Q&A

Do we have redress against anyone as the house we have bought has many defects not highlighted to us?

Hi. Before buying our house earlier this month, we got a housebuyer's report done. We asked the surveyor to let us know when he was going to visit the house as my husband wanted to go along and point out some things that he particularly wanted to question. However, the surveyor went ahead without us. The report revealed a few specific works that would need doing. However several things have gone wrong in the weeks since we moved in that were not highlighed at all. For example, the roof is leaking. A builder has been round and said that the roof is low pitch (about 12 degrees) and the tiles fitted are unsuitable leading to capillary action causing the leak. He said that the surveyor should have picked up on this and that there are clear signs of the leak as there are water marks on the beam inside where it has been running in. We asked the owners about those marks but they said that the roof had been replaced - it was a few years ago but with the wrong tiles. The builder who came round was the one who fitted the roof - he said he told the owners that tiles were not appropriate - but he fitted the tiles anyway. He says he has been back 4 times since the roof was fitted (about 4 or 5 yrs ago). Please can you tell me, do we have any redress on this? What can we do? Thank you