Purchased an unsafe home, was I misled by seller / failed by due diligence?

[Elizabeth36]

My husband and I purchased our flat in September 2018, it was a new build property (completed in 2014) & had one previous owner. Since living here the housing trust responsible for the development have informed residents that there are major fire safety issues (internal fire stopping in the construction/ deficiencies with the cladding); as such my young family and I are now essentially trapped in an unsafe home unable to sell until the issues are corrected (pending response from BSF, works expected to take circa 75 weeks).

We are now questioning why these queries were not raised (surveyor, mortgage lender, solicitor etc) at the time of our purchase (given the Grenfell tragedy had highlighted a number of concerns). I have recently discovered (via the Residents Association) that months prior to our purchase the housing trust advised residents that a particular broadband installation was not allowed due to ‘fire safety’ concerns, and other residents complained they were having difficulties selling/staircasing as certain lenders were refusing to take the trusts ‘word’ that the building was fire safe & wanted to see a report.

Essentially my question is were we misled by the previous owner, housing trust? Did the surveyor, lender, solicitor fail us in terms of due diligence? And if so, can I do anything about it?

Many thanks in advance

[des8]

were we misled by the previous owner,: were they aware of the fire safety issues?
housing trust? Were any enquiries put to the trust? If so, would they have been aware of the issues?
Did the surveyor, Did you have a full structural survey or just a valuation?
lender, Only interested in value of property
solicitor assuming he carried out standard checks he would have complied with his duty of care
fail us in terms of due diligence?

You need to find out when safety concerns were first raised, if they were communicated to your sellers, when the safety report was first published.

When you have that information you can then check to see if the sellers questionnaires etc were completed accurately

[Elizabeth36]

Thank you for your response, much appreciated. My understanding of the timeline of communication ahead of my purchase (Sept 2018) is as follows:

June 2017 - immediately after Grenfell the HA contact residents to communicate that they have received a number of concerns. They give their reassurance that the cladding is not the same type as Grenfell & that they will commission a new fire risk assessment & take expert technical advice.

September 2017 - HA have instructed a specialist contractor to service the sprinkler systems within each flat. Following the visit they contact flats they were unable to access & advise they must schedule an appointment urgently else their case will be passed to the enforcement team who may take legal action.

June 2018 - a number of discussions on the Residents Association forum regarding residents having issues selling/staircasing as certain lenders have requested a fire safety report which HA won’t supply.

HA advise residents that Hyperotic broadband is a fire safety risk and no longer allowed.


Ahead of my purchase the HA’s line is very much that the building is not at risk; however, their actions suggest otherwise (should they have advised my solicitor, or not unless asked?). The seller did not mention any issues on their questionnaire (should they have?)

[des8]

I don't think there are any questions on the Law Society Transaction form TA6 about fire safety risk.

From your response it seems that it is only recently that the HA has confirmed there are concerns over fire safety.

Neither party has to volunteer information that is not requested... it is still a case of "caveat emptor"

You don't say but I suspect you didn't have your own structural survey, which maybe would have highlighted issues.