lied to by house seller

bella2015

We purchased last May and during the survey the surveyor questioned the build of the house as he was convinced it was timer and brick. The seller said it was all brick and no timber and got his solicitor to put this in writing. We had to have a new bathroom and the builder found serious structural problems but also that the house is in fact timber frame front and back. So the seller and solicitor lied and also about the amount of structural damage that was hidden. Our mortgage company had originally declined the mortgage based on the surveyor report but agreed once we had this letter.
I have two questions
1, do we have any recourse against the seller for telling lies and
2 what can happen with our mortgage

Does anyone have experience of this

maninthestreet

Have you contacted your solicitor who handled the purchase?

lincroft1710

Can you prove the vendor knew the house was timber framed?

If the surveyor didn't find any structural problems, why should the vendor be aware of these? In any case the vendor has no obligation to disclose any faults with the property unless he is specifically asked this question.

Timber frame construction is not in itself faulty construction.

davidmcn

bella2015 wrote: »

1, do we have any recourse against the seller for telling lies

Do you know that they lied? If you and your surveyor didn't know what the construction was, why would the sellers have any better idea?

what can happen with our mortgage

Nothing, it carries on as planned.

eddddy

Hi bella2015

To avoid any confusion, this isn't relevant:

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Can you prove the vendor knew the house was timber framed?
...

If the vendor stated via his/her solicitor in reply to pre-contract enquiries that the house was not timber framed, the buyer can rely on that.

It doesn't matter if the vendor was lying or just mistaken.

So now you can claim damages for misrepresentation.

If you would not have bought the house, in theory you could now sell it, buy another house - and then claim all your losses and expenses from the vendor that misled you.

But you would need to find an 'aggressive' litigation solicitor. An average conveyancing solicitor may not have an appetite for this.


ETA...

But read the replies to the pre-contract enquiries carefully. For example, there is a big difference between "the house is not timber framed" and "I believe the house is not timer framed".

lincroft1710

eddddy wrote: »

To avoid any confusion, this isn't relevant:

Oh yes it is.

If OP can prove vendor knew that the construction was timber framed, it makes her case so much easier. Especially if the vendor used the words "I believe".

AdrianC

bella2015 wrote: »

the surveyor questioned the build of the house as he was convinced it was timer and brick. The seller said it was all brick and no timber

OK, it might be relevant to your mortgage, but is this actually the most relevant part of your question?

We had to have a new bathroom and the builder found serious structural problems

Or is THIS the important part?

What did your surveyor say about the areas where the problems were found? What kind of survey did you have?

I do wonder why you took the vendor's word over your surveyor's experience and expertise with regard to the construction, but...