If you have previously sold a property or are in the process of selling one you will be all too familiar with the Property Information Form (PIF). The form essentially consists of a standardised list of questions intended to provide a prospective purchaser with information about the property.
While a seller is not obligated to complete the PIF in full, or indeed at all, any delay or failure to address any questions may well delay a sale or possibly deter a purchaser altogether. However if the seller does complete the form, as is the norm, they need to be sure that the information provided is accurate. Equally if circumstances change or new information comes to light then the answers should be updated accordingly.
Misrepresentation
If false information is provided on the PIF then the seller may be liable under misrepresentation which could result in a purchaser, having acted on the false information, seeking damages for any impact on the property value. You could therefore find yourself on the hook for some time after the property has sold if a subsequent issue arises and you were shown to have been aware of it and didn’t disclose it.
Disclosing a dispute
One of the key sections of the PIF is section 2 ‘Disputes and complaints.’ This requires the seller to disclose any disputes, complaints or issues that might lead to a dispute in relation to the property being sold or a nearby property.
When is a dispute a dispute?
This would not only include any existing disputes or historical disputes (including those which have been resolved) but also at the other end of spectrum anything that could lead to a dispute.
Unhelpfully there is no clear guidance on this but it would almost certainly include any issue with a neighbour (such as an issue over a boundary or noise) which has been raised in writing or escalated to a local authority. It could also cover a situation where the issue has not been addressed but the seller is aware of its existence; for instance where the seller has been suffering in silence with a particularly noisy neighbour which could lead to a future dispute for the purchaser.
If in doubt it is important to disclose the issue on the PIF or at the very least discuss it with your solicitor acting on your behalf in the sale of the property.
Naturally there is a general concern about the expense of involving solicitors in a potential dispute. However when compared with the impact an unresolved dispute may have on value when selling a property, or even post-sale in the form of a claim for misrepresentation, the initial cost can be a shrewd investment. Early legal intervention can often bring disputes to swifter and more cost effect conclusion thereby resolving an issue long before it has any impact on a future sale.