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Buying a property is a big commitment and buyers always want to know as much as possible about their potential purchase before everything goes through. Finding out after completion that your new home has serious structural issues or defects is very difficult to deal with and can have huge financial implications too.
Buying property will always have some element of risk but there are some safeguards within the process which help to minimise this, such as the TA6 property information form. This document asks the seller a number of questions about the property, which they are obliged to answer honestly, and as part of this they should declare any major structural issues that they know about. If they fail to do this or are found to have lied about the property’s structural problems or tried to hide them to mislead the buyer or surveyor, you may be able to make a property misrepresentation claim against the seller.
Our specialist team can give expert advice on property misrepresentation claims in relation to structural issues. Call us on 0161 696 6178.
If you’ve bought a home and have since discovered problems that mean you are worried about the structure or the integrity of the house itself, it can be incredibly stressful and expensive to deal with and sort out. Sometimes structural problems can be dangerous and make the house unsafe to live in, as well as being costly to rectify. If the person who sold you the property was aware of the structural issue(s) but failed to disclose this before the sale of the house was finalised, or tried to hide the problems and mislead you, you can look into making a property misrepresentation claim against them.
If your claim is successful, depending on the specific circumstances, the property transaction could potentially be reversed, with ownership returning to the seller and the buyer being refunded. Alternatively, you may be awarded damages instead. These damages would usually be based on the difference in the value of the home with the structural problems when compared to its value without this issue.
Seeking legal advice straight away as soon as the structural issue becomes evident is essential. Our specialist team can look into the situation on your behalf to discover if the seller misrepresented the property. It’s important when you have bought a new house to determine who is liable for any structural problems, as this is who you can potentially bring a claim against.
Sometimes the seller might not be aware of the issues the property has, in which case they are not liable. If you instructed a surveyor to carry out a full structural survey during the buying process, and they failed to see the issues that have since come to light, it might be possible for you to bring a claim against them for surveyor negligence. For example, if you bought a house with foundation problems that the surveyor didn’t spot, despite there being warning signs or evidence that should have been noted during their survey, they could potentially be liable for damages.
However, if the seller had made efforts to cover the issue then there might not have been any way for the surveyor to find the damage at that time, in which case they cannot be held liable for not spotting it.
This is why it’s essential to seek expert legal advice as soon as possible so that we can investigate the situation in relation to the structural problems 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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