Dry rot cover up (?)

richard.millington82

Hi all,

we just bought our first house and a few days later found it had pretty extensive dry rot. This was not visible to the surveyor.

Anyway, while our contractor was dealing with it he noticed that one of the skirting boards had been newly fitted (it was brand new and unpainted, unlike all the other boards). When he removed it he found dry rot. The skirting board had been stuck onto the wall with big blobs of glue and, according to our contractor, the fact that there was dry rot between the glue and the wall indicates that it was stuck onto the dry rot.

So, we now think either the seller or someone he employed knew there was dry rot and covered it up. We are talking to our solicitor about this at the moment, but has anyone experienced anything similar? And sued the seller?

Thanks in advance!

Slithery

On what grounds could you sue the seller?

Did you specifically ask about dry rot and they lied to you?

If not then there's nothing you can do, if you wanted this checked you should have arranged for a surveyor to investigate before you bought the property.

richard.millington82

I imagined we could sue for wilfully covering it up - though I am not a legal expert - that's why I am here.

And we did have a surveyor, but they don't do invasive checks, which is only how the dry rot could have been found.

Cakeguts

richard.millington82 wrote: »

I imagined we could sue for wilfully covering it up - though I am not a legal expert - that's why I am here.

And we did have a surveyor, but they don't do invasive checks, which is only how the dry rot could have been found.

How are you going to prove that the seller knew that it was dry rot?

richard.millington82

Yes, that would be difficult. Will have to see what solicitor says.

societys_child

we could sue for wilfully covering it up

:huh: . . .

ThePants999

When we were selling, we arranged the kitchen bin to be in front of some unsightly faded paintwork, and put a rug over a cracked floor tile.

I suppose I should now live in fear of being sued...

Ulfar

Did the vendor answer falsely to any questions put to them that are relevant and can you prove it, if not you are unlikley to have a case.

Do you have a case against the surveyor, probably not as it sounds like you had a home buyer report not a structural survey. The terms of these reports becuase they are non invasive will have lots of get out clauses so you have no case against him.

Edit : So there may be some hope if you can prove it was the vendor that covered up the issues, see http://www.proinspect.co.uk/tag/hidden-defects/

How you would prove it is the problem.

richard.millington82

Thanks for the replies.

phill99

You have 2 hopes. One of them is Bob.

PhilE

No nothing you can do. Vendor will just say they didn't know and maybe they genuinely didn't. Expect little things to go wrong with a house and be grateful it's nothing big, and now you know you can get it sorted before it gets worse.