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Buying a new property is a huge commitment for most people, and being as fully informed about any problems or issues that the new home might have is essential if you’re to make a measured decision on purchasing it or not. While there will always be some element of risk for buyers when it comes to their new property, especially when purchasing a home that is more than a few years old, there are processes in place to help minimise this.
Sellers must disclose major issues that they are aware of with the property on the TA6 property information form, such as a history of flooding, significant structural defects and other problems, including where extensive dry rot is known to be present. If the seller fails to disclose these issues or otherwise lies or misleads the potential buyer and the sale goes through, it may mean that the buyer can make a claim for property misrepresentation by the seller. A successful claim can mean that either the contract of sale is considered void, with the property reverting back to the seller and all monies being refunded to the buyer, or there may be damages paid to the buyer instead.
Call our specialist team for more information and to find out if you can make a claim on 0161 696 6178.
If you have bought a house with dry rot, this can be very expensive to rectify. If the seller of the home knew that there was dry rot present and deliberately misled you on the problem or lied about it, this could be considered property misrepresentation and you might be able to make a claim.
It’s important to seek expert legal advice immediately to see if you might be eligible to make a claim, as this will depend on the individual circumstances involved with your property purchase and an experienced solicitor will be able to investigate things on your behalf.
In order for a claim to be successful, it will need to be proven that the seller knew about the dry rot and failed to disclose this or tried to hide the issue. In some cases, it could be that the seller has previously called in a specialist to look at the dry rot issue, before deliberately not disclosing it to the potential seller. Or perhaps a previous survey on the property has flagged this problem and the seller hasn’t had works carried out to resolve it. There may be a paperwork trail to back this up which can be used as evidence.
It can be a complex area, so it’s important to have specialist legal support to give your property misrepresentation dry rot claim the best chance of success.
If you had a full structural survey carried out on the property before purchase but the surveyor failed to spot the dry rot that you discovered once the sale had gone through, you may be able to bring a claim for surveyor negligence. It will depend on the circumstances of the survey and whether it is deemed reasonable for the surveyor not to have discovered the dry rot during the survey they were instructed to carry out.
Whether the seller or the surveyor are potentially liable, the likelihood is that if you are successful in your claim, you will be awarded damages that take into account the difference in the value of your property now that the dry rot issue has come to light. There may also be other damages associated with various expenses and costs.
This is why it’s essential to seek expert legal advice as soon as possible so that we can investigate the situation and see if you are eligible to make a claim against the seller or your surveyor. Get in touch with our specialist team today by calling 0161 696 6178.
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