Conveyancing misrepresentation

[Strawberry22]

What happens if you miss the 6 year claim period for misrepresentation of a property but you have clear evidence of a deliberate cover up of information. We have just come across work done to a neighbouring property found at the planning office that affected our property. Which our vendor agreed to in writing but she did not pass this on to us. We have had it confirmed that it should of been disclosed in the TA6 there is a clear section for this type of information. She has answered No.

It isn't worth pursuing as it's been 8 years. However the work required an agreement to be put into place for future owners and its causing problems for us with new owners of the neighbouring property. They have said its not there problem contact your vendor and blamed the enitire situation on us. To prove it legally through a fraudulent claim would cost thousands and not worth following up.

What can we do as we are stuck and worried about having no agreement in place and how this will affect the future sale of our property.

[dslippy]

What is the misrepresentation about?

[Strawberry22]

It is the act of being dishonest when selling a property. Where a seller should have told you something by law but lied or hide the information on the TA6 property form.

[dslippy]

I know what misrepresentation is. What was this misrepresentation? If you cannot say, fine, but it makes it much more difficult to answer your question.

[sandfordboy]

Precisely what info do you believe should have been disclosed ?

[des8]

I think it would be useful to know what the works are, and what "agreement" (presumably a covenant noted on LR files) should be in place

[Strawberry22]

The previous neighbours of the property next door increased the roof space of their property by building a extension 10 m x 4m and added guttering and downpipes to this new extension in 2009. The property has always drained there roof rainwater onto our property but it was only a small amount prior to the extension. The upgrade of the extension increased the water flow significantly added new guttering, downpipes. They added new underground drainage to channel the water onto our property. Prior to the addition of this new drainage it was a pathway.

The planning department wrote to the previous owner of our property asking for her permission for the work to go ahead and she has written back agreeing to all of the work. No agreements, no covenant nothing was put in place.

The property information form TA6 specifically asks the following question -

Have any notices or correspondence been received or sent e.g from or to a neighbour, council, goverment department, or any negotiations or discussions taken place which affects your property or a property nearby? If Yes please give details. Our seller said NO.

She also added new soakaways for the neighbours extension that are located on our land. The neighbour required them for their building regulations sign off. We had absolutely no idea they existed. She agreed to all of the work without adding any agreements.

We now have new neighbours in the property next door and they are denying any responsibility for it. We have clearly missed a claim against the vendor and now we have no idea what yo do as its clearly not something we would of known about unless she has told us before purchasing the property.

[atticus]

I suggest that you take professional advice on 2 things. First, on what possible drainage solution there might be, and what it would cost. Second, from a lawyer: you may have a claim for damages for nuisance and an injunction requiring it to be stopped.

[dslippy]

I suspect that the neighbours may have a defence of limitation. The problem is that the situation as it is has been that way for several years. The incorrect answer given to you by the vendor does not change the situation as against the neighbour. The neighbour does not seem to have done anything wrong apart frrom (perhaps) taking advantage of your vendor.

[atticus]

but if there is a nuisance, surely it is ongoing.

[Strawberry22]

Yes our neighbour is taking advantage massively. They agreed to have further work done to the drainage im March 2022 and then refused a contribution to costs once they found out they wasn't liable. This is what led us to look further into the drainage. We decided to look at our conveyancing and we were advised to check any past building work to see if it included any to thr neighbouring property drainage and it did.

Our biggest concern is what we tell new buyers when we come to sell the property as its hardly a good selling point and could devalue our property if there is any possibility of a dispute over it. I'm trying to be pragmatic and fair but it wasn't something we knew about and we have proof she avoided it on the TA6 form.

The seller also supplied photos to our conveyancer showing our properties drainage connecting to a soakaway and she has cropped out the neighbours pipe deliberately. One of the soakaways we now know is shared with the neighbour but the photo she gave us shows only her pipe giving the impression it only serves our property. It has definitely been a deliberate attempt to avoid giving information.

[Strawberry22]

The neighbour is very difficult to deal with so we are trying to be as fair as possible.

[dslippy]

Do not overthink this. You are where you are. How long did it take you to realise that this nuisance existed?

[Strawberry22]

We discovered it in May 2022 of this year after our neighbour denied responsibility. So only a few months ago.

[Strawberry22]

The planning information and vendor information we only discovered last week.