we are trying to buy a property that we know needs a lot of work. It's being sold by the 3 kids (in their 50s/60s) of a woman who passed away a few years ago. We met them at one of the viewings.
it is quite clear that they just want shot of it and to have their money but in the process of doing this, none of them appear to be taking the documentation side of it seriously at all. So far they have lied about the central heating, the electrics, they are insisting all of the extensions were done so long ago that building control wasn't involved yet we can see building control was involved at one stage (though can't see the details as we don't own the property and the council website doesn't allow you to see them).
one of the siblings lives opposite the property and is a workman himself and apparently did a lot of the work so must know the details - I can't decide if they are being deliberately deceitful or just can't be arsed. From the meeting with them, the impression I get is that they just can't be bothered and just want to take the money and run (they were all talking about what they were going to spend it on).
our solicitor has written to their side (a firm of conveyancers) to emphasise the importance of filling in the forms correctly and giving us the correct information. e.g. we disproved one of their statements about the heating with a picture we had taken. All we get back from their side is 'when are we going to exchange'.
if they have lied and made a representation about something that turns out to be false and costs us money, would we be able to sue them for it? we are getting to the point where we are going to have to make a decision about whether to exchange knowing they are likely leaving out information!