{"id":1882,"date":"2017-09-07T10:02:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T10:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/?p=1882"},"modified":"2017-09-07T10:02:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T10:02:28","slug":"couple-sues-previous-owners-house-claim-flooding-risk-hidden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/couple-sues-previous-owners-house-claim-flooding-risk-hidden\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple Sues Previous Owners of House Over Claim Flooding Risk was Kept Hidden"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"articleBodyText version-2 section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component version-2\">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">A couple from\u00a0Newcastle whose property has become flooded on several occasions are taking legal action against the previous owners as they claim a photograph on Facebook proves the issue was known but not reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The five-bedroomed property owned by Paul and Hazel Edwards features a beautiful, expansive back garden and was purchased for \u00a3750,000 in December 2014. \u00a0All was well until the following winter when the couple woke one morning to find their garden had become a lake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1884\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/house2-300x188.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"491\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/house2-300x188.jpeg 491w, https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/house2-480x300.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 491px, 100vw\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The couple, who own a commercial cleaning company needed to purchase an industrial pump and hose to cope with the huge amount of water. \u00a0Several weeks later the garden flooded again. \u00a0The couple allege that the property flooded a third time, this time consuming their basement, also.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1883\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/house1-300x188.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"501\" height=\"314\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"articleBodyText version-2 section\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The flooding came as a surprise as the couple claim the previous owners who sold them the property, John and Margaret Corson, did not include any risk of flooding in the information pack. \u00a0In fact, the couple claim the sellers selected a box on the property information form which stated there were no flooding problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"articleBodyText version-2 section\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">In support of their legal claim, Mr and Mrs Edwards have presented a photograph allegedly published on Mr Corson&#8217;s Facebook page in July 2012, which shows the back garden of the property in question flooded, followed by the comment: \u201cOur garden during the deluge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">A friend had commented: \u201cMaybe you should pull the plug.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">To coincide with the photograph the couple claim to be in possession of a letter sent in December 2012 by Mrs Corson to Kevin Batey, Town Moor Superintendent of Newcastle, claiming that water from Nuns Moor, which backs onto the house had tipped into their garden \u201clike a waterfall\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><span class=\"m_first-letter m_first-letter--flagged\">A<\/span>\u00a0High Court writ issued by their solicitors, BTMK of Southend and quoted by the Mail on Sunday reportedly claims:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u201cUnder the heading &#8220;Flooding&#8221; the Defendants were asked whether any part of the property (whether buildings or surrounding garden or land) had ever been flooded. To that question, the defendants ticked the box &#8220;No&#8221;. \u00a0&#8216;The couple is still living in the house but is said to have applied for \u201crescission on the sale contract\u201d. \u00a0They want the Corsons to take the property back and refund them the full amount paid, as well as their mortgage payments and damages for \u201cphysical inconvenience and mental distress\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Presenter of the BBC property show Homes Under The Hammer, Martin Roberts, stated that using the Property Information Form, also known as a TA6 as key evidence in legal proceedings is \u201cextremely rare\u201d. \u00a0He said: \u201cThe forms have been around for ages but the nature of them has changed. Previously it was for you to volunteer information you felt could affect the value or future of the property. In recent years, they have become a legal part of the sale. \u00a0\u201cIt is very easy to think you can get away with just ticking these boxes, but you have to answer these things to the best of your ability and truthfully, otherwise, you are misleading the buyer.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIf that information is deliberately misleading and induced someone to buy the property, I&#8217;d say you have every right to renege on the sale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<strong>Ensure you&#8217;re covered with\u00a0a comprehensive Environmental report<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0Groundsure produce an array of reports that contain information on Flooding, as well as other important environmental topics. \u00a0Pali also offer a standalone Groundsure Flood Search.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"component-content\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">If you would like to know more, please feel free to give one of our friendly team a call on\u00a00800 023 5030<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple whose property has become repeatedly flooded is taking legal action against the previous owners as Facebook photograph shows the problem was known<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45,51,86,49,1],"tags":[28,50,12,62,18,75,21,76,153],"class_list":["post-1882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conveyancing","category-environment","category-fines","category-property-market","category-uncategorized","tag-conveyancing","tag-conveyancing-quote-system","tag-council","tag-development","tag-environment","tag-environmental-report","tag-flooding","tag-groundsure","tag-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paliltd.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}