418 thoughts on “My Seller Lied To Me! When Is It Property Misrepresentation?”
I purchased a house three years ago and the TA6 explicitly said no to flooding.
It is apparent now , and within six months of moving in that under very heavy rain ground water flows up into three rooms. It is confirmed as ground water as all other points of potential ingress eliminated. 25/50k to resolve. There is no way to have picked this up by survey as only evident on three or four days a year.
I tracked a tenant from seven years ago under the previous owner down who confirmed they had found an issue with one room and the letting agent had fixed it. I can’t track the other tenants down but the letting agent will know if any issues were reported by subsequent tenants. Also vendor didn’t disclose that woodburner condemned by heating engineer as a result of a buckled flue. That cost 2500 k to sort
Thank you for your comment. While we are unable to give detailed advice as to your specific situation on this page, the general rule is that there is no requirement for the seller to volunteer any information about the property; just that any information they do give must be correct. That it, they must have made a false statement, which you can evidence was false, and which you relied upon, and were entitled to rely upon it, and that as a result of which the contract was entered into and you suffered loss and damage as a result.
Now if the seller denied when asked that there was flooding in the property and this was false, then there may be a claim there, but you will need to prove that there was flooding in the past, and that the seller knew about it. It also will depend on exactly what happened both with this recent flood and the previous flood in the property. Regarding the condemned woodburner, though, we would need to show that this was asked about and that an actively false statement was made, not just that they failed to disclose it.
If you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to ring our Braintree office on 01376 554330.
Hi, I purchased a house 6 weeks ago that had a “loft conversion.” There was no need for building regulations as the seller informed my solicitors that the works was done over 10 years ago. This was also stated on the TR6 form along with “no changes to the roof structure.” After investigation, there has been changes to the roof structure and after speaking to neighbours (that moved in their house in 2016) they completed the works less than 10 years ago. There was an indemnity policy taken out, but surely a policy is void if they lied. I kept asking for relevant information etc and took months to get a response and by this time we was receiving pressure from the below chain.
The electrical certificate also states that there are no issues etc, yet after inspection, there is no earth wires in the lighting.
The survey didn’t state that there was any roof structural changes but did state that the room shouldn’t be used until it met building regs. I feel terrible with actually going through with the purchase but there was many reasons why I needed to sell my old house and feel a few things were overlooked on my part, to make this happen.
I’m just wondering where I stand with the lies on the forms and the electrical certificate? I have already had to purchase a new roof covering in the time we have been here, due to bad workmanship.
Look forward to hearing your response
Thank you for your comment and apologies for the delay in responding.
While we are unable to comment on specific issues without sight of the relevant documentation, there may be a situation here which could give rise to a claim. The key elements of a misrepresentation claim are that you must show that the seller made a false statement, which you relied upon, and were entitled to reply upon, and that as a result of which you suffered a loss and damage.
While it appears that this may be the case here based solely on what you have said, your comment suggests that you knew of all these issues and went through with the sale anyhow. This may hamper your claim potentially if so, as the seller may argue that you knew of these things but went ahead and exchanged regardless therefore you were not, in fact, misled as you did not necessarily rely upon the false statements.
This may be something we can assist you with. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion.
Hello, I completed on a property last week and I had been told via the listing and TA6 form that there was allocated secure underground parking space. On moving into the flat, I was told by concierge that I need to provide evidence of my parking bay and realised i was unable to find this in the lease or other property documents
What course of action can I take in the event that the seller had no legal right to a parking bay and misinformed me about this?
Thank you for your comment and apologies for the delay in responding.
Whether or not there is anything here will depend on what exactly the seller stated to you in the run up to the formation of the contract. You have said that the seller said that there was an allocated parking space, and from the sound of it this might be a significant detriment to you if in fact this was a false statement and as it was in the form TA6 you would prima facie be entitled to rely upon this.
This is something we would be able to assist you with. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion.
As the festive season approaches, it’s time for celebration, connection and generosity. Unfortunately, it’s also a time when scammers become increasingly active, taking advantage of the surge in online shopping, deliveries and charitable donations. At Cunningtons, we believe in looking out for our community, especially the most vulnerable among us. That’s why we’ve put together […]
You’ve found your dream home. The survey’s done. Your solicitor has the searches back. Everyone’s ready to exchange contracts. And then someone in the chain pulls out. In our earlier article on delayed completion, we looked at what happens when things go wrong after contracts are exchanged. But what about when the chain breaks before […]
Delayed completion: what are your options when someone in your chain of property transactions is late? With a group of strangers all working toward completing on the same date, it's a wonder it ever works out on time.
I purchased a house three years ago and the TA6 explicitly said no to flooding.
It is apparent now , and within six months of moving in that under very heavy rain ground water flows up into three rooms. It is confirmed as ground water as all other points of potential ingress eliminated. 25/50k to resolve. There is no way to have picked this up by survey as only evident on three or four days a year.
I tracked a tenant from seven years ago under the previous owner down who confirmed they had found an issue with one room and the letting agent had fixed it. I can’t track the other tenants down but the letting agent will know if any issues were reported by subsequent tenants. Also vendor didn’t disclose that woodburner condemned by heating engineer as a result of a buckled flue. That cost 2500 k to sort
Thank you for your comment. While we are unable to give detailed advice as to your specific situation on this page, the general rule is that there is no requirement for the seller to volunteer any information about the property; just that any information they do give must be correct. That it, they must have made a false statement, which you can evidence was false, and which you relied upon, and were entitled to rely upon it, and that as a result of which the contract was entered into and you suffered loss and damage as a result.
Now if the seller denied when asked that there was flooding in the property and this was false, then there may be a claim there, but you will need to prove that there was flooding in the past, and that the seller knew about it. It also will depend on exactly what happened both with this recent flood and the previous flood in the property. Regarding the condemned woodburner, though, we would need to show that this was asked about and that an actively false statement was made, not just that they failed to disclose it.
If you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to ring our Braintree office on 01376 554330.
Hi, I purchased a house 6 weeks ago that had a “loft conversion.” There was no need for building regulations as the seller informed my solicitors that the works was done over 10 years ago. This was also stated on the TR6 form along with “no changes to the roof structure.” After investigation, there has been changes to the roof structure and after speaking to neighbours (that moved in their house in 2016) they completed the works less than 10 years ago. There was an indemnity policy taken out, but surely a policy is void if they lied. I kept asking for relevant information etc and took months to get a response and by this time we was receiving pressure from the below chain.
The electrical certificate also states that there are no issues etc, yet after inspection, there is no earth wires in the lighting.
The survey didn’t state that there was any roof structural changes but did state that the room shouldn’t be used until it met building regs. I feel terrible with actually going through with the purchase but there was many reasons why I needed to sell my old house and feel a few things were overlooked on my part, to make this happen.
I’m just wondering where I stand with the lies on the forms and the electrical certificate? I have already had to purchase a new roof covering in the time we have been here, due to bad workmanship.
Look forward to hearing your response
Thank you for your comment and apologies for the delay in responding.
While we are unable to comment on specific issues without sight of the relevant documentation, there may be a situation here which could give rise to a claim. The key elements of a misrepresentation claim are that you must show that the seller made a false statement, which you relied upon, and were entitled to reply upon, and that as a result of which you suffered a loss and damage.
While it appears that this may be the case here based solely on what you have said, your comment suggests that you knew of all these issues and went through with the sale anyhow. This may hamper your claim potentially if so, as the seller may argue that you knew of these things but went ahead and exchanged regardless therefore you were not, in fact, misled as you did not necessarily rely upon the false statements.
This may be something we can assist you with. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion.
Hello, I completed on a property last week and I had been told via the listing and TA6 form that there was allocated secure underground parking space. On moving into the flat, I was told by concierge that I need to provide evidence of my parking bay and realised i was unable to find this in the lease or other property documents
What course of action can I take in the event that the seller had no legal right to a parking bay and misinformed me about this?
Thank you for your comment and apologies for the delay in responding.
Whether or not there is anything here will depend on what exactly the seller stated to you in the run up to the formation of the contract. You have said that the seller said that there was an allocated parking space, and from the sound of it this might be a significant detriment to you if in fact this was a false statement and as it was in the form TA6 you would prima facie be entitled to rely upon this.
This is something we would be able to assist you with. Please feel free to contact us for a confidential discussion.