Failed declaration of dry rot

PurityExiled

Hello
I’m after a bit of advice.


My mother bought a ground floor flat just over a year ago. We had a surveyor produce a homebuyers report and the sellers completed their declaration stating that there were no issues with damp etc in the property.


We started seeing red dust soon after she moved in and it has turned out that the place is infested with dry rot. The builder doing the work (pulling up floors and pulling down walls) has stated that it’s been there for years and that anyone living there would have seen evidence of it. We can certainly see how widespread it is now that the floors are up and walls down.


We know that the homebuyers survey only covers a surface view of the property and does not look for things such as dry rot – but have the sellers been deliberately false in declaring that no such problems existed?


I suspect that we’re just going to have to suck up the costs and get the work done – but we can’t help but feel badly misled by the sellers. My Mum is a pensioner and this is the first property that she has bought.


As they made a legal declaration that there were no structural issues or problems with damp within the property, do we have any comeback? I know that there is a case to be argued for “buyer beware” but I also thought that we might be protected by consumer protection legislation.


Many thanks.

sammyjammy

You have no comeback, your mum had a homebuyers survey and is now sadly suffering for this decision. Unless the sellers actually lied about the fact dry rot existed and you can prove it there is no case to answer.

armchaireconomist

If you read T&C's of survey they accept no responsibility. I considered the same after purchasing the building survey at extra cost - he failed to notice the rotten wooden window (said all were uPVC), broken front & back doors (seals gone, 1 shattered on front - stated they were good condition), the woodworm infested stairs (said they were in good sturdy condition), knackered floorboards, cracked tiles, woodlice infestation, the list goes on... I seriously doubt he did anything other than 15 minute whip round.

PurityExiled

sammyjammy wrote: »

You have no comeback, your mum had a homebuyers survey and is now sadly suffering for this decision. Unless the sellers actually lied about the fact dry rot existed and you can prove it there is no case to answer.

Thank you for your response. I suspected that this might be the case.

I find it hard to believe that the sellers had no knowledge of the issue - but this can't be proved unfortunately.

In hindsight (just for my own understanding) would a full structural survey have uncovered this issue?

PurityExiled

armchaireconomist wrote: »

If you read T&C's of survey they accept no responsibility. I considered the same after purchasing the building survey at extra cost - he failed to notice the rotten wooden window (said all were uPVC), broken front & back doors (seals gone, 1 shattered on front - stated they were good condition), the woodworm infested stairs (said they were in good sturdy condition), knackered floorboards, cracked tiles, woodlice infestation, the list goes on... I seriously doubt he did anything other than 15 minute whip round.

We tried going down that route with the surveyors, but no dice.

I was wondering what liability might fall to the sellers, but it seems unless we can prove they knew about the issue (they had to have done) we have no comeback there either.

It's very frustrating.

Marvel1

The problem is if a surveyor did not pick up, then someone like me living for example would not know what it is.

teneighty

Were there any visible signs of the dry rot other than the "red dust"

If the seller hoovered up all the red dust 5 minutes before the survey you can hardly blame the surveyor. However, if it is as bad as you say I would have expected some visible or olfactory evidence. You might therefore be able to pursue a formal complaint with the survey company following the free complaints procedure that all firms must have.

Very difficult to prove the seller had knowledge of the dry rot and lied on the forms unless you find evidence of recent repairs or redecoration etc.

The final point to consider. As it's a flat and I assume the dry rot is in concealed timbers possibly it is the freeholder's responsibility to repair and share the costs between all the flats?

eddddy

PurityExiled wrote: »

As they made a legal declaration that there were no structural issues or problems with damp within the property, do we have any comeback?

What type of legal declaration was that?

(Is the property in England / Wales?)

david1951

A full structural survey is far more likely (but not certain) to pick up on dry rot. If the surveyor is decent they will insist that the floorboards are exposed in the relevant places to inspect for this.

PasturesNew

Most/many owners wouldn't know if they had dry rot. With the knowledge that there is dry rot in the property - and with plenty of googling - it's possible to then see "Ah, so that's what that is" ... but the previous owners might've just been living with an occasional notice of something, or a slight nuisance once every 1-2 years without having a clue it was dry rot.

You can't really blame sellers. The only route would be to blame surveyors, if the right sort of report were bought and if there weren't all that small print getting them out of most things.

I can fully understand that you think "somebody is to blame, somebody should pay, who is it?" ... but life isn't that black/white. Some discovered property issues are simply part and parcel of the "Oh d4mn, I bought a pup" moment.

G_M

What does the lease say about responsibility for a repair such as this?