Previous owners undeclared invoice

Jrobo

Hi,

I'm wondering if someone could give me some advice. My husband and I bought a house in 2009 and all checks came back clear, Homebuyers report fine etc.

Fast forward to March '12 and we receive a bill for £3k+ for replacement drainage works. We queried this as we hadn't even realised any works had been carried out (certainly not while we lived at the property). We were advised to make a claim on our buildings insurance as this may cover the invoice (this is still on going). Upon further digging, we discovered that the works had actually been completed in 2006/07. The council have blamed our solicitor and the previous owner and their solicitor for not mentioning this/discovering this.

We have another problem in that the previous owner was represented by the same company of solicitors, albeit a different office. We are meeting with the CAB next week but we are really unaware regarding anything to do with property and wondered if anyone could give us some advice? The previous owner was very old (80's) and we are unsure if she is still alive or not but her son signed many pieces of paperwork including the homebuyers report where they ticked 'no' to ongoing works/issues.

Thanks for reading, sorry it's long.
J

BitterAndTwisted

The bill is not your responsibility as the work was undertaken before you purchased the property. If you had been aware of that charge and your responsibility for it you would have reduced your offer by that amount.

Why should you have to start a claim with your insurance company? You can't insure against something that you are not aware of and has happened to someone else retrospectively, that's a total and utter nonsense.

Send the bill on to the solicitor who dealt with your conveyancing and they can put it into the hands of the other party if they still have their details.

The Council can blame anyone they like but take no notice: it was up to them to collect what was due from the party who owed them the money and that's not you, six years later.

Ivana_Tinkle

Is it an ex-council property and/or a leasehold? The lease for our old ex-council house said that the current owner was responsible for all repair costs, so we had to make sure when we bought it that everything was cleared.

If that's not the case tell them to go whistle for it!

chris_m

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

The lease for our old ex-council house said that the current owner was responsible for all repair costs,

But that would be the current owner at the time of the repairs, not a subsequent owner six years later.

Ivana_Tinkle

chris_m wrote: »

But that would be the current owner at the time of the repairs, not a subsequent owner six years later.

Sorry - explained that badly. I forget the precise wording but the costs stayed associated with the property, so if the previous owner had done a runner, the current owner was still liable. It made it v difficult for people to sell their properties when work had been done but not yet invoiced for (which was often the case as the council would take months or even years to send the invoices out).

princeofpounds

Ivana has a point.

OP, you need to specify exactly how these costs were incurred. If they were part of a freehold/leasehold relationship then they can potentially be attached to the property and not the person. If however it was a normal commercial arrangement then the individual who instructed the work is liable, not you.

Speak to the solicitor who handled your sale.

Richard_Webster

I assume this is a house not a flat.

Normally if works are done for a previous owner it is his responsibility.

However sometimes the Council does work under Public Health or other legislation and if not paid for they register the cost as a Local Land Charge that would show up on a local search - so buyer's solicitors should have spotted it and raised the point when the house was bought.

Jrobo

Hi,

Thanks for your responses. It is indeed a house. The works were carried out as part of a replacement drainage scheme and consisted of drains that served the property, thus making the occupier liable for them (along with all of the other houses on the street).

The council is saying that the solicitor should have uncovered this information from the seller and sellers solicitors. The charge as far as I was aware is not any listed against the house, this why our solicitor did not find anything on any of the searches that were carried out. The previous owner did a right to buy in 2000 and it was therefore freehold. The council is implying that the charge transferred with the property.

The thing that makes everything more complicated is that the drainage works that were carried out in 2006/7 were unacceptable to a water company that was meant to be adopting the drain and remedial works had to be carried out in 2009/10. I have a letter from the council saying that they would be liable for these extra costs as the company that had undertaken the works had gone into administration. The drains were adopted in 2010.

The council have (kindly :-/) offered me a payment plan interest free of up to five years and I received a letter today saying they expect a payment by 26th may.

J

mrschaucer

The council needs to prove to your and your solicitor's satisfaction that there is an appropriate charge on the property, and that it therefore transferred when the property changed hands.

Jrobo

Which would have showed up on a search? The council seem happy to sit on their backsides and let me do all the chasing; this afternoon, the lady I spoke with told me that I would have to sue the previous owner for not declaring that the works were in progress and they were expecting an invoice.

mrschaucer

I just mean if the Council is relying on something they claim to have done at some time in the past then they should be able to prove to you/your solicitor that they have indeed done it. Documents? Legal stuff? If your solicitor says it didn't show on the searches then I think THE COUNCIL should be the ones proving it all exists.