Selling a flat with issues

user1977

pinkshoes said:

M24 said:

Secondly, I would like to try find out if the seller (who still owns two flats in the building) could be held liable for this in some way? From my experiences with him in the last 18 months it is clear that he is a cheap and dishonest man who has pulled the wool over my eyes (and the other owners in this building) and has not been maintaining this old building and has been doing all renovations and refurbishments on the cheap. I can't afford a lawyer right now, and would like to know that I'd have a solid case before approaching one. 

You'd need to prove that the flat has previously flooded and the seller lied about this on the SPIF that they filled in when selling.

As this is an issue with the BUILDING and not the flat itself, then it should be the freeholder Buildings Insurance that should be paying for this work. No different to having a roof or other structural issue that could affect the entire building. If the buildings insurance doesn't cover it, then the sinking fund should be used (so paid for by all the leasehold flats).

I think we've had this discussion on previous threads, but I don't think "flooding" merely means "the rain getting in". And I can't see there being a relevant insured risk here, it sounds like a maintenance issue.

ciderboy2009

OP - Is the house in Clifton?  (just a guess based on what you have said).  If so then I would get a second opinion as to the cause.

Is the house a recent basement conversion or have there always been rooms there?  If the latter then I doubt that waterproofing is your problem - in fact, waterproofing it now could cause a whole load of other problems.

If it is Clifton then it's also unlikely to be a problem with the rising water table.