Dry rot - who's liable?

Lucky_Frankie

Right, here's the situation:

I'm in the process of selling my flat. The purchaser had a survey carried out yesterday, which came back clean with no evidence of any problems, so the purchaser accepted and the sold sign went up this morning.

About an hour later, my upstairs neighbour knocked on my door and told me he'd just had someone round who had found dry rot in his floor (my ceiling?) and it's going to cost approx. £3000 to fix. He wants to split it with me.

What do I do? Who is liable - me, my new purchaser or the upstairs neighbour?

Am I legally bound to inform my solicitor who will then I guess have to inform the purchaser of my flat? Do I tell the guy upstairs it's his problem and have nothing more to do with it? Do I simply tell him to get it fixed before I leave and pay the money? If I keep schtum, could the new purchaser sue me or would any comeback be with the surveyors who didn't spot the problem (there is no evidence of it from my flat)?

Anyone have any ideas???

nobblyned

Timing sounds a bit suspicious. Do you think it is possible your purchaser knows your neighbour and is trying to get you to drop the price to take needed works into account?

Assuming they don't, caveat emptor, they employed a surveyor to check if he didn't find it and it proves to be a problem then they will need to chase it with him after.

courtjester

If you have not lied to any questions about the condition of the property or problems of which you are aware and you have not advertised the property as free of such problems, then technically and legally, it is "buyer beware", although the fact that their survey did not highlight dry rot under the floorboards is not an issue as the standard homebuyers survey would only cover visible signs, not involve taking up floors and ceilings etc.

The buyer's surveyor would almost certainly have no liability for omitting to mention the dry rot unless they had reason to suspect there was a problem or it was visible - why did the upstairs flat owner suddenly have someone in to inspect the floor in the first place?

So you are left with the quandry of what happens when you say nothing, sell the place and on the day they move in, your neighbour tells them that you knew there was a problem requiring £3000 to fix.

You may not legally have liability to the buyer, but will they know where you live and are you happy to live with yourself over the issue?

If at some point during the conveyancing you are asked about the condition of the property and any matters relevant to defects of which you are aware, you would definitely be breaking the law if you lied about it and this would be grounds for legal action against you later.

****

Assuming the flats are leasehold, it would depend on the wording of your lease as to what responsibility you have for common parts such as inter-floors and walls. You probably will share responsibility if you are joint freeholders.

If there is a separate freeholder /landlord, it might be the freeholder who is responsible for the repairs, it just depends on what your lease says.

shelly

Sounds dodgy to me too. Maybe your neighbour knows you buyer and wants £1500 from you which they will then split. I'd tell your neighbour that you are going to get someone in to look at it and see what he says. If he blusters that he won't allow anyone in his flat to look at it then tell him tough, until you have someone in of your own choosing then he pays himself. If you let him show you an estimate it might be one he got a mate to knock up, don't trust it.

silvercar

ask the upstairs flat owner to see an independant report; that means from an expert NOT someone paid to sell dry rot cures.

Doozergirl

How could upstairs be in cahoots with the buyer if their survey came back clean

Just because the surveyor didn't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there!

Tiger_greeneyes

Why don't you get your own independent report done by a damp and timber company? Tell your neighbour that you're selling and need to get a report done in your name to show purchasers if you need a reason

If he refuses access then he's obviously hiding something.

shockingmoment

Time is of the essence.
Dry rot is house cancer! What ever you do, do it quickly!

KellsBells

Hiya,

If there is no evidence from your flat, I would check firstly that the problem really does exist - ask to see his inspection report ot get your own done. If there is a problem, next step is to check if you are jointly responsible for this (If it's a flat is it leasehold? If so, your landlord may be responsible - that's what you pay service charges for...)
If it does come back joint responsibility, (I would check this with a conveyancer) get you own quote done - this is not the same as the original inspection. Whichever is cheaper of yours and his quotes, offer half the amount.

DO disclose what you're doing to the buyer - it will only cause you problems in the later stages if you don't.