Does a seller legally have to declare a leak and be truthful about it?

mark_cycling00

Your plumber doesn't "legally" have to tell the truth either.

"It wasn't installed properly" is very commonly said phrase because it makes the tradesperson come across as more competent and the customer will be thinking ",Thank goodness we've found a good plumber to fix it"

I don't think you'll have much success suing the previous owner after 6 months. To many unknowns and unprovables sadly 

AskAsk

mark_cycling00 said:

Your plumber doesn't "legally" have to tell the truth either.

"It wasn't installed properly" is very commonly said phrase because it makes the tradesperson come across as more competent and the customer will be thinking ",Thank goodness we've found a good plumber to fix it"

I don't think you'll have much success suing the previous owner after 6 months. To many unknowns and unprovables sadly 

That is true.  You can't trust everything a plumber or another tradesman says!  They can make off the cuff remarks, which if you ever ask them to put in writing, you will find it won't be forthcoming.

Jemma01

I asked my solicitor whether I'm protected by anything if the seller lies about things, he said in England it is "buyer beware", and that there is a form they can choose to fill in if they want to, but it is not mandatory. If they don't declare anything or give a misleading answer, and there is something wrong that they MUST have known about, then there maybe a ground for a case, but proving that they must've known about it is challenging in practice. In summary, he thinks I should do my due diligence and if anything turns out to be bad, oh well.

Sounds like your seller tried to fix it, and told you about it, so nothing seems to be wrong from their side.

TheJP

1122abc said:

6 months after moving into my flat, I noticed that the wet room was leaking to the floor and water was coming through the ceiling in the corresponding area.

I had no concerns on multiple viewings and did not see any damp patches or recent redecoration in the aforementioned ceiling area. The surveyor did not pick anything up. 

A plumber has since visited and said that the wet room had been fitted incorrectly and it was bound to leak. The plumbers who fit the bathroom have since left the country. 

If I had asked the seller if they had any problems with the wet room leaking, would they have been under any legal obligation to declare this?

Depends if they knew about it, if they didn't then they say no if they did then they say yes but we got it fixed. Either way there is no come back on the seller to pay for anything that needs rectified.

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Bonus question: In another room of the flat, there was evidence of an extensive leak on the wall. The seller said they fixed the cause of the leak and when I revisited several times, it did look fixed and the wall was not damp. A few months later the damp appeared again and a leak has been confirmed from around the boiler area. The damp specialist said it was simply painted over. It’s too late now, but could the seller have faced any repercussions for stating that the cause of the leak was fixed, when it had not been?

They said it had been fixed and the leak has come back again, again no repercussions as they were honest. Buyer beware, its your issue now.

See responses above, this is pretty cut and dry. Is this your first property you have bought by any chance?

GDB2222

Any questions and answers given as part of pre contract enquiries through your solicitor will normally form part of the contract. So, you can sue for damages if the seller answers incorrectly.

 They may be liable even if it’s an honest mistake.