for solicitors to purchase search results rather than their client incurring the cost of a new one. Provided that the client is made aware that the search is old and may not identify more contemporaneous or recent matters, there is no harm in this. Therefore there may be some scope (although we suggest this tentatively) to say that the search provider may have made a mistake and you have suffered a loss as a result, being within the class of individual entitled to rely on it.
As for the Council itself, whether or not they can be held liable for failing to record information which should have appeared in a search is again something which we are unable to provide any specific advice on at this stage. There is an outside possibility that the Council is in breach of its statutory duty to record data and information properly, if this is what has happened. Whether or not this entitles someone to take action depends very much on whether or not the relevant Act of Parliament envisages a claim for compensation.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide specific advice on our website. We are only able to provide general guidance. If you would like to consider the matter in more detail with us, please do feel free to get in touch.
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My partner and I have recently bought a house through an agent. A huge selling point for us was to have an open space area downstairs combining the living room and kitchen. In this particular house there is a wall in between the two rooms – we notified the agent straight away (during the viewing) that we would plan to knock it down if we were ever to purchase the property. We’ve put an offer down and it got accepted but before the exchange of contracts I asked the agent in an email to confirm in writing if the wall was non-load bearing. They came back to me saying that the seller confirmed that it is in fact non-load bearing. We went through with the sale.
We got the keys and wanted to get rid of that wall as it was a crucial part of renovating the downstairs area. Unfortunately we came across block work. We managed to get a structural engineer in to check the wall and were told that this wall is load bearing and would need a lintel and a column if we ever wanted to get rid of it. The cost of removing the wall and putting the beams in is quite significant and of course not something we expected. We both feel like if we had known that the wall was load bearing we either wouldn’t have gone through with the sale or would have negotiated the price of the house.
Is there any basis for us to request any compensation?
Would really appreciate any help with this!
Thank you!
Thank you for your comments on this and your enquiry regarding the misrepresentation relating to a load-bearing wall. While we cannot give specific legal advice in these comments, If you can show that the seller knew, or could reasonably have known, that the wall was load-bearing but gave a false statement as to whether this was the case when asked, then there may be a claim here. The issue, though, is that there may be non-reliance clauses in the contract that may affect the position. It would also depend on whether it can be shown that the seller did in fact know that the statement they gave was, in fact, false. Please feel free to telephone us on our office number if you wish to discuss this with us further.
Greetings
I bought directly from a individual who signed the OTP that all warranties had been met including all plans passed by Gov and Local authorities. I moved in prior to transfer at agreed occupational interest, that was 3 months ago, transfer held up at rates office and can take 4 mths to redo plans and be passed, hopefully, I stopped the occ interest, this a fraudulent misrepresentation, together with severe storm water flooding, had these been passed these items would have been highlight as it is very clear someone has tried to patch a wall of the home and flooding internally as well. OPINION PLEASE going off my my head
Thank you for your comments relating to a possible misrepresentation over flooding. It should be noted that it is not necessarily a misrepresentation for the seller to withhold information, rather, you would have to be able to point to a specific false statement by them. This may be something we can assist you with as we may be able to go through the documents and plans and warranties that they signed and see if there are such falsehoods. Please feel free to contact us at our office number for a confidential discussion.
Thank you for your time, I also believe they signed docs knowing the issues ie that Gov and Local authority had been passed , they did alterations hence rate block, without approved plans which is fraud in my eyes
I’ve just bought a property which the seller stated is connected to a septic tank. I can’t find the septic tank and just as worryingly can see the kitchen sink waste emptying straight into the river. I can see the consequences of what will happen if Environmental Services become involved. Is there a case for the Seller to answer?
Thank you for your comment. While we cannot give specific advice on individual cases, whether or not this would be a misrepresentation depends on what exactly was stated in the Property Information Form and other written communications. If they stated that there was a septic tank for drainage but there is not, then that is potentially a misrepresentation. Though this will of course depend on the contents of that form and also the contents of the contract or other communications between the parties.
If you wish to discuss this further please feel free to telephone us on our office number.
Hi,
I recently purchased land described as an “former advertising site” from auction. I bought the land with the intention of using it as an advertising site and for this reason paid significantly more then the guide price.
I viewed the legal pack and there was nothing to suggest that the site was not suitable for advertising purposes. The LA searches did not list details of a discontinuance order, planning breaches or enforcement notices involving the site. My decision to buy the site was determined by the details in the LA search document and the statement saying it was a former advertising site.
I have now been informed that enforcement action was taken against a billboard on the site and the planning inspectorate ruled the location was not suitable for billboards(something i wanted to install) . If I knew of the enforcement action, I would have never purchased the site. Due to the enforcement i have lost a contract i secured with a very large company who wanted to use the site for advertising.
My questions are:
A) Can a company use the phrase former when they know the site was no longer suitable? In my opinion this statement was misleading..
B) The local council failed to document the enforcement on their search, is this negligence?
I will be grateful for your opinions on this matter..
Thanks
Thank you for your comment.
We are not so sure that there is a misrepresentation claim here. There is a case called Atlantic Estates Ltd v Ezekiel (1991) which we refer to in our blog on property misrepresentation claims in practice. In that particular case the auction pack described the property as a wine bar and showed photographs of it in use. It transpired that the bar itself did not have a licence and therefore could not be used as a wine bar. The Court considered this a misrepresentation.
However, that case could arguably be distinguished from your current matter insofar as the words “former” were used to describe the property. A “former wine bar” or “former advertising site” would necessarily imply that the property is no longer being used as such. It may be a push to suggest that this is misleading. The inclusion of the word “former” is probably sufficient to inform any prospective bidder that the property is no longer used in the same way as it was previously. Therefore it may be a step too far for the Court to find that this implicitly suggested that the property may be used in the same way again.
As for the search results, we are surprised to hear that enforcement notices were not identified in them. It may be the case that the enforcement notice is included elsewhere in searches and that you were only provided with an extract from it. If this was the case then perhaps there is some misleading statement of fact to the extent that the full situation was not made known to you and the information provided was factually inaccurate as a result.
Sometimes third parties can be held liable for negligent misstatements or misrepresentations. Ordinarily what is set out would need to be deliberately aimed at a class of people. In this matter, that class would presumably be all purchasers intending to rely on the search.
It is not uncommon for solicitors to purchase search results rather than their client incurring the cost of a new one. Provided that the client is made aware that the search is old and may not identify more contemporaneous or recent matters, there is no harm in this. Therefore there may be some scope (although we suggest this tentatively) to say that the search provider may have made a mistake and you have suffered a loss as a result, being within the class of individual entitled to rely on it.
As for the Council itself, whether or not they can be held liable for failing to record information which should have appeared in a search is again something which we are unable to provide any specific advice on at this stage. There is an outside possibility that the Council is in breach of its statutory duty to record data and information properly, if this is what has happened. Whether or not this entitles someone to take action depends very much on whether or not the relevant Act of Parliament envisages a claim for compensation.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide specific advice on our website. We are only able to provide general guidance. If you would like to consider the matter in more detail with us, please do feel free to get in touch.