Facebook snap at centre of garden flood legal row
Couple sue home’s old owners, claiming social media picture proves they knew of water risk
A COUPLE whose garden has flooded repeatedly are suing the previous owners, claiming a Facebook photograph proves they were aware of the problem but failed to highlight it.
Paul and Hazel Edwards purchased the five-bedroomed property, which boasts a large back garden, for £750,000 in December 2014 but the following winter, they say they woke one morning to discover the garden had been transformed into a lake.
The flooding was so bad that the couple, who own a commercial cleaning company, were forced to buy a pump and industrial hoses.
A few weeks later, the same thing happened and on a third occasion their basement flooded as well, it is alleged.
But they claim that the couple who sold them the house, John and Margaret Corson, did not declare any flood risk to their property in the suburb of Fenham in Newcastle upon Tyne in their Home Information Pack.
To the contrary, they claim the vendors ticked a box on the Property Information Form saying there were no flooding problems.
To support their legal claim, Mr and Mrs Edwards discovered an apparently damning photograph published on Mr Corson’s Facebook page in July 2012, showing the back garden flooded, accompanied by the comment: “Our ‘garden’ during the deluge.” A friend responded: “Maybe you should pull the plug.” They also have a letter allegedly sent by Mrs Corson to Kevin Batey, Town Moor Superintendent of Newcastle, in
December 2012, claiming water off Nuns Moor backing on to the house had tipped into their garden “like a waterfall”.
A High Court writ issued by BTMK of Southend, the Edwards’ solicitors, and quoted by the Mail on Sunday reportedly claims: “Under the heading ‘Flooding’, the defendants were asked whether any part of the property had ever been flooded. To that question the defendants ticked the box ‘No’.”
The couple are still living at the house but are said to have applied for “rescission on the sale contract”. They want the Corsons to take the property back and refund them the full amount paid, as well as their mortgage payments and damages for “physical inconvenience and mental distress”.
Martin Roberts, presenter of the BBC property show Homes Under the Hammer, said using the Property Information Form, also known as a TA6 as key evidence in legal proceedings was “extremely rare”.
He said: “The 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.
“It is very easy to think you can get away with just ticking the boxes, but you have to answer these things to the best of your ability and truthfully, otherwise you are misleading the buyer.
“If that information is deliberately misleading and induced someone to buy the property, I’d say you have every right to renege on the sale.”
Neither the Corsons nor Mr and Mrs Edwards responded to requests for comment.