Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

[triac]

I bought a property at the end of last year, and since moving in and talking with the neighbours I have found there is a wind farm development approved less than a mile away, the vendor had an ongoing dispute with a next door neighbour over some trees on the boundary of the property, plus the property had a top of the range car stolen from the drive recently before sale.



None of the above items were identified to me on the PIF. My solicitor (who did the conveyancing) is dragging his heals over making any sort of claim against the vendor.

Is this a strong case ? What kind of approach should I be taking to seek compensation ? Should I find another solicitor ?

All help is much appreciated.

[enquirer]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

The wind farm development should have been discovered by your solicitor in the course of his/her enquiries. If the vendor knew about it, it should have been declared. The neighbour/tree dispute should have been declared, the theft of the car possibly not.

Your solicitors reluctance may be because they are afraid of appearing negligent.

Any claim against the vendor would be for Misrepresentation and/or Breach of Contract. The court would expect you to show that you have suffered loss (you have had to pay out for something, or the value of the house is significantly less than expected, for example), as a result of the vendors omissions.

[des8]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Bear in mind that one person's dispute is another's discussion.
Can you describe the problem about the boundary trees?
Perhaps it solvable, but the fact you are posting here suggests you are already having differences of opinion with your neighbours.

[triac]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Thanks for the comments.

@enquirer - that is pretty much what my solicitor said, however demonstrating loss seems to be the hurdle. After contacting numerous surveyors, it seems none are willing to dive into the contentious arena of potentially devaluing property prices due to a wind farm development and going against the current "green" agenda. It also doesn't help that the farm isnt built yet also. My point of view is that it will just immediately exclude a proportion of potential purchasers when I go to sell - that must be worth something.

The development never turned up on the searches as it was marginally outside the search radius of 500m. I would normally agree that this is quite wide enough for a development search limit, however it really doesn't take into account these things are 130m tall and therefore have a much wider impact.

It seems if the item one chooses to omit from a PIF cannot have cost attributed to it, then its safe to go ahead. Paper and worth springs to mind !

@des8 - the neihbours are fine so far; we have only been in the property for a few months ! The dispute concerns some lopping of the boundary trees (my boundary) that was agreed with the previous owner. The trees can overhang the neighbours property as it really close to the boundary. Anyway the neighbours arranged and paid for the tree surgeon last year before we moved in and the previous owner was meant to share the cost - he never paid them !

[wales01man]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

If the search only covered 500 Metres that's all above board surely did the vendors answer any questions given in writing wrongly with a view to deceive if not there may be nothing the OP can do.
They employed a Solicitor they should be able to advise if everything was correct with the searches after all that's what they are paid to do.

[des8]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Tend to agree with Wales, and as the proposed wind farm was probably widely discussed in local media one could argue it was so well known about that declaring it would be superfluous.

Regarding the tree/boundary problem, it seems the problem isn't about the trees (and this sort of boundary problem is well covered by each owners rights and responsibilities) but about the previous owner reneging on a "gentleman's " agreement to meet some of the neighbour's costs. Those costs would appear to be the neighbour's, and not the previous owner's

In the end it is good to hear you do not have an ongoing problem with your neighbours, and if you have no plans to sell your new home you may find that the wind farm (if ever built) will have less impact than you fear.

[wales01man]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Plenty of Windfarms near DES8 are they a problem for him
Personally unless they can be heard they make a whooping noise I see no problem

[triac]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Tend to agree with Wales, and as the proposed wind farm was probably widely discussed in local media one could argue it was so well known about that declaring it would be superfluous.

> Is that legally acceptable ? I'm not from the local area and therefore relied on the PIF and solicitor searches (both of which failed in this process)

Regarding the tree/boundary problem, it seems the problem isn't about the trees (and this sort of boundary problem is well covered by each owners rights and responsibilities) but about the previous owner reneging on a "gentleman's " agreement to meet some of the neighbour's costs. Those costs would appear to be the neighbour's, and not the previous owner's

> Yes its not my problem, it is the previous owners debt to the neighbour.

In the end it is good to hear you do not have an ongoing problem with your neighbours, and if you have no plans to sell your new home you may find that the wind farm (if ever built) will have less impact than you fear.

> The wind farm IS being built right now, and if I had known about it BEFORE buying I would not have purchased.

[wales01man]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

With respect to the OP did they take time to research the area before the move? Now with the internet its easy to find out about most things when windfarms are proposed there is always loads of objections.

[triac]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

With respect to the OP did they take time to research the area before the move? Now with the internet its easy to find out about most things when windfarms are proposed there is always loads of objections.

> True, however my focus was primarily with the recently announced A14 upgrade; therefore was I specifically looking for a local wind farm approval also - no. My somewhat misplaced trust was that searches and/or the vendor would help with anything I missed !

[des8]

Re: Vendor omitted details from Property Information Form

Unfortunately you seem to have discovered the hard way about the shortcomings in the way we buy and sell houses.
Re windfarms, although I'm not particularly fond of them & my OH hates them, I do have friends and family who live quite happily close to them.
Re declaring possible "blights" on a house, where should the limits be placed?
A couple of miles from where I live, we have what was an almost disused WWII airfield. In recent years it has been revived as a centre for testing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. They can be very disturbing & locally we are getting newcomers who live upto 5 miles away complaining the existence of this centre was not declared to them.
Whilst I have sympathy for those who buy without discovering the downsides, the adage
"buyer beware" comes to mind.