Water leak - previous owner liable?

[OrchidFlakes]

We’ve just found out this month that there is a water leak at our property. We moved in 2 years ago yesterday. It’s taken the water company 2 years to tell us but more importantly they had told the previous owner who did nothing about nor did he disclose it to us.
We are no rectifying it through our home insurance but it will only pay for the trace and detect and not the actual repair and restoration of any damage done to repair.
Does anyone know where we stand legally claiming our costs beach from the previous owner? We have emailed our conveyancing solicitor who handled the purchase but given current events we haven’t heard back yet.

You can sue anyone you like, but how effective it is and the costs involved are another matter. You could try the small claims court, but proof they knew may be an issue

Absolutely 0% chance sorry.... once you exchange it's your problem

I think you should try the Legal Matters board for better advice on the legal aspect.

Unless the leak was really very significant, the cost of repairing it yourself, less the trace and access your insurance will cover, is likely to be significantly less than the legal fees in respect of pursuing the vendor for it. In my experience it's the trace and access that costs a lot of money, rather than the repair so much.

We had one under the patio the water company came out and repaired it for free, best to ask them and see what they say

Were already following through with the water company and insurance. Somewhere 1 litre a minute is being lost and has been for 2+ years!
It just annoys me that he knew (water company have confirmed this verbally and will put details in writing to a solicitor if we proceed) and he sold the house with the knowledge and did nothing

I hope you do manage to get them to pay because that's awful that he kept that from you. However, unless he lied on one of the forms then I think it's "buyer beware". Have you got the paperwork anywhere from the purchase and if so, does it specifically ask about this issue? In which case I think you might be able to sue him but I'm not a legal expert in any sense.

We asked a specific question about our purchase and the seller confirmed what we had hoped. When we moved in we found out either they had lied or just told us what we wanted to hear. I went back to my solicitor who said it was our responsibility to check it out and not to rely on their word which makes me wonder what the point of getting them to confirm was. Also, annoyed that the solicitor at the time didn't tell us "MrX has confirmed this, but you need to check it yourself" We ended up paying £1000+ to rectify it.

If you have legal cover they might take this up, but only if this was asked on the property information form or otherwise during the same process, and the seller basically lied.
You basically have to have a case that you incurred a financial cost because the seller indicated something they knew was untrue.
I am not a lawyer though.

When we bought, we knew the previous owners had completely refurbished the house and it had a new uncertified boiler and dodgy electrics done by the builder, however they ticked all the boxes saying no work had been done on boiler, electrics, etc etc. We knew at the time it was all lies but we didn't rely on that when making our offer so couldn't have then claimed.
The surveyor also missed blocked air bricks and high patio, but again we didn't rely on that and i dug up the patio myself so no cost therefore i assume no claim.
Just make sure to get that chain of vendor knowledge, lies through the sale process that you relied on, and cost to you.

I would say it's your house so it's your problem. If it has taken 2 years for the water company to approach you they can't be that concerned about it. It does seem very odd though. Where exactly is the leak? Are you sure that the water company isn't totally liable? Why have they approached you now? Also, that is an awful lot of water over several years. Have you got rising damp problems (or a boggy garden)? If the water company hadn't mentioned it, would you even know about it? A lot of questions I know, but it almost sounds like a scam.