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biggles3309
Posts: 2 Newbie
We have been looking to move for a while now, but hadn't done much more than get the house ready for sale. Then we found what we thought was a wonderful house at a good price in a lovely development in Melksham called 1 Scholars walk. It had a pylon in the field behind it, but that didn't worry us and for us it explained why it hadn't sold. We rushed home and put the house on the market and priced it to sell quickly as we were told there was other interest and we had to complete by the 31st March to keep the price it was on at. We also had to have a complete chain to reserve it. After two nail biting weeks of tidying up, partially packing and showing people round the house we had the right buyer, though it was at £5K under asking and £15K under market value.
After taking a £500 (50% non-refundable) deposit we found out that the house was fed by LPG rather than mains gas (as we had been told initially), but that wasn't a deal breaker so we instructed a solicitor and carried on. Eventually the developer sent the contract over and we saw the report the solictor wrote about it. Somewhere in there was alittle titbit about a planning restiction on the garage becasue of a Bat Loft. Scholars Walk was built on the old Primary School, in which bats roosted so as part of the planning consent one house had to have a bat loft. There are also a lot of covenants that leave us wide open to having our boundaries changed post purchase that have to agree to.
Now the developer say that they don't have to declare anything that will come up as part of the searches, but by then we have spent money.
My question therefore is how would we stand if we were to demand all our cost back (deposit and legal fees to date) given the developer had not declared something that 99% of people would not buy a house with?
After taking a £500 (50% non-refundable) deposit we found out that the house was fed by LPG rather than mains gas (as we had been told initially), but that wasn't a deal breaker so we instructed a solicitor and carried on. Eventually the developer sent the contract over and we saw the report the solictor wrote about it. Somewhere in there was alittle titbit about a planning restiction on the garage becasue of a Bat Loft. Scholars Walk was built on the old Primary School, in which bats roosted so as part of the planning consent one house had to have a bat loft. There are also a lot of covenants that leave us wide open to having our boundaries changed post purchase that have to agree to.
Now the developer say that they don't have to declare anything that will come up as part of the searches, but by then we have spent money.
My question therefore is how would we stand if we were to demand all our cost back (deposit and legal fees to date) given the developer had not declared something that 99% of people would not buy a house with?
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Comments
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Err ....... isn't that the point of searches, to find out.
No one would be able to sell a house if they were legally obliged to declare ALL the faults and problems to anyone that showed interest just in case they then spent money on trying to buy it.0 -
It's not clear from your post what it is you think "99% of people would not buy a house with"? Do you mean the bat loft? I quite like the idea of a bat loft. Or am I getting mixed up with a bat cave...0
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The bats sound good I don't see that as a problem, but the vague boundaries do. Can you explain how your boundary can be 'changed post-purchase'?biggles3309 wrote: »so as part of the planning consent one house had to have a bat loft. There are also a lot of covenants that leave us wide open to having our boundaries changed post purchase that have to agree to.0 -
The general rule is "buyer beware". The seller/developer is not obliged to bring any problems to your attention, even if that is a serious problem with the property, and you need to rely on your own searches.
However if the seller/developer does give you specific information, that information must be true.
I don't think the issues with the covenants or bat lot would make the developer have to refund you.
However if you were told in writing that the property was fed by mains gas and actually it is fed by LPG, and that is material, then they have misrepresented the property and that may be grounds for getting a refund.0
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