Mould in new home

FTBNewbiee

Hi, 

I’ve recently bought a flat which completed on Friday. During decorating we peeled back the wallpaper that they put on the ceiling and realised it was thick with mould.  We did a basic survey during the process but I doubt even if we did a better one it would have picked anything up as they’ve concealed it with the paper!

Is there anything that can be done from a legal perspective?

AdrianC

Are you the top floor?

Irishpearce26

No there is nothing that can be done legally as its the buyers responsibility to carry out due diligence. Perhaps check over your survey notes to see if the surveyor mentioned anything.

user1977

What's the cause of the mould?

I doubt there's anything legal you can do, assuming it's not something your surveyor ought to have spotted and you didn't ask the vendor any relevant questions.

StandingInTheSun

Irishpearce26 said:

No there is nothing that can be done legally as its the buyers responsibility to carry out due diligence. Perhaps check over your survey notes to see if the surveyor mentioned anything.

Due diligence doesn't extend as far as stripping wallpaper. If you were selling your home and someone asked to do it would you let them?

There may be a case for deliberate concealment/deception. Check with your solicitor.

babyblade41

If it's a leaking roof then comeback could maybe sought from the owner to get it repaired .. nothing can be gained from a retrospective POV .. a surveyor will only comment on what they see and previous owners may not have known.

In my current house it was visible as half the wall was missing !!

user1977

StandingInTheSun said:

Irishpearce26 said:

No there is nothing that can be done legally as its the buyers responsibility to carry out due diligence. Perhaps check over your survey notes to see if the surveyor mentioned anything.

There may be a case for deliberate concealment/deception.

There's no general principle that vendors aren't allowed to (literally) paper over the cracks, or the like.

Emmia

Do you know what the cause of the mould may be? Is it lack of ventilation, water leak, cold surfaces causing condensation? 

You can remove it by wiping it with either distilled vinegar or bleach - the sponge side of one of those sponge scrubbers is ideal, but to address the issue you need to identify and tackle the cause.

The previous owners of our spot had hidden a damp issue (an insufficiently powerful fan on the shower room) by painting it with normal Dulux paint - it went mouldy fairly quickly, but I fixed it by bleaching and repainting with a specialist paint (Zinsser) and we've also since upgraded the extractor fans.

Irishpearce26

StandingInTheSun said:

Irishpearce26 said:

No there is nothing that can be done legally as its the buyers responsibility to carry out due diligence. Perhaps check over your survey notes to see if the surveyor mentioned anything.

Due diligence doesn't extend as far as stripping wallpaper. If you were selling your home and someone asked to do it would you let them?

There may be a case for deliberate concealment/deception. Check with your solicitor.

My comment about due diligence is in relation to the comment around any legal back up. She would have to prove that the owners knew about the mould and putting wallpaper on walls and ceiling isn't classed as concealment/deception otherwise we would all be in trouble.