new home - misrepresentation

princessamy86

breezyman, definitely get legal advice. I'm not a solicitor and I only have experience of this through work, but it sounds pretty serious. Where is the boundary drawn on your deeds? Does it include your front garden/bollard area?

breezyman

We saw the estate agents own leaflets/flyers stating and illustrating the garden as ours and they verbaly told us it was also ours. And yes have lost all my front garden. Open my front door and i am on highways/council owned land. In other words anyone can let there kids play or dogs foul outside my house.......
You should check out - timesonline.co.uk for misrepresentation as think i have a just claim!

princessamy86

It does sound to me that you will have a claim for misrepresentation, and rightly so from what you've said! It's important you get a solicitor who's going to do a good job for you and get to the bottom of it.

Milliewilly

princessamy86 wrote: »

The EA sounds like they have misrepresented, the PMA is very clear on this: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991/ukpga_19910029_en_1.htm

Particular attention should be paid to:
a statement may be made by pictures or any other method of signifying meaning as well as by words and, if made by words, may be made orally or in writing

However, as you said, Trading Standards are already looking into this. I think if your neighbours are affected too, you would do better to get together and try and sort it out as a group. One person may be ignored, twenty is more difficult. You do need to get a solicitor, have you gone back to the solicitor who did the conveyancing as suggested above? Not to say you should necessarily use them to fight your case but you do need to find out if it's something they should have picked up.

The problem is has the EA knowingly misrepresented?

In my Aunts case the EA stated he was working on the instructions of the Vendor and that was enough get out for them, to be fair the Vendor did admit that he believed the garden was his but my Aunt died suddenly before she could pursue it any further.

I would go back to the conveyancing solicitor as the first point then get some sort of action group together - you can't all be wrong on the development and all the different solicitors involved can't also all have been negligent surely?

breezyman

Well the boundary is drawn around the house with marker pen on deeds by my conveyancer...i didnt see it didnt go up to the road....hence garden not marked around. Boundary is right out side mine and my neighbours front door. They have just moved in and they also thought that the garden was theres and they also are considering action.Trouble is we are all short of funds due to costs in moving etc. So if you see me selling me body on ebay to help me fighting fund.....help me at least get a fiver!!

Milliewilly

If the boundary is marked on the deeds then what you 'thought' was included clearly isn't. So you didn't look at the deeds with the Conveyancer before you exchanged? Sorry not sounding good legally.

Debt_Free_Chick

Milliewilly wrote: »

If the boundary is marked on the deeds then what you 'thought' was included clearly isn't. So you didn't look at the deeds with the Conveyancer before you exchanged? Sorry not sounding good legally.

I have to agree with this. Whilst you may have a claim for misrepresentation I think it's likely to be seriously downgraded or even wiped out by the fact that you had the deeds before exchange. If the deeds clearly show that the title did not include the front garden, then you will be treated as having chosen to go ahead with the purchase on this basis.

I'm not sure you have a claim against your solicitor/conveyancer either - again, you had the deeds.

Who sent the deeds to you?

Fire_Fox

You ask in your OP for a solicitor to represent you, is there nobody at the same firm as did your conveyancing? Whoever you appoint will have to speak with the conveyancing solicitor and go through your file, so it will be quicker (and hopefully cheaper) to use the same company. Do you still have a copy of the estate agents brochure?

olias

breezyman wrote: »

Well the boundary is drawn around the house with marker pen on deeds by my conveyancer...i didnt see it didnt go up to the road....hence garden not marked around. Boundary is right out side mine and my neighbours front door. They have just moved in and they also thought that the garden was theres and they also are considering action.Trouble is we are all short of funds due to costs in moving etc. So if you see me selling me body on ebay to help me fighting fund.....help me at least get a fiver!!

You state yourself that the deeds you and/or your conveyencer were supplied with showed that the 'garden' area was not part of the property. As others have said, I think that the fact that you 'didn't see it didn't go right up to the road', is really not the fault of the EA or the developer, but unfortunately lies with you for not studying and understanding what you were buying clearly enough.

There may well have been an element of misrepresentation by the EA in their brochure and the comments they made, but if this was clarified in the deed plans (which it appears it was), then I don't think you have much hope of compensation. The most I would expect is for the EA to recieve 'words of advice' from whoever there governing body is.

The plans were supplied to you and your conveyencer, you failed to properly inspect but still signed a contract to buy based on them. I think you will have to accept it and be more cautious next time.

This is only my opinion, and I would suggest running it past a specialist lawyer, but I have a strong suspicion they will agree.

Olias

Debt_Free_Chick

breezyman wrote: »

Well the boundary is drawn around the house with marker pen on deeds by my conveyancer...i didnt see it didnt go up to the road....hence garden not marked around. Boundary is right out side mine and my neighbours front door.

I didn't see this before I made my previous post.

Unfortunately, you've agreed to buy a property without a front garden. You were informed that it had no front garden when you were sent the deeds.

I don't think you have a chance at all.