House sellers accused of hushing up flooding risk

WHEN businessman Paul Edwards and his wife Hazel bought what they thought was their dream home, they were assured by the sellers that it had never flooded.

So they were astonished when, less than a year after moving in, they woke to find a downpour had flooded their garden.

A few weeks later, the same thing happened again, and on a third occasion their basement flooded as well – which came as a shock because the sellers had not declared any flood risk to their property in their Home Information Pack.

The couple have now launched legal action against the previous owners, Robert Corson and his wife Margaret, claiming they knew about the problem.

To support their claim they have unearthed an apparently damning entry on Mr Corson’s Facebook page from July 3, 2012, showing the back garden flooded, accompanied by the comment: ‘Our garden during the deluge.’

The Edwardses, who still live at the house, have applied for ‘rescission on the sale contract’, which means they would move out and the Corsons would take the property back and have to refund them the full amount paid.

They also want their mortgage payments refunded and damages for ‘physical inconvenience and mental distress’.

The £750,000 five-bedroom detached house is in an upmarket suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne and the back garden was a strong selling point.

The Edwardses say that when they were buying the house the vendors ticked a box on the Property Information Form saying there were no flooding problems.

Surgeon Mr Corson said: ‘The matter is in the hands of our lawyers and we have nothing more to say.’