Seller lied on form

Lovinghumanity

Hi new to this
We purchased a house a couple of months ago. Foolishly I believed the sellers when they said that they had planning permission for the extension to the rear of the property and also that they had boarded the loft and strengthened the rafters. They had thrown all the paperwork away as they had intended to stay in the house and the only reason they didn't register the loft as a fourth bedroom is because they were fine with it. (I know the alarm bells should of gone off). When they completed the seller information form they failed to put on the changes that they had made.

We still went ahead with the purchase even though the solicitor said that they did not have planning permission for either. We figured that as the vendor had reassured us that they had reinforced the rafters we would go ahead with the purchase (yes foolish!).

We decided to put in a new boiler and then discovered that none of the radiators have bleed valves on them - our shock was that if we hadn't of changed the boiler what would the implications of been! Will we have any recourse with the seller as we now have to replace all the radiators in the house:(

davidmcn

Sorry, what have the radiators got to do with the planning permission or rafters?

HHarry

And you should be able to take a blanking plug out of the top of each radiator and replace it with a bleed valve.

Have you checked the top inside edges? The bleed valves aren't always on the ends.

cajef

Depends on the radiators, ours have no blanking plugs at the top ends however you are correct in that the bleed valves are along the top inside edge about an inch in.:)

tigsly

do they make radiators without bleed taps.. i'd assume that they all have them (or the capacity to choose which side)..

and yeah - rads have nothing to do with planning or rafters//!

booksurr

Lovinghumanity wrote: »

We still went ahead with the purchase even though the solicitor said that they did not have planning permission for either. We figured that as the vendor had reassured us that they had reinforced the rafters we would go ahead with the purchase (yes foolish!).

you have your own answer? You were warned, you ignored it

Lovinghumanity wrote: »

We decided to put in a new boiler and then discovered that none of the radiators have bleed valves on them - our shock was that if we hadn't of changed the boiler what would the implications of been! Will we have any recourse with the seller as we now have to replace all the radiators in the house:(

none whatsoever plus i don't imagine for one second there is no bleed valve. The lack of one is not a danger anyway, bleeding simply removes air and improves efficiency

dm20

Lovinghumanity wrote: »

we now have to replace all the radiators

Perhaps you would replace your plumber?

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

Well that was a bizarre first post.

phoenix_w

Devil's advocate here, on the SPIF form I filled in it had dire warnings regarding filling out information inaccurately and being held liable if I were to lie. If the roof conversion genuinely didn't have PP and BR signoff and the person indicated this on the form itself, couldn't they be sued even disregarding the warning given by the conveyancer?

Seems strange that no-one did a simple search on the planning permission applications, though. Around these parts all planning permission application outlines and outcomes from the last 40 or so years are online, with the ones from the last 12 or so years containing complete application and decision details.

eddddy

Lovinghumanity wrote: »

...
When they completed the seller information form they failed to put on the changes that they had made.
...

Hi Lovinghumanity

The SPIF forms part of the contract. In general, you can claim damages if the seller knowingly puts incorrect info on a SPIF, and you suffer a loss as a result.

(e.g. you might argue that had they mentioned the loft conversion on the SPIF, you would have checked the rafters.)

The problem here is that they essentially told you they were lying on the SPIF (by telling you they had converted the loft), and you ignored it.

But if you feel really strongly about it, you could ask a solicitor about your chances of winning a claim.

Gwhiz

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

Well that was a bizarre first post.

And quite possibly the last