191 thoughts on “Property Misrepresentation Claims in Practice”
Hello, My mum had just bought a new family home, we have lived here 2 months and suddenly sewage is coming out of the drain leading to the cesspit which as far as we knew was unused as all the house sewage was connected to the mains and only the outside toilet was connected to it, we had the outside toilet knocked down so now there should be no sewage draining to the cesspit right? Well after the sewage company have come to investigate apparently our main toilet is still connected to the cesspit! So they can’t touch it as it is private? We were not informed about this now it is over flowing and the pipe has cracked causing a huge job for us to repair the whole thing! Are we liable to a claim after being told in black and white written in the contract that we are connected to mains?
Thank you for your comment. Sewage backing up is always unpleasant and understandably can cause severe distress.
From what you have said there may be a claim against the seller in misrepresentation. If they had stated positively that the property was connected to mains and this was in fact not the case, and this was stated in the contract or property information form, this could give rise to a claim. However we would need to check the contract in full and also any other communications between the parties, as there may be a non-reliance clause or exclusion clause therein which affects your ability to bring such a claim. We would also have to determine whether it was an intentional misrepresentation by the seller, or merely a negligent or innocent one, which would affect the merits of such a claim also.
Please can you contact us on our office number for a confidential discussion should you wish to take this further.
Hi there! I recently bought a property. Seller failed to disclose known upcoming major works, which nature and extent was being communicated to the leaseholders up to 2years before the property was sold to me. A few months after I moved in I received a Sect. 20 for the value of 35k. The seller always denied knowledge or the nature or likelihood of major works taking place (as stated as well in the pre-contracy documentation). She only mentioned there was the intention of carrying out some work and provided outdated section 20s from as early as 2010, for works that were clearly never done. She then concealed knowing about this major works plan, which was disclosed in detail to her by the council, when she notified them of her intention to sell, as well as being communicated to all leaseholders since as early as 2018-2019. I have a statement from the council confirming her knowledge of such work, as well as exchange documents in which she denies knowing any detail on any possible work to take place, except for asbestos removal (which is not applicable to the property anyway) . Do I have the grounds for a property misrepresentation claim?
It is difficult to say whether or not there is a misrepresentation claim without considering the exact statements made and looking at the timeline of events. Certainly, if there is good evidence that the seller was aware of the proposal and took deliberate steps to conceal this, there could be a misrepresentation claim.
Section 20 Notices and the invoices for these can sometimes be several years apart. Depending on what information was supplied to your solicitor, there may also be some professional negligence here. It would be usual in a conveyancing transaction to obtain a management pack, which would normally contain details of upcoming works or Section 20 Notices. If you were not properly advised about this, there could be some negligence on the part of your solicitor.
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
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Hello,
My mum had just bought a new family home, we have lived here 2 months and suddenly sewage is coming out of the drain leading to the cesspit which as far as we knew was unused as all the house sewage was connected to the mains and only the outside toilet was connected to it, we had the outside toilet knocked down so now there should be no sewage draining to the cesspit right? Well after the sewage company have come to investigate apparently our main toilet is still connected to the cesspit! So they can’t touch it as it is private? We were not informed about this now it is over flowing and the pipe has cracked causing a huge job for us to repair the whole thing! Are we liable to a claim after being told in black and white written in the contract that we are connected to mains?
Thank you for your comment. Sewage backing up is always unpleasant and understandably can cause severe distress.
From what you have said there may be a claim against the seller in misrepresentation. If they had stated positively that the property was connected to mains and this was in fact not the case, and this was stated in the contract or property information form, this could give rise to a claim. However we would need to check the contract in full and also any other communications between the parties, as there may be a non-reliance clause or exclusion clause therein which affects your ability to bring such a claim. We would also have to determine whether it was an intentional misrepresentation by the seller, or merely a negligent or innocent one, which would affect the merits of such a claim also.
Please can you contact us on our office number for a confidential discussion should you wish to take this further.
Hi there!
I recently bought a property. Seller failed to disclose known upcoming major works, which nature and extent was being communicated to the leaseholders up to 2years before the property was sold to me. A few months after I moved in I received a Sect. 20 for the value of 35k. The seller always denied knowledge or the nature or likelihood of major works taking place (as stated as well in the pre-contracy documentation). She only mentioned there was the intention of carrying out some work and provided outdated section 20s from as early as 2010, for works that were clearly never done. She then concealed knowing about this major works plan, which was disclosed in detail to her by the council, when she notified them of her intention to sell, as well as being communicated to all leaseholders since as early as 2018-2019. I have a statement from the council confirming her knowledge of such work, as well as exchange documents in which she denies knowing any detail on any possible work to take place, except for asbestos removal (which is not applicable to the property anyway) . Do I have the grounds for a property misrepresentation claim?
Thank you for your comment.
It is difficult to say whether or not there is a misrepresentation claim without considering the exact statements made and looking at the timeline of events. Certainly, if there is good evidence that the seller was aware of the proposal and took deliberate steps to conceal this, there could be a misrepresentation claim.
Section 20 Notices and the invoices for these can sometimes be several years apart. Depending on what information was supplied to your solicitor, there may also be some professional negligence here. It would be usual in a conveyancing transaction to obtain a management pack, which would normally contain details of upcoming works or Section 20 Notices. If you were not properly advised about this, there could be some negligence on the part of your solicitor.
If you would like to consider the matter in more detail, please do feel free to get in touch (https://cunningtons.co.uk/contact)
Many thanks. I have just contacted the team.
Kind regards
Terry Young
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