191 thoughts on “Property Misrepresentation Claims in Practice”
Hi, my partner and I bought a house from a builder 4 years ago. We were flooded last year and have now found out the house is built in a high surface water flood risk area (not disclosed by the builder or searched for by our solicitor that was recommended by the builder) and the house is not built in accordance with the Flood Risk Assessment recommendations e.g. the finished floor level is half the recommended height from the surrounding ground levels and the surrounding land is slanted down towards the house. We have also been told by someone that the house flooded whilst being built, but the builder never told us about this.
Thank you for your comment. I am surprised that your solicitor did not recommend an environmental report. This is fairly common practice. This would have identified whether or not the property was situated in an area which was at risk of flood. However, it would not have revealed anything specific to the property in this respect.
As for whether or not there is a claim against the builder, much will depend on what was said during the course of the transaction. The basic position is “buyer beware”. This means it is down to the buyer to ask the relevant questions of the seller and take the relevant steps, for example by instructing a surveyor, before committing to the purchase. Normally, during the course of the transaction, a property information form will be used. This will normally contain a question about historical flooding. If it can be proved that there has been some historical flooding, and that the answer given to the question regarding it was inaccurate, there may be a claim for misrepresentation.
There may also be a claim if it was in some way represented to you that the property was constructed in accordance with relevant building regulations. If this is not the case, then again there may be a claim for misrepresentation.
Hi, We purchased a property a few years ago and included was information about the service charge. A quote for £40000 was given for these works, of we which pay our percentage based on what’s included in the lease. There is talk about these figures increasing by double or threefold now, due to the new owners believing they are allowed to have extras included that weren’t included when we were quoted £40000 for these works originally. Could this be seen as property misrepresentation?
Thank you for your comment. The first question we would have here is how long ago you purchased the property as such a claim may be statute barred due to limitation if the contract was entered into more than 6 years ago.
Secondly, for a claim against the seller you would need to show that the seller knew about the proposal to increase the service charge or carry out major works, but when asked about whether any major works were envisaged falsely claimed there were none. We would need to see exactly what was said before entry into the contract on this point to be able to advise you properly. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion at our Braintree office.
We recently purchased a flat and within a short period of being in residence, noticed a few issues, ie the kitchen tap was leaking so badly, that it had to be replaced. The seller was likely aware of this as they had put a bowl in the cupboard under the sink to catch the leaking water. Additionally, the oven had been left in an unhygienic state necessitating a professional clean. On turning on the oven thereafter, the glass door pane shattered, requiring us to replace the oven. We approached the seller through the attorneys to be compensated for the costs incurred. She offered only to refund the cost of the oven cleaning, denying any leak or that the oven was not cleaned and therefore unusable and certainly after the glass shattering, even more so. Would we have any legal recourse against the seller for her failure to disclose and her subsequent denial when clearly we have photographic evidence of her actions to disguise the issue. As this was purchased during the current pandemic, the agent discouraged touching anything in the flat on viewing,
Thank you for your comment. Based solely on what you have said here, whether there is an actionable misrepresentation or not depends upon what the seller specifically said to you. There is no general obligation to disclose defects when selling a property, however, if a seller is specifically asked something and gives an incorrect answer, or actively makes a false statement in respect of the property, and this false statement is one that you rely upon, then you may have redress against the seller in misrepresentation. Therefore her failure to disclose the issues you refer to would only give rise to a claim if you can show that she actively made statements that were false on, for instance, the property information form or similar.
You also say that she attempted to disguise the issue. This also can give rise to a claim as in attempting to cover up the issues she may have taken actions which constituted an attempt by her to “paint a false picture.” However this will be more difficult to establish than pointing to a specifically false statement that you relied upon.
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Hi, my partner and I bought a house from a builder 4 years ago. We were flooded last year and have now found out the house is built in a high surface water flood risk area (not disclosed by the builder or searched for by our solicitor that was recommended by the builder) and the house is not built in accordance with the Flood Risk Assessment recommendations e.g. the finished floor level is half the recommended height from the surrounding ground levels and the surrounding land is slanted down towards the house. We have also been told by someone that the house flooded whilst being built, but the builder never told us about this.
Thank you for your comment. I am surprised that your solicitor did not recommend an environmental report. This is fairly common practice. This would have identified whether or not the property was situated in an area which was at risk of flood. However, it would not have revealed anything specific to the property in this respect.
As for whether or not there is a claim against the builder, much will depend on what was said during the course of the transaction. The basic position is “buyer beware”. This means it is down to the buyer to ask the relevant questions of the seller and take the relevant steps, for example by instructing a surveyor, before committing to the purchase. Normally, during the course of the transaction, a property information form will be used. This will normally contain a question about historical flooding. If it can be proved that there has been some historical flooding, and that the answer given to the question regarding it was inaccurate, there may be a claim for misrepresentation.
There may also be a claim if it was in some way represented to you that the property was constructed in accordance with relevant building regulations. If this is not the case, then again there may be a claim for misrepresentation.
Hi, We purchased a property a few years ago and included was information about the service charge. A quote for £40000 was given for these works, of we which pay our percentage based on what’s included in the lease. There is talk about these figures increasing by double or threefold now, due to the new owners believing they are allowed to have extras included that weren’t included when we were quoted £40000 for these works originally. Could this be seen as property misrepresentation?
Thank you for your comment. The first question we would have here is how long ago you purchased the property as such a claim may be statute barred due to limitation if the contract was entered into more than 6 years ago.
Secondly, for a claim against the seller you would need to show that the seller knew about the proposal to increase the service charge or carry out major works, but when asked about whether any major works were envisaged falsely claimed there were none. We would need to see exactly what was said before entry into the contract on this point to be able to advise you properly. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion at our Braintree office.
We recently purchased a flat and within a short period of being in residence, noticed a few issues, ie the kitchen tap was leaking so badly, that it had to be replaced. The seller was likely aware of this as they had put a bowl in the cupboard under the sink to catch the leaking water. Additionally, the oven had been left in an unhygienic state necessitating a professional clean. On turning on the oven thereafter, the glass door pane shattered, requiring us to replace the oven. We approached the seller through the attorneys to be compensated for the costs incurred. She offered only to refund the cost of the oven cleaning, denying any leak or that the oven was not cleaned and therefore unusable and certainly after the glass shattering, even more so. Would we have any legal recourse against the seller for her failure to disclose and her subsequent denial when clearly we have photographic evidence of her actions to disguise the issue. As this was purchased during the current pandemic, the agent discouraged touching anything in the flat on viewing,
Thank you for your comment. Based solely on what you have said here, whether there is an actionable misrepresentation or not depends upon what the seller specifically said to you. There is no general obligation to disclose defects when selling a property, however, if a seller is specifically asked something and gives an incorrect answer, or actively makes a false statement in respect of the property, and this false statement is one that you rely upon, then you may have redress against the seller in misrepresentation. Therefore her failure to disclose the issues you refer to would only give rise to a claim if you can show that she actively made statements that were false on, for instance, the property information form or similar.
You also say that she attempted to disguise the issue. This also can give rise to a claim as in attempting to cover up the issues she may have taken actions which constituted an attempt by her to “paint a false picture.” However this will be more difficult to establish than pointing to a specifically false statement that you relied upon.
Please feel free to telephone our Braintree office for a confidential discussion.