Fake roofing report in house purchase

[Bosswhite]

I am not sure a lot can be done, the letter in question was not a Surveyors report , just an advisory letter to the original householder by a builder who now denies any knowledge of it . The Bank/Building Society have not queryed the standard of the roof and loaned a mortgage on the property as it is as present .

 

[williamglossop]

I had something similar a few years back....... dishonest vendor. I initially tried to pursue it, but it turned out to be more hassle than rectifying the problem myself. The discussions I had at the time were along the lines if, 'it was fine at the point of sale, it has deteriorated since then.......' All compete crap, but it was getting more and more costly to pursue it. In the end, the solicitors basically said if every house sale fell through that had an element of untruth in it, the housing market would fail over night.

I ended up fixing the problems myself - still cost me 5k, and I was fuming...... but something's ain't worth the hassle when all's said n done.

 

[motorbiking]

If it can be established that the seller faked the report, then you may have a claim under the Misrepresentation Act 1967, you could also look at Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, to see who else you can go after. I suspect your lawyer is trying to establish evidence around the document. Depending on how this came about, you might have a complaint against your solicitor. However, this claim is not straight forward, you have to establish that the report was faked for the purpose of convincing you to proceed, against the backdrop that you didn't have a proper survey. Your claim is unlikely to be worth the value of a repaired roof, more likely the minimum necessary repairs. Probably one for money claim online/ fast track county court.

There is unfortunately an issue, that if this report was not discussed between conveyancers and there is a "whole contract" clause in the contract stating that the buyer confirms they have not relied on any other representations from the seller, then unfortunately the claim will probably fail. As the misrepresentation is excluded.