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It is estimated by the Environment Agency that one in every six homes in the UK are in an area where there is a risk of flooding, and the increase in extreme weather events means that this risk is likely to grow in coming years. If you’re buying a new home, you’ll want to be fully informed about the flood history of the property, so you can make an informed decision about proceeding with the sale or not. Homes that are prone to flooding can be difficult or very costly to insure, so it’s important that this is considered before completing on the purchase.
Sellers have an obligation for declaring flooding when selling a house in the UK, using the TA6 property information form, and as well as sharing that flooding happened, they should also specify the effect that the flooding had on the home, garden, driveway and surrounding land, which gives a potential buyer more information about what happened and helps them make a decision regarding this. If the seller lies, misleads or fails to disclose flooding events that they know about and the sale completes, the buyer may be able to make a claim for property misrepresentation. Call our specialist team for more information and to find out if you can make a claim on 0161 696 6178.
If you have completed on a property purchase and then discovered that there is a history of flooding that you were not made aware of by the seller, you should seek expert legal advice immediately to see if you might be able to make a claim for the way the property was misrepresented to you. It might be that you only find out about previous flooding once you have already moved in and spoken to neighbours or others in the community. As soon as the issue comes to light, it’s important to get legal assistance so that you know where you stand and can make a decision on your next steps.
Whether or not you can sue a seller for not disclosing flooding before you bought the property will somewhat depend on the individual circumstances involved.
There is a specific question about flooding on the TA6 property information form that sellers must fill in and lying on this form (or simply leaving an area blank or saying it’s not applicable) can mean that you are able to make a claim against them for misrepresentation.
A property misrepresentation claim can include damages for the impact that the flooding history may have on the property value. There may also be additional damages paid for other costs or losses incurred by the buyer because of the misrepresentation from the seller.
In order for a claim to be successful, it will have to be proven that the seller was aware of the previous flooding events and knowingly didn’t disclose it when asked to on the TA6 form.
If you have discovered a flood history for your property that was not disclosed by the seller and want to find out if you can make a property misrepresentation claim, get in touch with our specialist team as soon as possible on 0161 696 6178.
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