Seller Lied on Property Information Form and to Solicitor Enquiries - PLEASE HELP!!

Matt25

Hi,

We just bought a house advertised as a 3-bed house.
After completion, when talking to neighbours we discovered it was originally a 2-bed house and seller has done major modifications to convert it from 2 bed into 3 bed. Hence he sold it to us at a higher price (£60k more than equivalent 2-bed house sold at the same time in the street).

1 - Seller declared on the "Property Information Forms" that he does not done any works needing building regs, whereas now we discovered he has done such works.

2 - When we enquired about the layout, Seller answered through their Solicitors that the house was originally built as a 3 bed house and he has not done any alterations.

Note we have not done a structural survey (just valuation survey) as it is a 20 years old house and was in very good condition.

Now we are very unhappy and in a dilemma of what to do ?
Is it worth going after the seller and claiming against them or it will be too much hassle ? What are the chances that we can get anything out this ?

How can we prove that he was lying (as he may falsely claim he bought the property as such 10 years ago and alterations were done before him and he didn't have any knowledge of such change).

Note since completion he has disappeared and has not given us his new address which makes it more difficult to claim against him.

So shall we go after him ? or just accept that we have been scammed but law does not protect us and we cannot do anything against it ?

We appreciate any advice or previous similar experience!

Regards
Matt.

pinkshoes

Can you get retrospective planning permission?

You can't claim £60k off him, but you could claim the cost of getting planning permission required.

Obviously he has lied if he stated it was built as a three bed and it wasn't, otherwise you would have checked for relevant documents.

Running_Horse

You were happy enough to spend a small fortune on this three bedroom house. I assume it still functions as a three bedroom house. Your solicitor should have established whether or not it conforms to building regs and planning permissions. What are you hoping to achieve by chasing this up?

anselld

Planning permission would not be required for internal layout alterations.
Building regs should have been obtained, but unless the Council take enforcement action you will not have suffered any loss.
Is there any indication that the actual work is sub-standard?

So to make a legal claim for misrepresentation you would have to demonstrate that you have suffered an actual financial loss. Lack of BR sign-off can be troublesome with the professional box-tickers, but it is not a major financial loss worth going to Court over.

ognum

anselld wrote: »

Planning permission would not be required for internal layout alterations.
Building regs should have been obtained, but unless the Council take enforcement action you will not have suffered any loss.
Is there any indication that the actual work is sub-standard?

So to make a legal claim for misrepresentation you would have to demonstrate that you have suffered an actual financial loss. Lack of BR sign-off can be troublesome with the professional box-tickers, but it is not a major financial loss worth going to Court over.

Would BR be required if the alterations didn't effect the bathroom or kitchen? If the work involved putting up a stud wall and putting in a door I don't think that actually requires either but I could be wrong.

anselld

ognum wrote: »

Would BR be required if the alterations didn't effect the bathroom or kitchen? If the work involved putting up a stud wall and putting in a door I don't think that actually requires either but I could be wrong.

Indeed, possibly not depending on the nature of the "major modifications".

Matt25

Thanks for your replies so far!


In this case it's an internal alteration so planning permission is not required. Basically our several concerns are :

1 - Vendor has done alterations (such as moving bathrooms, but not structural) but claimed in SPIF's he hasn't done alterations, so our solicitors didn't even ask about any building regs. But when we will be coming to sell the house the buyers might ask for BR docs which can cause issues selling the house. But if we leave it too long until that time, it would be too late to claim against the current seller.


2 - The sellers might have done the renovation work themselves (as DIY) and they have not provided any warranty or completion documents. The job looks clean but behind the walls we don't know how standard they are and whether they can cause issues to the property.


3 - Vendor falsely claimed his house has always been a 3-bed (in response to solicitor enquiries) and misled us to pay much higher price than 2-bed properties in the road, which we later discovered are in fact exactly the same size. This is clearly a mis-representation as he has been living there for 10 years and should know the history of the house. We don't know whether we can claim anything against such misrepresentation in the court ?


Do I need to proof a "financial loss" when claiming against misrepresentation? (in this case the "loss" is not realised as of yet, but is effectively the £60k that we overpaid compared to another 2-bed house available in the street at the same time).


4 - The fact that after completion the vendor disappeared all of the sudden and refused to give me his new address, is worrying and seems fishy.


Many thanks!
Matt

stator

You can get the original plans from the council's planning department.

inkiboo

You can't claim £60k for the cost of a 3 bed house over a 2 when you have a 3 bed house!

rosie383

We recently discovered that some of the houses in our street are 3 bed rather than 2. They are the same size, just a different layout. If he lived there for ten years he may not have done anything to it. If he wasn't casually chatting to neighbours he may not have known theirs were 2 bed.
As for him disappearing without leaving his contact details with you, surely that is common?

ognum

Matt25 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies so far!


In this case it's an internal alteration so planning permission is not required. Basically our several concerns are :

1 - Vendor has done alterations (such as moving bathrooms, but not structural) but claimed in SPIF's he hasn't done alterations, so our solicitors didn't even ask about any building regs. But when we will be coming to sell the house the buyers might ask for BR docs which can cause issues selling the house. But if we leave it too long until that time, it would be too late to claim against the current seller.


2 - The sellers might have done the renovation work themselves (as DIY) and they have not provided any warranty or completion documents. The job looks clean but behind the walls we don't know how standard they are and whether they can cause issues to the property.


3 - Vendor falsely claimed his house has always been a 3-bed (in response to solicitor enquiries) and misled us to pay much higher price than 2-bed properties in the road, which we later discovered are in fact exactly the same size. This is clearly a mis-representation as he has been living there for 10 years and should know the history of the house. We don't know whether we can claim anything against such misrepresentation in the court ?


Do I need to proof a "financial loss" when claiming against misrepresentation? (in this case the "loss" is not realised as of yet, but is effectively the £60k that we overpaid compared to another 2-bed house available in the street at the same time).


4 - The fact that after completion the vendor disappeared all of the sudden and refused to give me his new address, is worrying and seems fishy.


Many thanks!
Matt

IMO the only grounds for consideration you have the bathroom changes that depending on what was done may require building regs or may not.

Frankly the other things are just hot air, most houses are altered through the time span of ownership. Non weight bearing walls get moved etc.

You cant be sure of the quality of workmanship when people do DIY jobs or even if they use a tradesman.

The answer is buyer beware. Your problem is you did not get a full survey, believing one was not needed because the house was not old is wrong.

It feels to me like you are now unhappy with the price you paid and are trying to find a way to recoup your loss. IMO you will spend more on legal fees than you will reclaim. Are you sure the vendor did the work and not the previous seller? You knew the square footage of the property before you bought, 2/3 beds the square footage is the same.

The lack of building regs for a bathroom that has been moved is really not something that is worth chasing, get retrospective ones or forget and move on!