416 thoughts on “My Seller Lied To Me! When Is It Property Misrepresentation?”
We purchased a house in August 2022. The legal paperwork stated the following;
– The property would be empty when we completed – The stop tap was located under the kitchen sink – The rent on the garden (£40 a year, rented from the local Parish) had been paid as it fell due in June or July of 2022 and we had agreed a completion date of 12.08.22
The estate agents floorplan also stated the cupboard under the stairs was just that, a cupboard.
Upon completion and entering the property for the first time, we were greeted with a lot of the previous owners furniture they had not taken with them. I have photo evidence. We couldn’t move in to the property due to there being no space for our belongings.
A couple of days later whilst still cleaning and removing furniture from the property, we needed to locate the stop tap to enable us to plumb in the washing machine and test it. Heading to under the kitchen sink, we found no stop tap. After several hours (I wish I was joking!!) of hunting down this stop tap, we’d almost given up. Out of desperation, I suggested we look in the cupboard under the stairs. This took time as we had to remove more of the previous owners junk they’d decided to leave piled up in the cupboard. Only for my husband to response with, ‘what the f**k’… Looking in the cupboard, I understood his response. There were crudely placed loft boarding across old wooden beams concealing an entrance to a cellar we knew nothing about. We know the previous owners knew of this, as this is why they falsely claimed the stop tap to be under the sink, instead of on the stairs to the cellar and found more of their junk in the cellar.
During the course of a conveyancing transaction, the seller will normally agree to give both vacant possession and leave the property in a reasonable and clean state. If this has not happened then there is possibly a claim for misrepresentation. In short, you would need to show that the seller misled you by stating that they would leave the property in a reasonable state of repair and remove all of their belongings (i.e. vacant possession) and that this statement was false. You would also need to show that you relied on that statement to some degree when entering into the contract.
If this has happened, then you may have a basis of claim.
Hello. I write because I think there is something very misleading taking place. A piece of land has very recently been sold in our village. Within days the same piece of land came back on the market to be sold by auction. Originally the land was sold with a AHA tenancy , now however it is being sold by the new owner as full vacant possession possibilities for equestrian, sporting activities even building. However living in a small village I know the farmer who still holds AHA tenancy. The land is also being sold on another site divided into 6 plots . On this site granted there is no mention of full vacant possession or AHA. Surely all of this at best is not right?
Thank you for your comments. I am afraid that this is not something that we can comment on, as this blog is centred on misrepresentation claims between a buyer and a seller. It sounds like the matter relates to planning issues and whether or not the Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy has or has not been brought to an end.
I bought a leasehold property with an agreement that the seller will extend the lease on completion. property completed and seller solicitor confirmed that the lease extension took place on same day. My solicitor waited for the new lease documentation which wasn’t forthcoming and later found out that the lease extension never too place. I am now left with a much less lease than I agreed to buy and new lease review with higher rent than anticipated. My solicitor said I can sue the seller for breach of contract/specific performance but they are struggling to find the forwarding address for the seller. Can you advise?
Thank you for your enquiry. The circumstances of your matter sound questionable and worth investigation. There may be two bases of claim here.
The first may be a claim in contract against the seller, depending on the terms of the contract agreed between the parties. If a lease extension was to take place, it may very well be important for an appropriate contractual clause to be included in the special conditions of the conditions of sale.
Secondly, there may be a claim for misrepresentation. If the seller led you to believe that a lease extension would be taking place and it transpired that that representation was false, then you may be able to bring a claim against the seller.
As to whether or not the solicitors could be said to be at fault, this depends on a number of circumstances. As mentioned above, you would ordinarily expect some sort of contractual agreement to be in place if a lease extension had not completed prior to exchange of contracts.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to explore the matter in more detail.
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We purchased a house in August 2022. The legal paperwork stated the following;
– The property would be empty when we completed
– The stop tap was located under the kitchen sink
– The rent on the garden (£40 a year, rented from the local Parish) had been paid as it fell due in June or July of 2022 and we had agreed a completion date of 12.08.22
The estate agents floorplan also stated the cupboard under the stairs was just that, a cupboard.
Upon completion and entering the property for the first time, we were greeted with a lot of the previous owners furniture they had not taken with them. I have photo evidence.
We couldn’t move in to the property due to there being no space for our belongings.
A couple of days later whilst still cleaning and removing furniture from the property, we needed to locate the stop tap to enable us to plumb in the washing machine and test it. Heading to under the kitchen sink, we found no stop tap.
After several hours (I wish I was joking!!) of hunting down this stop tap, we’d almost given up. Out of desperation, I suggested we look in the cupboard under the stairs. This took time as we had to remove more of the previous owners junk they’d decided to leave piled up in the cupboard. Only for my husband to response with, ‘what the f**k’…
Looking in the cupboard, I understood his response. There were crudely placed loft boarding across old wooden beams concealing an entrance to a cellar we knew nothing about.
We know the previous owners knew of this, as this is why they falsely claimed the stop tap to be under the sink, instead of on the stairs to the cellar and found more of their junk in the cellar.
Where do we stand legally with this?
During the course of a conveyancing transaction, the seller will normally agree to give both vacant possession and leave the property in a reasonable and clean state. If this has not happened then there is possibly a claim for misrepresentation. In short, you would need to show that the seller misled you by stating that they would leave the property in a reasonable state of repair and remove all of their belongings (i.e. vacant possession) and that this statement was false. You would also need to show that you relied on that statement to some degree when entering into the contract.
If this has happened, then you may have a basis of claim.
Hello. I write because I think there is something very misleading taking place.
A piece of land has very recently been sold in our village. Within days the same piece of land came back on the market to be sold by auction.
Originally the land was sold with a AHA tenancy , now however it is being sold by the new owner as full vacant possession possibilities for equestrian, sporting activities even building.
However living in a small village I know the farmer who still holds AHA tenancy.
The land is also being sold on another site divided into 6 plots . On this site granted there is no mention of full vacant possession or AHA.
Surely all of this at best is not right?
Thank you for your comments. I am afraid that this is not something that we can comment on, as this blog is centred on misrepresentation claims between a buyer and a seller. It sounds like the matter relates to planning issues and whether or not the Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy has or has not been brought to an end.
I bought a leasehold property with an agreement that the seller will extend the lease on completion. property completed and seller solicitor confirmed that the lease extension took place on same day. My solicitor waited for the new lease documentation which wasn’t forthcoming and later found out that the lease extension never too place. I am now left with a much less lease than I agreed to buy and new lease review with higher rent than anticipated.
My solicitor said I can sue the seller for breach of contract/specific performance but they are struggling to find the forwarding address for the seller.
Can you advise?
Thank you for your enquiry. The circumstances of your matter sound questionable and worth investigation. There may be two bases of claim here.
The first may be a claim in contract against the seller, depending on the terms of the contract agreed between the parties. If a lease extension was to take place, it may very well be important for an appropriate contractual clause to be included in the special conditions of the conditions of sale.
Secondly, there may be a claim for misrepresentation. If the seller led you to believe that a lease extension would be taking place and it transpired that that representation was false, then you may be able to bring a claim against the seller.
As to whether or not the solicitors could be said to be at fault, this depends on a number of circumstances. As mentioned above, you would ordinarily expect some sort of contractual agreement to be in place if a lease extension had not completed prior to exchange of contracts.
Please do feel free to get in touch if you would like to explore the matter in more detail.