Death Watch Beetles have destroyed our house
Discussion
Long time lurker unable to log into my original account.
Quite a bit of a nightmare really.
Recently found out we have a death watch beetle infestation. After hearing their dreaded mating click we've had a professional around who was going to come back to treat the wooden beams where they seem to be located. The problem is the front of the house on both levels.
But today me and my partner pulled back the plaster board to investigate and found the supporting beams to be destroyed by these horrible little creatures.
The professional is coming back tomorrow but I think it s passed the time just to get builders in to repair before the beams collapse.
The house was previously owned by a housing company, where the house was part exchanged with a new build from the previous owners.
We moved in last December, a lot of the house was renovated by them. Including the walls pulled back for brand new electrics, 1st floor rebuilt and new carpets throughout. So surely they would have seen this when the walls were stripped back?
We didn t go ahead with a survey as the company maintained the fact they did their own checks before selling the house onto the next buyers. We do have supporting paperwork for this.
Are we able to go down a legal route or is it basically on us to have repaired?
Quite a bit of a nightmare really.
Recently found out we have a death watch beetle infestation. After hearing their dreaded mating click we've had a professional around who was going to come back to treat the wooden beams where they seem to be located. The problem is the front of the house on both levels.
But today me and my partner pulled back the plaster board to investigate and found the supporting beams to be destroyed by these horrible little creatures.
The professional is coming back tomorrow but I think it s passed the time just to get builders in to repair before the beams collapse.
The house was previously owned by a housing company, where the house was part exchanged with a new build from the previous owners.
We moved in last December, a lot of the house was renovated by them. Including the walls pulled back for brand new electrics, 1st floor rebuilt and new carpets throughout. So surely they would have seen this when the walls were stripped back?
We didn t go ahead with a survey as the company maintained the fact they did their own checks before selling the house onto the next buyers. We do have supporting paperwork for this.
Are we able to go down a legal route or is it basically on us to have repaired?
Edited by Chedders2 on Sunday 12th April 19:04
Sorry to read this OP.
First thing is to find out how much it is going to put it right.
The survey you decided not to do might not have shown this anyway if it was behind walls….any building survey has so many caveats regarding anything concealed behind walls or floors it might well not have offered any legal/financial protection to you.
I don’t know what the legal obligations are for the seller, I don’t recall if anything like this is required to be disclosed in the Law Society TA6 form ? You need advice from a solicitor with property litigation experience. If you don’t retain one the seller probably wont take any claims for restitution seriously.
Is the plasterboard that you’ve pulled away new ? Electricians use cable roads when re-wiring to try and minimise disruption to the fabric of the building so they may not have seen anything.
First thing is to find out how much it is going to put it right.
The survey you decided not to do might not have shown this anyway if it was behind walls….any building survey has so many caveats regarding anything concealed behind walls or floors it might well not have offered any legal/financial protection to you.
I don’t know what the legal obligations are for the seller, I don’t recall if anything like this is required to be disclosed in the Law Society TA6 form ? You need advice from a solicitor with property litigation experience. If you don’t retain one the seller probably wont take any claims for restitution seriously.
Is the plasterboard that you’ve pulled away new ? Electricians use cable roads when re-wiring to try and minimise disruption to the fabric of the building so they may not have seen anything.
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