Section 20 notice after purchase of flat

HampshireH · 1 August 2018 at 5:01PM

Your point that it was undisclosed at exchange yet in the same thread you acknowledge many didnt receive the stage 1

Who do you wish to claim from? Your seller who didnt know (we assume) or the freeholder for serving notice by email and not to the property and therefore not everybody received it?

Or your solicitor for not knowing before exchange about this development.

Or do you just accept that you also didn't check at the key stages of purchase yourself if you had asked the question between receiving the pack and exchange then you would have been told/provided with a copy

margaret.balin · 1 August 2018 at 5:05PM

I should have clarified.

The managing agent claims they follow the law to the letter and emailed a pdf to all tennants of stage 1. So they claim the seller would have definitely been emailed one as well, as well as everyone. At least the email addresses that they hold for every flat owner.

Then they send letters for stage 2.

So a lot of the elderly folk or the less tech savvy, who don't necessarily have emails, might not have read it but it doesn't mean it wasn't sent to them!!

I'm sure the seller knew and simply pretended not to have received anything.
I feel absolutely cheated on!

sal_III · 1 August 2018 at 5:06PM

But you are not going to be £8k out of pocket!!

You are going to pay £8k and get £8k worth of (potentially life saving) improvements to your property that weren't in place when you exchanged.

margaret.balin · 1 August 2018 at 5:12PM

I understand what you are saying. The improvement works will be in my benefit, I understand that.

I was trying to also get an agreement that the seller employed deceit and there were perhaps some legal avenues I could pursue. I wouldn't know how to sue someone who might not even be in the country any more. It seems that I'm stuffed with the bill and there's no legal avenue to explore

Nick_C · 1 August 2018 at 5:14PM

margaret.balin wrote: »

I was very happy because I managed to knock off 10k off the price the day before exchanging so I really thought I was getting a good deal.

Can we sue?

margaret.balin wrote: »

Our lawyers are not willing to help. I feel cheated on.
Also the seller has gone abroad after the sale and apparently has no address so not sure how to do anything at this point. Is this all I can do?

margaret.balin wrote: »

I'm sure the seller knew and simply pretended not to have received anything.
I feel absolutely cheated on!

The seller may have known, but try proving that in court.

It sounds like you and the seller have similar values.

Your solicitor won't take the case on. They know more about the circumstances than anyone on here. You could use a different solicitor but I think you would be wasting your money.

The point is you bought what you thought you were buying, at a price less that you initially agreed to.

The Freeholder is now spending a large amount of money to improve your property, enhancing what you have bought. That should add to the value of your property when you come to sell. It also makes your home a much safer place. But you think someone else should pay for that?

david1951 · 1 August 2018 at 5:23PM

margaret.balin wrote: »

It seems that I'm stuffed with the bill

You would have been stuffed with the bill whatever happened.

Even if the seller knew, and disclosed to you, why would they pay for improvements they weren't going to see the benefit of? Would you have pulled out?

In other words, I don't really see what 'loss' you suffered that you feel entitles you to claim money from someone.

bobbymotors · 1 August 2018 at 7:48PM

op....serve you right for gazundering!

ACG · 1 August 2018 at 8:09PM

margaret.balin wrote: »

Is it wrong that we haggled him down? We saved 10k!

It is not wrong to haggle the price.
It is a bit scummy to do it the day before exchange at a point where everyone is financially invested and likely tied in.

How would you have felt if it were an increasing market and they banged the price up by £10k after you had spent thousands on fees? That is the point people are making.

Congratulations on saving the £10k. Commiserations on being lumbered with £8k.

If you can prove the vendor knew about the works and the costs then you can potentially sue. Although you need to know where they are and if they are coming back to the UK. If you can not find those 2 things out, then you will probably need to knock it on the head.

diggingdude · 1 August 2018 at 8:32PM

To be fair it sounds like you both played each other, still you are £2k up on the deal so that's some good Money Saving

TBagpuss · 1 August 2018 at 8:42PM

ACG is right.
If you can *prove* that the sellers knew and failed to disclose, then you might have a claim against them. You would be able to claim your actual losses, which would most likely be less than the full £8K, as it is unlikely that you could have got another £8K off the price even if you had known about it.

You would need an address for the sellers and if they are abroad would have the added complication that it would be more difficult to enforce any order against someone whose assets are not in the UK.

Your conveyancing solicitors probably can't help because at this point, it is not a conveyancing issue, it would be a litigation matter. They are not at fault as the issue wasn't disclosed, so they would have had no way of knowing about it and therefore no ability to advise you about it.

If you want to follow it up, then you need to look for a solicitor who deals with property litigation. However, from what you've said, it sounds as though there is a real likelihood that the sellers didn't know, in which case you have no case as they didn't conceal anything.

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Section 20 notice after purchase of flat

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