416 thoughts on “My Seller Lied To Me! When Is It Property Misrepresentation?”
I am in the process of selling my home which backs on to open fields owned by a local farmer. He has sold the rights to a section of land in the distance to a small developer and that development is under way. I think that at some point in the future he may expand this scheme to encompass the area directly behind my home. There is nothing in the searches or anything official on line. Do I have to include this in my TA5?
We think you mean the TA6 or seller’s property information form.
As to what to include in this, we cannot specifically tell you or provide legal advice on this website. What we can do is provide broad and general guidance which should not be considered a substitution for bespoke and considered legal advice. We would suggest that any seller read the questions in the property information form very carefully and provide truthful answers which they can verify. Problems in these matters arise when things which are said are misleading or a seller speculates on a position. If a seller does not know the answer to something, it is normally best not to answer at all.
The safest option to avoid issues in the future is to explain whatever circumstances there are in full. There can be no misrepresentation if what has been said is factually accurate. Likewise there can be no misrepresentation if nothing is said about the position and the buyer is asked to rely on their own enquiries. It is a rare case where a seller says nothing about something and is held liable for misrepresentation. These circumstances normally arise when inaccurate information is given or the seller deliberately allows the buyer to proceed under a misapprehension about something.
When I bought my terraced house 12 years ago both fences in the back garden needed replacing. We replaced the fence on the right hand side of the garden as the TA6 form stated it was ours and the neighbour to the right also believed it was our responsibility. We approached the elderly neighbour on our left hand side about replacing his fence, which he agreed to, and our fencer replaced both fences at the same time. The elderly neighbour passed away and the house was sold to new owners who took responsibility for the fence between their house and ours. These owners lived on a military base and bought the property to rent out. We did contact the owner when a section of their fence was damaged in a storm, and they promptly came to their property and mended the fence.
The house was sold to my current neighbour 3 years ago and shortly after she moved in, a different section of the fence between her house and mine fell down. There was no attempt to repair the fence and when I asked if she had any plans to do so, she said the fence was mine! This is because on the TA6 sellers questionnaire, the previous owner incorrectly ticked the boxes to state the fence between her property and mine was my responsibility. I have explained that I lived here when the fence between us was erected, that I paid for my fence on the right and the previous neighbour paid for the fence between her and I. I am still in touch with the fencer and he has also confirmed that he was paid by the old owner for erecting the fence in question. I have also shown her the stumps of the old metal posts that marked the original boundary line between our properties. You can clearly see that the fence has been put up on her side of that boundary post. She still refuses to acknowledge that the fence is hers.
Finally, I have managed to contact the previous owner and she has provided me with a detailed email confirming that the fence was their responsibility as far as she was concerned, that they maintained it while they owned the house and that she must have unknowingly ticked the incorrect boxes on the TA6 sellers questionnaire. Where do I go from here? I have just paid for my fence on the right to be repaired and have no spare funds to replace the fence that has never been my responsibility. The fact that I was here when both fences went up , know who paid for what and have an email from the previous owner confirming her mistake and that the fence belonged to her, seems to count for nothing. Where do I go from here? I don’t want to take on shared ownership with her as I have already repaired my fence and have no money left. Its clearly on her side of the boundary!! Thank you
We cannot provide any specific advice on this website. Broadly, in this particular matter, the deeds to the property will set out the position with respect to the responsibility for any fences.
There is no legal requirement on any landowner to fence off their land. If the deeds are silent on whether or not there is an obligation for the parties to erect or maintain a fence, then the default position is that there is no obligation on them to do so. Even if the deeds do say something, there might be other considerations on the basis that sometimes positive covenants (this is a requirement for a landowner to do something) might not transfer with the land when it is sold.
Any agreement between the parties historically will likely be personal to the parties themselves and not binding on future owners. Unless something has been registered at the Land Registry, this would likely be the case.
As for any claim for misrepresentation, it is possible that what has been said to you is a statement of law. A statement of law is not generally actionable, although there are some rare exceptions.
My partner and I just purchased our first home. One of the biggest factors for us was to be able to have an open plan area downstairs. We have enquired the estate agents about the type of wall between the kitchen and living room and they came back to us saying the sellers confirmed it is not load bearing. We proceeded with the purchase and on our 1st day at the new house we wanted to knock that wall down to allow for other renovations. We were quite surprised as we found blockwork under plasterboards. We decided not to touch it and get a structural engineer to come in and check it. Turns out it is in fact load bearing. We’d like to proceed with removing of the wall (was a huge deal for us as mentioned earlier) but the fact the wall is load bearing carries an additional significant cost which we were not expecting. Do we have any grounds to hold the sellers liable for the misrepresentation in this case? Thank you in advance.
This may give rise to a claim for misrepresentation. Whilst it would not ordinarily be within the remit of anyone but a buyer to check the structural condition of the property via their own surveyor, if the sellers have taken it upon themselves to confirm that it is not a load bearing wall, there may be a potential misrepresentation.
However we would envisage that there may be issues as to whether or not it was reasonable to rely on such misrepresentations, bearing in mind that the seller was probably not a surveyor or structural engineer. The Court may consider that this was merely an opinion and a statement of opinion as opposed to a statement of fact is not generally actionable in law.
There may also be an issue as to any damages recoverable. Normally damages for this sort of claim would be based on what is called “diminution in value”. This is the difference between the value of the property as purchased and the value of the property that a reasonable person would pay knowing about the issue. It may be the case that whilst your specific requirements in relation to the property would have had an impact on what you would pay for it, for a hypothetical average buyer it may not.
Normally if something is very important and would make the difference between proceeding or not, it would be best practice to negotiate a contractual clause between the seller and the buyer.
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I am in the process of selling my home which backs on to open fields owned by a local farmer. He has sold the rights to a section of land in the distance to a small developer and that development is under way. I think that at some point in the future he may expand this scheme to encompass the area directly behind my home. There is nothing in the searches or anything official on line. Do I have to include this in my TA5?
Thank you for your comment.
We think you mean the TA6 or seller’s property information form.
As to what to include in this, we cannot specifically tell you or provide legal advice on this website. What we can do is provide broad and general guidance which should not be considered a substitution for bespoke and considered legal advice. We would suggest that any seller read the questions in the property information form very carefully and provide truthful answers which they can verify. Problems in these matters arise when things which are said are misleading or a seller speculates on a position. If a seller does not know the answer to something, it is normally best not to answer at all.
The safest option to avoid issues in the future is to explain whatever circumstances there are in full. There can be no misrepresentation if what has been said is factually accurate. Likewise there can be no misrepresentation if nothing is said about the position and the buyer is asked to rely on their own enquiries. It is a rare case where a seller says nothing about something and is held liable for misrepresentation. These circumstances normally arise when inaccurate information is given or the seller deliberately allows the buyer to proceed under a misapprehension about something.
When I bought my terraced house 12 years ago both fences in the back garden needed replacing. We replaced the fence on the right hand side of the garden as the TA6 form stated it was ours and the neighbour to the right also believed it was our responsibility.
We approached the elderly neighbour on our left hand side about replacing his fence, which he agreed to, and our fencer replaced both fences at the same time. The elderly neighbour passed away and the house was sold to new owners who took responsibility for the fence between their house and ours. These owners lived on a military base and bought the property to rent out. We did contact the owner when a section of their fence was damaged in a storm, and they promptly came to their property and mended the fence.
The house was sold to my current neighbour 3 years ago and shortly after she moved in, a different section of the fence between her house and mine fell down. There was no attempt to repair the fence and when I asked if she had any plans to do so, she said the fence was mine! This is because on the TA6 sellers questionnaire, the previous owner incorrectly ticked the boxes to state the fence between her property and mine was my responsibility. I have explained that I lived here when the fence between us was erected, that I paid for my fence on the right and the previous neighbour paid for the fence between her and I. I am still in touch with the fencer and he has also confirmed that he was paid by the old owner for erecting the fence in question. I have also shown her the stumps of the old metal posts that marked the original boundary line between our properties. You can clearly see that the fence has been put up on her side of that boundary post. She still refuses to acknowledge that the fence is hers.
Finally, I have managed to contact the previous owner and she has provided me with a detailed email confirming that the fence was their responsibility as far as she was concerned, that they maintained it while they owned the house and that she must have unknowingly ticked the incorrect boxes on the TA6 sellers questionnaire. Where do I go from here? I have just paid for my fence on the right to be repaired and have no spare funds to replace the fence that has never been my responsibility. The fact that I was here when both fences went up , know who paid for what and have an email from the previous owner confirming her mistake and that the fence belonged to her, seems to count for nothing.
Where do I go from here? I don’t want to take on shared ownership with her as I have already repaired my fence and have no money left. Its clearly on her side of the boundary!!
Thank you
Thank you for your comment.
We cannot provide any specific advice on this website. Broadly, in this particular matter, the deeds to the property will set out the position with respect to the responsibility for any fences.
There is no legal requirement on any landowner to fence off their land. If the deeds are silent on whether or not there is an obligation for the parties to erect or maintain a fence, then the default position is that there is no obligation on them to do so. Even if the deeds do say something, there might be other considerations on the basis that sometimes positive covenants (this is a requirement for a landowner to do something) might not transfer with the land when it is sold.
Any agreement between the parties historically will likely be personal to the parties themselves and not binding on future owners. Unless something has been registered at the Land Registry, this would likely be the case.
As for any claim for misrepresentation, it is possible that what has been said to you is a statement of law. A statement of law is not generally actionable, although there are some rare exceptions.
My partner and I just purchased our first home. One of the biggest factors for us was to be able to have an open plan area downstairs. We have enquired the estate agents about the type of wall between the kitchen and living room and they came back to us saying the sellers confirmed it is not load bearing. We proceeded with the purchase and on our 1st day at the new house we wanted to knock that wall down to allow for other renovations. We were quite surprised as we found blockwork under plasterboards. We decided not to touch it and get a structural engineer to come in and check it. Turns out it is in fact load bearing. We’d like to proceed with removing of the wall (was a huge deal for us as mentioned earlier) but the fact the wall is load bearing carries an additional significant cost which we were not expecting.
Do we have any grounds to hold the sellers liable for the misrepresentation in this case?
Thank you in advance.
Thank you for your comment.
This may give rise to a claim for misrepresentation. Whilst it would not ordinarily be within the remit of anyone but a buyer to check the structural condition of the property via their own surveyor, if the sellers have taken it upon themselves to confirm that it is not a load bearing wall, there may be a potential misrepresentation.
However we would envisage that there may be issues as to whether or not it was reasonable to rely on such misrepresentations, bearing in mind that the seller was probably not a surveyor or structural engineer. The Court may consider that this was merely an opinion and a statement of opinion as opposed to a statement of fact is not generally actionable in law.
There may also be an issue as to any damages recoverable. Normally damages for this sort of claim would be based on what is called “diminution in value”. This is the difference between the value of the property as purchased and the value of the property that a reasonable person would pay knowing about the issue. It may be the case that whilst your specific requirements in relation to the property would have had an impact on what you would pay for it, for a hypothetical average buyer it may not.
Normally if something is very important and would make the difference between proceeding or not, it would be best practice to negotiate a contractual clause between the seller and the buyer.