Vendor misrepresentation
Discussion
I have bought a plot that has a listed wall at the end of the garden.
The wall was detailed as being the responsibility of the neighbour. We raised other enquires about the wall given it is listed.
On stripping the ivy the wall has major issues with a buttress (4m tall ) being heavily cracked and one chunk liable to fall out.
I wrote to neighbour ( politely ) asking if they could resolve.
Met neighbour and they produce their deeds that say all adjoining wall are party walls.
The expense is likely significant to resolve (10-15k) and we only completed in may.
The issue of the wall was real and we made all reasonable enquiries ( including writing to said neighbour ) to determine we were not liable.
My lawyer has written to their lawyers twice with no reply so there does not seem to be an amicable way forward.
Has anyone tried a misrepresentation claim ? Lawyers will cost ££& so I assume small claims is the better way once the cost is quantified ?
Thanks
The wall was detailed as being the responsibility of the neighbour. We raised other enquires about the wall given it is listed.
On stripping the ivy the wall has major issues with a buttress (4m tall ) being heavily cracked and one chunk liable to fall out.
I wrote to neighbour ( politely ) asking if they could resolve.
Met neighbour and they produce their deeds that say all adjoining wall are party walls.
The expense is likely significant to resolve (10-15k) and we only completed in may.
The issue of the wall was real and we made all reasonable enquiries ( including writing to said neighbour ) to determine we were not liable.
My lawyer has written to their lawyers twice with no reply so there does not seem to be an amicable way forward.
Has anyone tried a misrepresentation claim ? Lawyers will cost ££& so I assume small claims is the better way once the cost is quantified ?
Thanks
Edited by Jeremy-75qq8 on Sunday 13th June 08:54
Did your own lawyer not check things prior to purchase? Isn’t that one of the things you pay for?
I’m in Scotland and this would be something I would expect to have been picked up on. And I say this on my experience of having bought properties over the years and this issue and similar have all been brought to my attention long before any money changes hand (apart from legal costs).
I’m in Scotland and this would be something I would expect to have been picked up on. And I say this on my experience of having bought properties over the years and this issue and similar have all been brought to my attention long before any money changes hand (apart from legal costs).
If the wall ownership isn't defined in either deeds then doesn't it become a silent party wall by default.
Even if it was owned by the neighbours, I'd find it unlikely that you will find their documented permission for you to grow ivy up the wall.
Without this surely they just respond that the damage is caused by the ivy, and that you need to fix it?
Even if it was owned by the neighbours, I'd find it unlikely that you will find their documented permission for you to grow ivy up the wall.
Without this surely they just respond that the damage is caused by the ivy, and that you need to fix it?
Thank you for the replies.
The Property Information form states
1 -c At the Rear - Neighbour
In the box below it states
xxxx Wall rear boundary at end of garden owned by xxx House, No 4 xxxx Road
So there was an absolute representation it was owned by them.
The Ivy was existing and I was asked to remove it by the neighbour which we did. There no damage caused by the ivy. The Damage referred to is major cracking in a 4m tall buttress.
The deeds of my house and the supplemental conveyances ( there are several) make no reference to the wall.
We did not reach the land registry of neighbours pre purchase - I would be surprised of anyone did this.
The land registry entry for the neighbour runs to many pages and states " the wall where the abut on adjoining land are party walls"
As above this is not mentioned in my title.
Hence the only evidence they are party walls is the neighbours deed - which I have no particular reason to doubt is accurate.
The lawyer was asked to raise enquiries but it got us nowhere and hence the only thing to reply upon was the vendors statement.
My lawyer suggested I write to the neighbour seeking clarity. This I did but never received a reply and it was in the middle of lockdown so knocking on doors was not practical.
The Property Information form states
1 -c At the Rear - Neighbour
In the box below it states
xxxx Wall rear boundary at end of garden owned by xxx House, No 4 xxxx Road
So there was an absolute representation it was owned by them.
The Ivy was existing and I was asked to remove it by the neighbour which we did. There no damage caused by the ivy. The Damage referred to is major cracking in a 4m tall buttress.
The deeds of my house and the supplemental conveyances ( there are several) make no reference to the wall.
We did not reach the land registry of neighbours pre purchase - I would be surprised of anyone did this.
The land registry entry for the neighbour runs to many pages and states " the wall where the abut on adjoining land are party walls"
As above this is not mentioned in my title.
Hence the only evidence they are party walls is the neighbours deed - which I have no particular reason to doubt is accurate.
The lawyer was asked to raise enquiries but it got us nowhere and hence the only thing to reply upon was the vendors statement.
My lawyer suggested I write to the neighbour seeking clarity. This I did but never received a reply and it was in the middle of lockdown so knocking on doors was not practical.
Does it make any difference when the deeds for each house were registered?
I.e the second house can’t have it as shared wall if it’s already registered as being the sole property of the first house?
I know we had problems when we bought a flat with parking in the deeds where the same space was also in other’s deeds. This was solved by establishing that our flat had the space registered as theirs first when the development was built.
Jeremy-75qq8 said:
Indeed - which is the aim of this thread!
I wondered if anyone had started such and action
And what does your solicitor say or is he being cagey -because he's not done proper job in conveyancing process or advise been less than that you should expected from someone acting on your behalf? I wondered if anyone had started such and action
I don’t want to defend the lawyer per se but if the vendor says it is owned by the neighbour how is the lawyer supposed to know any different ?
The lawyer has written and if no reply will “ pass it to the litigation department “. I don’t really want that and would prefer to Try small claims as in a full case I am on the hook for mine and their costs if I lose
The lawyer has written and if no reply will “ pass it to the litigation department “. I don’t really want that and would prefer to Try small claims as in a full case I am on the hook for mine and their costs if I lose
Jeremy-75qq8 said:
I don’t want to defend the lawyer per se but if the vendor says it is owned by the neighbour how is the lawyer supposed to know any different ?
It took me all of 6 minutes to find a few property/wall/planning websites that use phrases like "Disputes relating to retaining walls usually concern the ownership of the wall, and therefore the expense of repair. In many cases the deeds of one or both properties should be specific as to ownership of the retaining wall but where this information is missing and the wall falls into disrepair an investigation of the position of the boundary may be needed."My italics, but it seems pretty clear that any conveyancing solicitor worth their salt would know that retaining walls can be something of a minefield and therefore checking the neighbours' plans would be a sensible thing to do, particularly when those of the property you're buying make no mention of ownership. While the vendor may have misrepresented the ownership of the wall I also think that your solicitor could have done a better job of avoiding this issue. We nearly had our fingers burnt on this but luckily (or perhaps it's just standard practice) our solicitor obtained the title plans for all of our neighbours and discovered a conflict in the boundary layouts which the vendor was then obliged to sort out (at a not insignificant cost to him).
Yes, your vendor should have done better but in my opinion so should your solicitor.
Jeremy-75qq8 said:
I don’t want to defend the lawyer per se but if the vendor says it is owned by the neighbour how is the lawyer supposed to know any different ?
The lawyer has written and if no reply will “ pass it to the litigation department “. I don’t really want that and would prefer to Try small claims as in a full case I am on the hook for mine and their costs if I lose
.The lawyer has written and if no reply will “ pass it to the litigation department “. I don’t really want that and would prefer to Try small claims as in a full case I am on the hook for mine and their costs if I lose
IMO you have deciding what solicitor should/ should not do. without presumably any experience in this matter.Writing to the neighbour was not the solicitors only option and certainly he should not have ignored the fact that he did not get a reply. Indemnity policies are available for many "unclear" circumstances when puchasing a policy.and may only cost few hundred pounds' paid for by the vendor. This however would involve the vendor giving a sworn statement to a solicitor regrading the matter and the insurers being satisficed that they were "confident" that risk from policy was minimal. In your case this no doubt would have involved having the wall examined to check for any existing defects.
Only know this as purchased a property with single driveway with adjacent house owning the rear half but he had a right of way over the property I was buying front half of the driveway. Extend of my row over neighbours driveway was in both deeds but where this ended was not clear. (1930's house deeds referred to rights for barrows).
Next door was tenanted so no help from them. Solicitor got an indemnity policy based on my vendors sworn statement re right to drive a car onto back of property and applicable deeds. When neighbours landlord visited house after I had purchased it he claimed the the gap was less than width of car and I was trespassing on his land beyond the right of way. Cost insurance company £10k to buy about extra 10 feet of driveway plus £5k legal expenses (both parties) and took 2 years to resolve.
Wouldn't have been able to get a policy in your case, once hidden defects were found but at that stage got options. Can pull out of purchase, get vendor to fix or get price reduction.
From information given it looks as if your solicitor should he person responsible.
Believe you can complain to law society- suggest you find out what your options are.
Edited by twokcc on Monday 14th June 08:25
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