Found water under the house, only got the house keys less than a week ago.

Mojisola

wakhtar wrote: »

Today i spoke to a lawyer friend of mine who said contact the surveyor this should have been picked up by them. At most the surveyor IMO should have done a moisture test to check the walls but i don’t believe he has done this.

If your damp proof course is alright, there won't be any damp coming up the walls. It's outside the scope of a normal survey to lift floorboards so I wouldn't expect a surveyor to discover the problem.

wakhtar

sorry for the late reply, over the weekend i managed to get the water out using a water pump which i hired from HSS this was on Saturday but water was back again on Sunday, its definitely ground water as it was clean. I have spoken to the survey company and they state this wasn’t a fault on their part to have known about the water as its out of their scope of work for the type of survey the mortgage company and i had requested for but they are looking into it as a formal complaint from my self was made so they have to follow it up.

I spoke to neighbour again and he states he will give me a statement to say he notified the previous owner of the issue, now is this enough for me to approach the previous owner of selling me the property that he knew had water under the house? Is this neglect ion and dishonesty on his part? Can i ask him to fund the cost of resolving the issue? If he denies everything do i have a legal case?

Thanks

HappyMJ

The letter from the council indicates it's a common problem throughout your area. It's probably just groundwater. You would have to buy a pump and fit it so it activates if the water gets too high. I doubt the previous owner would be liable in any way for what is now your problem. Personally as the letter from council indicates I would just live with it.

keystone

Its groundwater. If you are on clay its inevitable. You don't stand a chance pursuing the previous owner and are wasting your time as you have nothing to claim for. All the houses in the area will be affected in the same way and I'll bet your deeds say something about the guy uphill of you having right of drainage over your land as will the guy downhill of you.

I've lived on London clay for 25 years, have the same (non) "issue", nobdy died, nobody has fallen sick and it doesn't affect property values.

Do what everyone else does and live with it is my advice. Your neighbour is meddling - does he have a grudge against your vendor?

Cheers

keystone

wakhtar wrote: »

Is this neglect ion and dishonesty on his part?

No

Can i ask him to fund the cost of resolving the issue?

You could but he would be within his rights to politely decline your kind offer.

If he denies everything do i have a legal case?

No.

All IMHO of course.

Cheers

WhiteHorse

The previous owner should have declared it. If you suffer loss as a result, then you could sue him. You would, as has been pointed out, need to be able to prove that he knew. However, it may not be worth bothering.

Likewise the surveyor. Unless there were obvious signs that he missed, you have little chance there. Besides it was a mortgage company survey, so it was only a "Four walls and a roof and won't actually fall down while the mortgage is running" survey.

Wet cellars and the like are not uncommon. The usual way to deal with that degree of water is to install a pipe and automatic pump. You can do it yourself and the cost is minimal. Just make sure that the waste water goes in the right direction and doesn't drown anyone else.

DVardysShadow

WhiteHorse wrote: »

The previous owner should have declared it. If you suffer loss as a result, then you could sue him.

The previous owner need only have declared it if he actually knew about it and he was actually asked.

You can sue anyone for anything. But the important question is would you win.

Green_box

Before I did anything else I would be tempted to get back to your Environmental Health Dept at the council and ask them to come and test whether it is sewage or tap water (they should have simple kits for this). If they are reluctant, just tell them it seems to smell.

If this proves that there are no leaks involved your most likely solution would be a pump, or possibly some sort of "cut off" drain around the house.

keystone

Green_box wrote: »

.......whether it is sewage or tap water.............

It's ground water!

Cheers

HappyMJ

keystone wrote: »

It's ground water!

Cheers

The OP could look at this as a bonus. All that free water. Pump it into a tank in the attic and it'll reduce metered water bills by £2+ per cubic metre. Just remember to only drink from the tap in the kitchen which should be the only tap connected directly to the mains.