191 thoughts on “Property Misrepresentation Claims in Practice”
We recently completed on a property purchase and upon moving in, found a letter left for us by the sellers, detailing a planning application for the building of a two storey dwelling at the rear of our shallow garden. The planning application was submitted after the PIF was completed and our sellers did not tell us about it prior to exchange. Planning has now been approved and we face having a house now being built in close proximity to our bungalow, overlooking our main living areas and negatively impacting our privacy. Would this be a valid matter for a misrepresentation claim?
Whether or not this amounts to a misrepresentation will depend on quite a large number of factors, but primarily what you were told about planning, nearby development and the receipt of notices by the seller.
It does occur that planning notices are received after a property information form has been completed and sent. Normally, especially in a situation where the conveyancing solicitors have adopted the Law Society’s Conveyancing Protocol, there would be a general duty to update the property information form.
In answer to your query, this may amount to a misrepresentation, but much will depend on the facts of the matter.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to explore the matter in more detail with us.
I had an ongoing problem with a neighbour which saw me put a harassment complaint in with the police in January this year. the neighbour was sectioned in March and, because of this, the police didn’t proceed. he’s back now and there have been no further issues. The word that repeatedly came up with the police and mental health people regarding his sectioning and case in general was ‘confidential.’ Am I obliged to mention the issue on the property information form? And more generally, how likely are claims of property misrepresentation to succeed? Thanks
Thank you for your comment. There is no obligation on a seller to include any information on a property information form if they do not want to. However, if they are going to include information, it should be accurate.
If the question is “do you need to mention any issues with your neighbours”, the answer to that is “no”. It is not necessary to volunteer that information. However, if asked, the only response you are able to give is either an accurate one, or to tell the prospective buyer to make their own enquiries.
As to the success of misrepresentation claims, this is not something which we are able to answer, even in broad terms. The success of any claim depends on quite a large number of factors which are all very specific to each individual matter.
thanks for the reply. There have been no further incidents and I don’t really want to ‘brand’ this person for life as he has generally been ok. I have put in writing to him that I am glad he is on the right track now. If something is reported to the police does that mean it should be mentioned in the property information form? If I don’t mention it and something happens again my concern is my buyers would have a misrepresentation case.
Thank you for your reply. As to what to include in a property information form, this is entirely a seller’s choice. A seller is not obliged to complete the property information form at all if they do not want to. If they do want to volunteer information about the situation and the property, they should ensure that the information they are providing is accurate.
In answer to your specific query, there is no obligation on a seller to mention anything which has involved the police. However, if the buyer asks a question about this and the seller wishes to give a response, an accurate response should be given.
I recently bought a property at auction, couldn’t complete in set 2oday due to lender , notice given which i wasn’t made aware of by my solicitor, a day to end of notice period I received my offer and lender willing to remit funds same day once documents are sent over. solicitor tells me seller has rescinded and only on this day did i know a notice was given , called lender who were happy to remit funds but solicitor insists completion cant be met as sellers say it is past 2pm and gave an hour, within the hour my solicitor was on phone convincing me a fund lender promised cannot be received, solicitor calls lender and says its not possible due to checks. correspondence from sellers didn’t mention time but that completion must be same day, is my solicitor right in insisting we couldn’t complete and not sending my documents to the lender for release of funds as i was told, and is the solicitor right not to have told me of the notice period even though i asked earlier without a response but just told I accrued 41£ per day of non completion making me believe i could complete on my terms and that time wasn’t a constraint and that all i needed to do was pay interest on completion. I was only informed of notice to complete on the day letter to rescind was served, and pursued to ensure funds were remitted but my solicitor wouldn’t do the needful until time was spent insisting we couldn’t complete in a correspondence from the seller it said I wasn’t in the position to complete at the end of the month which wasn’t true as i could complete same or next day, have I been misrepresented by my solicitor and not given adequate information that led ultimately to a fall of sale from an auction
Thank you for your comment. We would be unable to provide advice as specific as you require on our website. We are only able to provide general guidance, which cannot be considered a substitution for proper, considered, legal advice.
In terms of the matter generally, I do not think you are talking about misrepresentation, but a possible negligence claim against your solicitor. We would need to consider the file in much more detail, in particular, when your solicitor was appraised of certain events and when instructions were sought, to be able to give any kind of opinion on whether or not there was any negligence.
A conveyancing solicitor is broadly expected to behave as a “reasonably competent conveyancing solicitor” but this is not defined by law. This is because the circumstances and facts of any matter are always relevant. If it can be said that your solicitor acted in a way which was in accordance with standard practice or how any other solicitor would have behaved, then there is unlikely to be any negligence. However, if there has been an unreasonable delay in obtaining instructions from you, then there may very well be a basis of claim.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to consider the position in more detail.
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We recently completed on a property purchase and upon moving in, found a letter left for us by the sellers, detailing a planning application for the building of a two storey dwelling at the rear of our shallow garden. The planning application was submitted after the PIF was completed and our sellers did not tell us about it prior to exchange. Planning has now been approved and we face having a house now being built in close proximity to our bungalow, overlooking our main living areas and negatively impacting our privacy. Would this be a valid matter for a misrepresentation claim?
Thank you for your comment.
Whether or not this amounts to a misrepresentation will depend on quite a large number of factors, but primarily what you were told about planning, nearby development and the receipt of notices by the seller.
It does occur that planning notices are received after a property information form has been completed and sent. Normally, especially in a situation where the conveyancing solicitors have adopted the Law Society’s Conveyancing Protocol, there would be a general duty to update the property information form.
In answer to your query, this may amount to a misrepresentation, but much will depend on the facts of the matter.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to explore the matter in more detail with us.
I had an ongoing problem with a neighbour which saw me put a harassment complaint in with the police in January this year. the neighbour was sectioned in March and, because of this, the police didn’t proceed. he’s back now and there have been no further issues. The word that repeatedly came up with the police and mental health people regarding his sectioning and case in general was ‘confidential.’ Am I obliged to mention the issue on the property information form? And more generally, how likely are claims of property misrepresentation to succeed? Thanks
Thank you for your comment. There is no obligation on a seller to include any information on a property information form if they do not want to. However, if they are going to include information, it should be accurate.
If the question is “do you need to mention any issues with your neighbours”, the answer to that is “no”. It is not necessary to volunteer that information. However, if asked, the only response you are able to give is either an accurate one, or to tell the prospective buyer to make their own enquiries.
As to the success of misrepresentation claims, this is not something which we are able to answer, even in broad terms. The success of any claim depends on quite a large number of factors which are all very specific to each individual matter.
thanks for the reply. There have been no further incidents and I don’t really want to ‘brand’ this person for life as he has generally been ok. I have put in writing to him that I am glad he is on the right track now. If something is reported to the police does that mean it should be mentioned in the property information form? If I don’t mention it and something happens again my concern is my buyers would have a misrepresentation case.
Thank you for your reply. As to what to include in a property information form, this is entirely a seller’s choice. A seller is not obliged to complete the property information form at all if they do not want to. If they do want to volunteer information about the situation and the property, they should ensure that the information they are providing is accurate.
In answer to your specific query, there is no obligation on a seller to mention anything which has involved the police. However, if the buyer asks a question about this and the seller wishes to give a response, an accurate response should be given.
I recently bought a property at auction, couldn’t complete in set 2oday due to lender , notice given which i wasn’t made aware of by my solicitor, a day to end of notice period I received my offer and lender willing to remit funds same day once documents are sent over.
solicitor tells me seller has rescinded and only on this day did i know a notice was given , called lender who were happy to remit funds but solicitor insists completion cant be met as sellers say it is past 2pm and gave an hour, within the hour my solicitor was on phone convincing me a fund lender promised cannot be received, solicitor calls lender and says its not possible due to checks.
correspondence from sellers didn’t mention time but that completion must be same day,
is my solicitor right in insisting we couldn’t complete and not sending my documents to the lender for release of funds as i was told, and is the solicitor right not to have told me of the notice period even though i asked earlier without a response but just told I accrued 41£ per day of non completion making me believe i could complete on my terms and that time wasn’t a constraint and that all i needed to do was pay interest on completion.
I was only informed of notice to complete on the day letter to rescind was served, and pursued to ensure funds were remitted but my solicitor wouldn’t do the needful until time was spent insisting we couldn’t complete
in a correspondence from the seller it said I wasn’t in the position to complete at the end of the month which wasn’t true as i could complete same or next day,
have I been misrepresented by my solicitor and not given adequate information that led ultimately to a fall of sale from an auction
thanks
Thank you for your comment. We would be unable to provide advice as specific as you require on our website. We are only able to provide general guidance, which cannot be considered a substitution for proper, considered, legal advice.
In terms of the matter generally, I do not think you are talking about misrepresentation, but a possible negligence claim against your solicitor. We would need to consider the file in much more detail, in particular, when your solicitor was appraised of certain events and when instructions were sought, to be able to give any kind of opinion on whether or not there was any negligence.
A conveyancing solicitor is broadly expected to behave as a “reasonably competent conveyancing solicitor” but this is not defined by law. This is because the circumstances and facts of any matter are always relevant. If it can be said that your solicitor acted in a way which was in accordance with standard practice or how any other solicitor would have behaved, then there is unlikely to be any negligence. However, if there has been an unreasonable delay in obtaining instructions from you, then there may very well be a basis of claim.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to consider the position in more detail.