Seller hid damp problem!!

tieffe63

My wife and I have just bought a house and foolishly only had basic survey. On the first day, we found 2 walls in the kitchen have severe damp. After investigating, we found out that the previous owner had a survey in December which uncovered the problem(we bought in April) but he chose to ignore it and not fix it. It wasn't declared on the HIP because that had been done in August. Basically, he sold the house knowing about a big damp problem. Do I have a legal case?

SandC

Nope, it's up to you as the buyer to have whatever surveys or checks on the house that you wish. A more comprehensive survey would have found the problem and you could have negotiated with the buyer at that point but as it stands you chose to have a basic survey which didn't spot it.

g_attrill

I think even if they did have a survey before the HIP they wouldn't need to disclose anything on there, any more than they would need to disclose about the back door sticking or the neighbours having the TV up too loud.

On the damp problem - make sure you are getting independent advice, the damp companies will be looking for work and it might be much simpler than you think, eg. it might just be condensation from cooking if there is no extrator fan.

tieffe63

Thanks for your reply. On viewing the house, we discovered what he told us as water damaged caused by next doors water butt. He told us he was claiming on their insurance. On investigation by me once we were in the house, next door hadn't even known about any damage. This shows we were mislead before buying. Would this strengthen our case?

ILW

tieffe63 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. On viewing the house, we discovered what he told us as water damaged caused by next doors water butt. He told us he was claiming on their insurance. On investigation by me once we were in the house, next door hadn't even known about any damage. This shows we were mislead before buying. Would this strengthen our case?

Not unless he put it in writing.
If I had seen signs of damp I would have got a survey done, cannot understand why you chose not to.

missile

ILW wrote: »

If I had seen signs of damp I would have got a survey done, cannot understand why you chose not to.

me too.

OP should speak to their solicitor asap

SandC

tieffe63 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. On viewing the house, we discovered what he told us as water damaged caused by next doors water butt. He told us he was claiming on their insurance. On investigation by me once we were in the house, next door hadn't even known about any damage. This shows we were mislead before buying. Would this strengthen our case?

To be honest I would have thought it would end up costing more in solicitor costs chasing this up then getting the problem rectified. I do think, though, that it would be worth having a word with the solicitor you used. You only had the owner tell you verbally what the problem was and you didn't then check that it had been sorted out before you exchanged contracts. Was it ever written down on either side as being something that needed sorting before that time?

Milliewilly

You could try a warning shot via a solicitors letter and see where it gets you. The fact you asked him and he told you a lie about the water butt is misrepresentation. The law is clear that if you are asked as a seller you have to give a full and truthful answer to the best of your knowledge.

It must have been severe for him to have had a survey done (but why would you bother if it was a simple cae of moving the water butt?). You could get a court order for him to release the survey. The neighbour is uesful if they will give you a statement.

The conversation you had will be your word against his though but with litigation you make the allegation and its up to the defendant to disprove you, not for you to provide the proof.

As others have said though it will cost you probably more than getting the damp fixed and if you win he might pay you at £10 per week for the next 5 years or something like that.

The standard retort will be Caveat Emptor.

Freddie_Snowbits

Milliewilly wrote: »

The standard retort will be Caveat Emptor.

Caveat Emptor

Sorted then!

Milliewilly

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Caveat Emptor

Sorted then!

Depends on if you want to fight it or not.....

pawpurrs

You have no recourse, whatsoever, if there was damp and you spoted it, then you could have had it checked out, but decided not to.