Property misrepresentation

[HolaWeenie]

Evening all, I believe we have a claim under property misrepresentation.

We purchased our home in February this year, in March my new neighbour told me Japanese knotweed had grown on the small bit of land down the side of our house (it's detached). Nothing was there and he said maybe they treated it.

April comes and I take another peak and sure enough I see knotweed shoots emerging.

We commissioned a JK specialist to assess and to outline an eradication plan including a 10yr guaranteed insurance policy, total cost £1500. He confirmed its 2-3yrs old, it's been treated (prob sprayed with weed killer only) as some shoots are in poor health, dead canes from previous year removed from the site except a few, and a heavy duty weed membrane had been laid and the 100m of shingle on top. That proves previous owner new something nasty was growing.

On the TA6 (property information form) there's a specific question relating to JK, the previous owners stated there's no problem with JK at the property.

My neighbour has provided a signed statement, which confirms he told them it was Japanese knotweed on several occasions and told them how nasty it is.

So I package that all up, the JK surveyors report, the TA6 form and the witness statement and emailed it to the previous owners conveyancing solicitor.

They responded saying they'll notify their client but they're not willing to correspond with me unless instructed to do so.

So is that it then!? Because surely the previous owners will just not instruct the solicitor (as it will cost them), where do we go from here!?!

I actually know one of their addresses, it took best part of a year to buy this house and I've had countless conversations and meet ups with the vendors. Makes it a lot harder to sue for depreciation, but if I emotionally detach then yep I totally see that we shouldn't suffer because of their deceit, makes me sick to think back to our negotiations with them and then playing hardball to squeeze every last £ out of us.

I've fired off an email to my conveyancer (I had already sent him my bundle of evidence).

I will notify my insurer, I have the insurance backed policy so they should be happy with that.

Can my lender pull our mortgage!? I'm terrified of that.

I appreciate I will need legal representation if we choose to sue for depreciation. I'm worried of mounting costs to not be awarded anything!

Also you're completely correct my JK surveyor said without the insured policy the house is valueless, no lender would lend, and a cash buyer would give us a pittance.

We've paid half a million and our life savings are tied up in the deposit/equity.

I successfully claimed misrepresentation against the vendor of my house.

If you have legal expenses cover they may assess your claim and appoint a panel solicitor regardless of who did the conveyancing.

If you want any additional info please pm me as I don't want to reveal too much about my case online.

Thank you MyWey. I didn't think about legal cover on our insurance. I will check that when I phone them to tell them about the JK.

Your lender could pull your mortgage as presumably the house is the security and JK drastically impacts on value.

Ask your solicitor about a claim against your surveyor too if the surveyor said there was no JK on the property. (Although tbh it's more likely that the surveyor opted for a 'we don't know' response on the JK question).

Our lender states this...

Japanese Knotweed
Properties with Japanese Knotweed growing within the vicinity are considered with caution and subject to the following terms:
If present within 7 metres of the property, the applicant will be required to obtain a specialist report in respect of eradicating the plant, including an insurance backed 5 year warranty against re-appearance of the plant, and if necessary, repairs to the property and services will be required for the valuer to make a full assessment of the property's suitability.

I'd be phoning the house insurance tomorrow and finding out if you've got legal cover and going after them for the difference in value. I know you intend it being your forever home but sometimes things get in the way and you could end up making a huge loss through no fault of your own.

I will ask about surveyor negligence, but the vendors have done a cover up job. they can only see and report on what's on show.

If you changed insurer when you moved house they may want you to show continuance of cover over 6 months - i.e. that you had legal expenses cover on your previous policy - before agreeing to the claim.

Very standard paragraph on survey report to say no comment on whether JK is present You need to take legal advice

Thank you rangirl, taking legal advise is now the plan.

MyWey, we ported our insurer across, fingers crossed we have legal cover.

Your best case scenario is that they are in the middle of a treatment plan and just forgot to pass the relevant paperwork to you. Some of the JK questions are about it being 'untreated' so if there's a treatment programme in place the question is answered differently.

I would wait to receive confirmation before commissioning new treatment.

We have JK at two of our commercial properties. They're both under treatment plans but you can still see JK in places until the process is completed.

I hope it all works out.

God this is really scary! All because of a plant! What can this deadly plant do? (Imagining triffids or something)

I've just googled it. Shocking! I hope you get it sorted soon.

That is a possibility aplaceonthecouch, but according to my new neighbour he had to nag and nag and nag to get them to deal with it, they weren't interested or didn't take it seriously, they laid a heavy weight membrane and 100m of shingle, that suppressed the JK but it didn't stop it from growing. The first thing our specialist has done is remove the shingle and pull back the membrane to allow the JK to grow so he can inject nice big health shoots with the herbicide. No specialist or eradication plan would suggest covering with a membrane.

There is a JK treatment that involves using a membrane. It's just nowhere near as common as using herbicides.

Is the JK on your neighbour's side? Does the neighbour have JK too?

Oh I didn't know that. Our JK is growing through to neighbours. Think they're delighted we are here and taking it seriously.

Yy, there is a liability issue if it started on your property and you don't deal with it as it will impact on the value of their property too and their ability to get a mortgage. I'm assuming you have established somehow that it started on your property and moved to their's and not the other way round?

We viewed a property last year and there was a JK issue but since it was across a number of properties, the properties were jointly paying for a JK treatment scheme.

(The membrane treatment is used to try to contain JK and stop it spreading to other properties. It's usually laid in such a way that it redirects the JK and affects its roots. If your new company has moved and/or removed the membrane then any guarantees given on the membrane treatment will be void)

(and of course it may still be that it wasn't an official membrane treatment - there's no way of knowing without the authenticated paperwork).

Yes definitely originates from our side and it's just a few shoots poking through fence panels on their side. It's relatively young 2-3yrs old. Houses are 90yrs old.

Totally understand we can be liable for any damage. Hence why we've instructed a PCA affiliated professional to treat with herbicides.

I really hope you sue them for this because it sounds like such a nightmare.

What you're looking for on your insurance policy is 'legal expenses insurance' or 'LEI'.
If you have cover your insurers will instruct a firm of solicitors for you. The benefit of LEI cover is that the insurers generally have large national / international firms in their panel who are good at what they do.

I can't actually believe these people thought they'd get away with lying about such a huge problem! It's outrageous.

I've just checked my policy and yes we have family legal protection as an extra that we've been paying for. Phew.

I'm about to call them now.

would you consider going down the reversal of sale route? Friends of mine threatened this when they bought a flat that had not had proper building regulation sound proofing done though it had been signed off. In the end, the previous owner (developer) who managed the conversion paid to have it rectified after much hassle.

How did your call with the insurance company go? Pleased you have LEI.