new home purchase has moths infestation that was not declared during the sale

[nasuk]

Hi

I wonder if anyone can advise please.
I recently purchased a property, which has now transpired to have a moth infestation, this was not declared. The seller was our neighbour and we went to visit before making an offer but we did not notice the infestation. When we moved out the carpets were damaged and we saw lave in the build in wardrobes, which we cleaned out. We have had 2 rounds of professional pest control and they told us the moths are likely to come back.

Is there any course of action legally we can take against the seller?
When we went in to clear the place (they left it disgusting) we saw in the storage moth spray and the sticky moth paper in the storage cupboard. This was not declared in the TA 6 form or at any point during the sale.

Ihave contacted our solicitor but he was terrible in the first place and just does not respond to our messages (still waiting on him to transfer the property in our name).
I'm so sad about this whole thing and it has made me so depressed. Financially i was hoping to rent one of the rooms but i dont think i can do this until the issue is dealt with.

Would really appreciate any advice.

seriously feeling sad.

Did you have a survey done?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/10/couple-win-refund-after-buying-moth-infested-london-mansion

Have a read through the Seller’s Property Information Form supplied prior to completion.

It is the Land Registry that is taking ages to register properties into the buyers own name. A lot of Solicitors are asking them to expedite otherwise it can be taking up to a year for a simple transaction.

Thank you for explaining that regarding the land registration.
There were other issues that the solicitor was very poor in handing with but thank you for mentioning this.

I've read a property information and it said nothing about any kind of pest or moths.
I'm not sure what to do.

I didn't, because it was our neighbour in a block of flat so I didn't think it would be needed.

I would chase your Solicitor in writing or go to the Senior Partner and complain about a lack of response.

I would take photos of the moths, the areas they are affecting and pictures of any evidence ie the treatment sprays etc…

I’d contact the seller by text - preferably email. Try and get something in writing from them admitting that they knew about the moths.

I’d pay for a specialist big company to come around and survey your property - give you an estimate on fees etc, extent of the damage.

A lot of conveyancing solicitors don’t deal with dispute resolution/property litigation. They wouldn’t know how to. Does the firm you used have people who deal with ‘dispute resolution’ or ‘property litigation’ as the file would get passed across to them.

I meant specialist bug company.

Also contact your local authority. Some of them offer pest control services.

I think pretty much all homes in London have moths. My house we had to rip the carpets out although I would have done that anyway. Didn't cross my mind that it should have been declared.
House still has moths, ongoing battle, but our last house did too and I think most others here also.

Get some smoke bombs from Amazon. It worked for our fleas. For a bad infestation I’d do it monthly for three months to catch the ones that have newly hatched.

Pest infestation has nothing to do with title

Can't you just get rid of them?

You just have to steam all the carpets and the curtains and the bedding and the clothes. That will kill all the larvae (and it's the larvae which eat your clothes, not the adult moths).

Then you buy this stuff https://manchestermothmen.co.uk/

You put a couple in every room. The logic of them is that the moth population collapses.

I had a terrible infestation and I did that a couple of years ago and while it isn't completely cleared up the number of moths being caught in those traps is much much lower and its obvious that the population is collapsing.

Every now and then I steam clean the carpets again just in case and one thing that people don't do anymore is iron their clothes. Much as everybody hates ironing, it really helps to keep moths under control, the steam kills the larvae.

The other thing to do is make sure you rotate your clothes properly. Do not have piles and piles and piles of clothes that you never wear and therefore never wash and iron.

Good luck.

Wouldnt it be simpler to just call company and get them treated professionlly, no I cant say i would have thought moths would be anything to be decalred legally when we bought

We had moths once and my dad had a terrible infestation which he he didn’t notice until he moved a chair and saw the wool carpet had been eaten away. They probably didn’t even think about declaring it if they just saw the odd moth and holes in their jumpers.
We got rid of them quite easily in both cases. Just had to get rid of carpets and freeze anything woollen.