Vendors lied about a leak

chocolate.chip

Hi
We've completed on a house purchase about a month ago. When we collected keys I noticed what looked like a damp patch in a corner of a room downstairs. Vendors stated on a form that there was a previous leak but all fixed and no problems since so I asked them is that an old damp patch or something that happened recently. They said they never noticed it before and they haven't redecorated that room in a long time so possibly it's from a while back. It didn't feel wet so we stupidly believed them and left it at that. Today we used the bath for the first time and now we have a stream of water coming down the wall in the spot I pointed out to previous owners. I'll be calling a plumber first thing in the morning and praying for a quick fix but if it is a bigger job are the previous owners in any way liable since they point blank said they didn't know anything about it which is clearly impossible as it's not a small leak that would be easy to miss.
Thanks for any advise

AnotherJoe

Proving it is the issue. Maybe they didn't use that bath - is there a shower? Maybe it only leaks if you have a bath and not a shower?
Maybe the leak sprung again after a few weeks without a problem.

Hard to prove.

G_M

welcome to the joys of home ownership.


Fix the bathroom.

Davesnave

chocolate.chip wrote: »

Thanks for any advise

A month has gone by, so it'll be much easier to get the leak traced and fixed than to pin any liability on the previous owners.

bertiewhite

chocolate.chip wrote: »

Vendors stated on a form that there was a previous leak but all fixed and no problems since so I asked them is that an old damp patch or something that happened recently.

I can't remember being asked that sort of stuff on a form when I sold my house recently?

loveka

If it helps in any way , I had exactly the same thing happen recently. The vendors must have known, same as yours. But nothing can be done sadly.

Mine also ran the oil for the boiler so dangerously low that sludge was drawn into the boiler the first time we turned it on. It blew up. £4700 later I am not feeling very happy with the vendor. There is absolutely nothing I can do.

A previous house sale the vendor assured me that the chimney was in full working order. When we got a builder round the week we moved in, he told us that the vendor had got him to pour concrete down the chimney to hide damp that was coming in! No surveyor could have noticed that. That cost us £5k. Our solicitor said it would cost too much to peruse.

kerri_gt

Silly question but have you checked the overflow to the bath is attached? We discovered by accident after several years that in one property we were renting the overflow outlet wasn't attached, so everytime OH had a bath and filled it right up, water was pouring out - the only reason it hadn't been evident before was because there was a piece of wood underneath that had bowed and was catching the water. When this got moved (we were replacing taps) we suddenly got a 'leak' in the cloakroom below (through the ceiling light)

Comms69

chocolate.chip wrote: »

Hi
We've completed on a house purchase about a month ago. When we collected keys I noticed what looked like a damp patch in a corner of a room downstairs. Vendors stated on a form that there was a previous leak but all fixed and no problems since so I asked them is that an old damp patch or something that happened recently. They said they never noticed it before and they haven't redecorated that room in a long time so possibly it's from a while back. It didn't feel wet so we stupidly believed them and left it at that. Today we used the bath for the first time and now we have a stream of water coming down the wall in the spot I pointed out to previous owners. I'll be calling a plumber first thing in the morning and praying for a quick fix but if it is a bigger job are the previous owners in any way liable since they point blank said they didn't know anything about it which is clearly impossible as it's not a small leak that would be easy to miss.
Thanks for any advise

You cannot prove that they knew about it. They may have had a piece of furniture there, or be unobservant, or whatever.


You need to have more than your opinion for a court to consider this.

Robin9

I had something similar - an upstairs bathroom with over the bath shower and damp patches in the loo below.

It transpired that when I stepped into the bath it dropped because its feet weren't adjusted properly - the water then ran down the tiles and into the gap around the bath. Solution - adjusted the feet.

wannabe_a_mum

This happened to us on our last house...the day after we moved in I had a shower then went downstairs whilst hubby was in the shower and as I walked through the living room door water was dripping through the ceiling
Called the Agents who gave us the number of the Vendor but vendor just said 'Oh you own the house now you will have to sort'!


Turned out the newly papered ceiling in the hallway under the bathroom was to hide various water damage!


Result was circa £5k on a new bathroom within days of moving in!


Ensure we had a very thorough check on our current house before moving in (no issues found - was a fully gutted and redecorated property)

foxy-stoat

wannabe_a_mum wrote: »

This happened to us on our last house...the day after we moved in I had a shower then went downstairs whilst hubby was in the shower and as I walked through the living room door water was dripping through the ceiling
Called the Agents who gave us the number of the Vendor but vendor just said 'Oh you own the house now you will have to sort'!


Turned out the newly papered ceiling in the hallway under the bathroom was to hide various water damage!


Result was circa £5k on a new bathroom within days of moving in!


Ensure we had a very thorough check on our current house before moving in (no issues found - was a fully gutted and redecorated property)

Am sure you could of fixed the leak for a lot less that 5K - but at least you bought yourself a new bathroom too. Win.