416 thoughts on “My Seller Lied To Me! When Is It Property Misrepresentation?”
In 2020 We bought a Victorian property(1860) which had a small rear extension (2007). The garage was also converted without proper planning against which we have an indemnity insurance. We had a pre purchase drain survey with map and cctv. We recently had a drain blockage and discovered a broken trap, during this process the plumber called the water company to report a potential misconnection- where the waste from the extension and garage may not be connected to the correct sewer. This is to be investigated by the network engineers. There will be a significant cost to redirect the waste to the appropriate sewer if this proves to be the case. Do we have recourse to the drain surveyors ( NACD members at the time in 2020), do we have recourse under the property declarations or searches made by the conveyancing and do we have recourse to the previous owners who may not have had correct permissions or not completed correct connections on drainage for their extension? The extension was completed in 2007. No misconnection was identified on the survey, no misconnection was identified by two Thames water inspectors either but because the plumber flagged this we are now waiting for the network engineer to confirm .
Fundamentally when considering any claim, it is necessary to apportion “blame” and show that there was a causal connection between what someone did or did not do and the loss you suffered.
In plain English, unless your seller told you that there was no issue, and things like this are not often discussed between a buyer and seller, there there is unlikely to be a claim.
As for the searches, whether or not there is claim against the search provider will depend on whether or not their report is accurate and whether or not the issue in question should have been identified. The same is true of the surveyor and this would require a consideration of the surveyor’s retainer, this is what the surveyor agreed to do for you. If they were not required to check for this issue, then they cannot be held liable for it.
I have purchased a property in May 2022. The seller stated on the property information that alterations have been made(ensuite) and ticked yes on having all relevant approvals. On the home survey , the surveyor stated that a staircase was installed to the attic yet the seller never mentioned that as alteration, but they sent to us (upon request) a letter from their architect stating that staircase was changed like for like and the council inspected the property and they confirmed no more approvals were required. My solicitor suggested holding 10k as retention fees till confirmation from the council would be provided . After 6 months we got the retention fees as they didn’t get us come back to us. 4 months after, I came to know from the council that, the seller had two applications to approve the staircase and the ensuite but both were disapproved being non compliant to building standards. Now the council is threatening me as the new owner if I didn’t legalize the problems , they would put a notice on my property and the accused my solicitor for not doing his due diligence and confirmed that they advised the previous owner that they can’t sell the property till they make things right but they didn’t issue a notice on the property that time because the seller had an application open. My question is , what shall I do, who shall be held accountable, is my solicitor guilty either totally or partly, shall I seek litigation advice for a claim, will be covered by my home insurance legal protection policy, and importantly, shall I call my lender and discuss the matter further with them? Thanks
You probably should check with your insurers if you believe that you have appropriate cover in place.
With respect to any claims against the seller, this will depend on the contractual terms you agreed (although these are often fairly standard) and precisely what was said about the situation. In short, if the seller has said something that is misleading and factually inaccurate, you relied on this when entering into the contract and it has caused you a loss, then there would be a claim for misrepresentation. Put another way, if it can be said that the seller told you, as a matter of fact, that all necessary approvals had been received and they had not been, you may have a claim for misrepresentation.
Generally a statement about the legal position of something (a statement of law), for example that the works undertaken were legally compliant with relevant legislation, would not be actionable. However, following the case of Pankhania v LB Hackney [2002], it is sometimes the case that an inaccurate statement about the legal position of something is considered to be a statement of fact, and therefore actionable.
As for your solicitor or surveyor, any claim here would be based on professional negligence. Broadly, it would be necessary to consider the scope of the retainer (that is whether or not advice about the points in question was part of what they agreed to do for you) and whether or not the advice given complied with the requirement to give advice as a reasonably competent professional in the same position would have done. From this, a decision could be made as to whether or not your solicitor, surveyor or both should have warned you about the issues you are now experiencing or taken alternative steps.
Please do feel free get in touch if you would like to consider the matter in detail.
Hi We found that a flat we are hoping to purchase has some amendments without a valid building control certificate present. All after placing an offer, arranging a mortgage and half way through solicitors checks. Before coming out with an offer, we asked estate agents whether the property has any alterations or structural defects to it, to which they answered no on several occasions. Submitted forms TA6 and TA7 state that there are no alterations to the property, however just very recently we came across some past sales images online, clearly showing the alterations took place in this very property . Is there a claim for us for the costs incurred so far eg. solicitors, survey, valuation, bearing in mind that not only estate agents said there are no alterations and no issues with the building whatsoever, but also owners appear to “not know” about them as stated on the forms TA6 and TA7. We are aware that there are circumstances where building control is not required, and that sometimes landlord can allow for such works to take place. If however there is no sign of anyone knowing about the works, do we have a valid claim to recover the costs incurred so far, having entered into the proceedings in good faith? Luckily we are not after exchange or completion, so assume if things were to come out worse than expected, we can just pull out of the transaction all together? Would appreciate your comments – thank you!
If you have not exchanged contracts, then there is no contract to breach. Likewise there would be no claim for misrepresentation because you did not rely on anything the seller said when entering into the contract. It is quite unlikely that there would be any basis of claim in relation to the costs you have incurred in investigating the property.
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In 2020 We bought a Victorian property(1860) which had a small rear extension (2007). The garage was also converted without proper planning against which we have an indemnity insurance. We had a pre purchase drain survey with map and cctv. We recently had a drain blockage and discovered a broken trap, during this process the plumber called the water company to report a potential misconnection- where the waste from the extension and garage may not be connected to the correct sewer. This is to be investigated by the network engineers. There will be a significant cost to redirect the waste to the appropriate sewer if this proves to be the case. Do we have recourse to the drain surveyors ( NACD members at the time in 2020), do we have recourse under the property declarations or searches made by the conveyancing and do we have recourse to the previous owners who may not have had correct permissions or not completed correct connections on drainage for their extension? The extension was completed in 2007. No misconnection was identified on the survey, no misconnection was identified by two Thames water inspectors either but because the plumber flagged this we are now waiting for the network engineer to confirm .
Thank you for your comment.
Fundamentally when considering any claim, it is necessary to apportion “blame” and show that there was a causal connection between what someone did or did not do and the loss you suffered.
In plain English, unless your seller told you that there was no issue, and things like this are not often discussed between a buyer and seller, there there is unlikely to be a claim.
As for the searches, whether or not there is claim against the search provider will depend on whether or not their report is accurate and whether or not the issue in question should have been identified. The same is true of the surveyor and this would require a consideration of the surveyor’s retainer, this is what the surveyor agreed to do for you. If they were not required to check for this issue, then they cannot be held liable for it.
I have purchased a property in May 2022. The seller stated on the property information that alterations have been made(ensuite) and ticked yes on having all relevant approvals. On the home survey , the surveyor stated that a staircase was installed to the attic yet the seller never mentioned that as alteration, but they sent to us (upon request) a letter from their architect stating that staircase was changed like for like and the council inspected the property and they confirmed no more approvals were required. My solicitor suggested holding 10k as retention fees till confirmation from the council would be provided . After 6 months we got the retention fees as they didn’t get us come back to us. 4 months after, I came to know from the council that, the seller had two applications to approve the staircase and the ensuite but both were disapproved being non compliant to building standards. Now the council is threatening me as the new owner if I didn’t legalize the problems , they would put a notice on my property and the accused my solicitor for not doing his due diligence and confirmed that they advised the previous owner that they can’t sell the property till they make things right but they didn’t issue a notice on the property that time because the seller had an application open. My question is , what shall I do, who shall be held accountable, is my solicitor guilty either totally or partly, shall I seek litigation advice for a claim, will be covered by my home insurance legal protection policy, and importantly, shall I call my lender and discuss the matter further with them? Thanks
Thank you for your comment.
You probably should check with your insurers if you believe that you have appropriate cover in place.
With respect to any claims against the seller, this will depend on the contractual terms you agreed (although these are often fairly standard) and precisely what was said about the situation. In short, if the seller has said something that is misleading and factually inaccurate, you relied on this when entering into the contract and it has caused you a loss, then there would be a claim for misrepresentation. Put another way, if it can be said that the seller told you, as a matter of fact, that all necessary approvals had been received and they had not been, you may have a claim for misrepresentation.
Generally a statement about the legal position of something (a statement of law), for example that the works undertaken were legally compliant with relevant legislation, would not be actionable. However, following the case of Pankhania v LB Hackney [2002], it is sometimes the case that an inaccurate statement about the legal position of something is considered to be a statement of fact, and therefore actionable.
As for your solicitor or surveyor, any claim here would be based on professional negligence. Broadly, it would be necessary to consider the scope of the retainer (that is whether or not advice about the points in question was part of what they agreed to do for you) and whether or not the advice given complied with the requirement to give advice as a reasonably competent professional in the same position would have done. From this, a decision could be made as to whether or not your solicitor, surveyor or both should have warned you about the issues you are now experiencing or taken alternative steps.
Please do feel free get in touch if you would like to consider the matter in detail.
Hi
We found that a flat we are hoping to purchase has some amendments without a valid building control certificate present. All after placing an offer, arranging a mortgage and half way through solicitors checks. Before coming out with an offer, we asked estate agents whether the property has any alterations or structural defects to it, to which they answered no on several occasions. Submitted forms TA6 and TA7 state that there are no alterations to the property, however just very recently we came across some past sales images online, clearly showing the alterations took place in this very property .
Is there a claim for us for the costs incurred so far eg. solicitors, survey, valuation, bearing in mind that not only estate agents said there are no alterations and no issues with the building whatsoever, but also owners appear to “not know” about them as stated on the forms TA6 and TA7. We are aware that there are circumstances where building control is not required, and that sometimes landlord can allow for such works to take place. If however there is no sign of anyone knowing about the works, do we have a valid claim to recover the costs incurred so far, having entered into the proceedings in good faith? Luckily we are not after exchange or completion, so assume if things were to come out worse than expected, we can just pull out of the transaction all together? Would appreciate your comments – thank you!
Thank you for your comment.
If you have not exchanged contracts, then there is no contract to breach. Likewise there would be no claim for misrepresentation because you did not rely on anything the seller said when entering into the contract. It is quite unlikely that there would be any basis of claim in relation to the costs you have incurred in investigating the property.