Can I sue & if so what should I do next?

pinkteapot

OP - speak to a solicitor. There have been threads on these forums where people have followed the advice of armchair lawyers and it's ended badly. You need proper and correct legal advice.

Home insurance often includes a free legal advice helpline which you could call in the first instance, but at some point you may just need to pay for an initial consultation with a local solicitor. Some may offer an initial free half-hour.

Re type of solicitor, the one you used to buy is probably a conveyancer and they may not be experienced in post-purchase disputes. You need some sort of contract/civil dispute solicitor. I would suggest phoning a local large firm of solicitors that offer a wide range of services, because they'll be able to point you to someone in their company who can handle it. You can always switch to a different company later, but they could help you narrow down which type of solicitor you need. Alternatively, a home insurance legal helpline may be able to advise on this.

davidmcn

Important things to consider:

(a) how much do you think you're entitled to sue them for? (I can't see that you've worked this out yet), and
(b) how much money do your sellers have? (no point going to the trouble and expense of getting a judgement against them if you can't get the cash out of them)

pinkteapot

Edited to add:
There's this old story of a successful court case (don't get too excited - these buyers may have had more evidence than you do - it's just an example):
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2003/mar/04/property.homebuying

They were represented by this barrister:
http://www.portsmouthbar.com/

Listed under his specialisms is:
"property sale & purchase, especially cases involving alleged misrepresentations by sellers"

That's the sort of thing you're looking for.

Marktheshark

Download or request a copy of the councils tenancy agreement.
Report each and every breech as a separate complaint and they will be evicted eventually and they can become someone elses issue.

m.johnson

Thank you for taking the time to find that pinkteapot. It gives me a tiny piece of hope.

Marktheshark this is not a council owned property so sadly I can not go down that avenue.

Davesnave

davidmcn wrote: »

Important things to consider:

(a) how much do you think you're entitled to sue them for? (I can't see that you've worked this out yet), and

This is the crucial point, as it seems that you will have little trouble proving on the balance of probabilities that vital info on the TA6 was deliberatedly withheld.

Your idea of what compensation might be appropriate, and a judge's, could be very different. The legislation has had too little road testing thus far to inspire confidence, IMO.

Then there is the problem of screwing the money out of them, whatever sum it might be.

You could be looking at years

AdrianC

What do you actually WANT out of this?

Do you want the sale to be rescinded? Ain't going to happen.
Do you want money? How much? How are you calculating that?
How much money, time and effort are you prepared to throw at it?

m.johnson

What I want and what I can get are two different things which is 1 of the reasons I started this thread to try to find out who would be the best person to speak to to find out what I could get (If anything).In an ideal world I would get:

1: All expenses for what I have had to pay out for such as CCTV etc.
2: Part or all of my legal fees to buy the property as I would not have brought it if I had known what I was living next to.
3: Compensation for the distress of the last few months which could have been avoided if the previous owners were honest in the 1st place but instead they choose to lie for self benefit.
4: A value to cover the loss of house value I am going to have to cover if I sold the property as I doubt anybody would buy it at the value I paid knowing who & what they would be living next to.

AdrianC

m.johnson wrote: »

What I want and what I can get are two different things

Very much so.

In an ideal world I would get:

1: All expenses for what I have had to pay out for such as CCTV etc.

Not happening. Your choice 100%. Does every other neighbour feel the need? Did the vendors?

2: Part or all of my legal fees to buy the property as I would not have brought it if I had known what I was living next to.

Yet you're continuing to live there? You've not sold the place and moved out?

3: Compensation for the distress of the last few months which could have been avoided if the previous owners were honest in the 1st place but instead they choose to lie for self benefit.

Again, you're continuing to live there?

4: A value to cover the loss of house value I am going to have to cover if I sold the property as I doubt anybody would buy it at the value I paid knowing who & what they would be living next to.

Now THAT is one you might have a chance with. Put a figure on it. BTW, it's much easier to do so once you've sold it and moved out, because you can demonstrate what it DID fetch with that "blight".

JimmyTheWig

How about this as a scenario...

If they had been honest on the form, you wuold have said that you were pulling out.
They might have offered you a reduction in selling price to keep things moving.
There's no point in saying that you wouldn't have accepted any amount of reduction. Surely if they offered to sell for £1 you'd have accepted?

So the point is, how big a reduction would it have taken for you to agree to continue to buy it?
Don't think about this reduction with what you know now. Think about this reduction with them having declared the minimum that you think they could have got away with declaring.

Then sue them for that much?