Case study:
"I need legal advice on a property dispute where the previous owners failed to declare defects on the property. "
Mc Naught and Co says:
Unfortunately the conveyancing attorneys act as neutral parties attending only to the transfer of ownership from seller to buyer. If you have issues with defects you actually need to consult a separate attorney and communicate directly with the seller who may then also want to get his own attorney. It's not something you can bombard the conveyancing attorneys with or expect them to get involved and take sides. Sometimes they will pass on a repair quote to the seller to see if they agree to deduct the costs from the sale, but nothing more than that.
Latent or patent defects
You also need to be aware of patent and latent defects. Patent defects are those that are readily visible to a buyer on an inspection of the property and generally the buyer buys the property being aware of those defects.
Latent defects are those that are not readily visible on an inspection of the property. Generally you also buy a property with those defects, unless the seller was aware of them and sold the property without disclosing them or even fraudulently concealing the defect.
Further a seller will now be required to complete a property defect list on its sale and all known defects should be disclosed in that document. As a buyer be careful to read all documents presented and also take care to inspect a property properly before buying so that there are no unpleasant surprises later.èrises later.
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