Issues with property after completion

jcuurthht

I am selling a probate property in England that I don't know much about. The buyer is an investor who is buying "sold as seen" (caveat emptor) and plans to convert the property to a HMO. They are not doing a survey of the property and want to complete ASAP. I don't know anything about the property and have told my conveyancer this.

If the buyer finds issues with a property after completion, do they have any recourse?

user1977

Depends what sort of "issue". It's a question for your conveyancer, since you're paying them to advise you about the contract etc. But pretty improbable if you mean e.g. items of disrepair.

NorthYorkie

I believe not, unless you have mis-represented the property in any way.

jcuurthht

user1977 said:

Depends what sort of "issue". It's a question for your conveyancer, since you're paying them to advise you about the contract etc. But pretty improbable if you mean e.g. items of disrepair.

I mean something major, like subsidance, roof about to collapse etc. I'm not expecting anything because the property was well maintained.

user1977

jcuurthht said:

user1977 said:

Depends what sort of "issue". It's a question for your conveyancer, since you're paying them to advise you about the contract etc. But pretty improbable if you mean e.g. items of disrepair.

I mean something major, like subsidance, roof about to collapse etc. I'm not expecting anything because the property was well maintained.

No. I mean, even a normal vendor wouldn't have a claim against them, unless it was something they had actual knowledge of (e.g. because they had previously carried out work for subsidence).

onylon

Is the property in England?

jcuurthht

onylon said:

Is the property in England?

Yes it is

TheJP

It is the responsibility of the buyer to carry out due diligence, if you are not aware of any major defects  then you are fine. Even if you were aware the roof was falling apart you only need to disclose it if you have had someone look at it.

canaldumidi

If you make statements to the buyer (eg "the property has no subsidence" or " there is no pubic footpath across the garden") which later turn out to be untrue, then yes you could be liable.

But why would you make statements like this?

You will receive at some point a standard list of Enquiries to answer. Most questions you will answer "Not known" since that is clearly the most truthful answer.

jcuurthht

canaldumidi said:

If you make statements to the buyer (eg "the property has no subsidence" or " there is no pubic footpath across the garden") which later turn out to be untrue, then yes you could be liable.

But why would you make statements like this?

You will receive at some point a standard list of Enquiries to answer. Most questions you will answer "Not known" since that is clearly the most truthful answer.

Yeah most of those questions have been answered not known in the property information form I completed.

pinkteapot

Yep, so long as you haven’t lied or guessed when it comes to questions on the legal forms then you’re absolutely fine. For things like subsidence they’d be taking action against their surveyor, not you.