Liability After Sale

Beancounter

I am about to (hopefully) complete on my father's flat sale. Over the past week we have had some pretty seriously bad torrential rain which has caused some water to seep into the basement. The basement is just a storage area and is just soil on the floor.

To my knowledge this has never happened before and it has just left a puddle at the lowest point of the basement. A neighbour says this has happened to him many times over the years and seems to seep in through the brickwork below ground level but has not caused any damage.

The buyer didn't commision a survey, just relying on the home report. My questions are do I have an obligation to mention this to them and secondly, will there be any comeback on me if this happens to them?

The actual flat is fine and has no issues beyond what was mentioned, I am just a bit nervous that this may come back to me.

Have I any liability if this happens again after completion? Should I disclose this now?

G_M

1) Did you/your father make any statements/responses to the seller to the effect that there is/has never been flooding? If so, exactly how did you word it?

2) Your obligation is to hand ver the priperty at Completion in the same condition it was in at Exchange. Have you/he Exchanged? Did this flooding occur between Exchange/Completion?

3) How come you are Completing on your father's house? Have you POA? Or is your father deceased, in which case are you Executer and have you obtained Probate?

Beancounter

G_M wrote: »

1) Did you/your father make any statements/responses to the seller to the effect that there is/has never been flooding? If so, exactly how did you word it?

2) Your obligation is to hand ver the priperty at Completion in the same condition it was in at Exchange. Have you/he Exchanged? Did this flooding occur between Exchange/Completion?

3) How come you are Completing on your father's house? Have you POA? Or is your father deceased, in which case are you Executer and have you obtained Probate?

I am executor of my dads estate and have probate.

It wasn't flooding as such just a large puddle. We are in Scotland so no exchange as such but nothing like this has happened in the past in this property. We had a months rain in 3 hours last week so not something that will happen ordinarily.

G_M

Liability After Sale

Ah! Scotland. I can't help. The law up there is wierd so I've no idea what liability you may/may not have.

googler

Take your solicitor's advice. It's what you're paying him/ her/them for

lincroft1710

I think in Scotland there is a 5 day period during which any previously undeclared faults the purchaser finds, there is an onus on the vendor to put right.

googler

lincroft1710 wrote: »

I think in Scotland there is a 5 day period during which any previously undeclared faults the purchaser finds, there is an onus on the vendor to put right.

In most/all standard clauses, that applies to 'systems of a working nature' only. Such as section 4 herein;

http://www.lawscot.org.uk/media/417469/SSC-Edition-1.pdf

Section 2 may be appropriate if the flooding was caused by a river or watercourse, but from the description above, that appears not to be the case..... so I refer the OP back to

"Take your solicitor's advice. It's what you're paying him/ her/them for"