Bad surprise for Mr. P and Mrs. D. After buying a house from Mr. K, via a real estate agency, they discover that it is not connected to the sewer ! The pill is all the more bitter to swallow for the new owners as “the deed of sale specified that the property was connected to a collective sanitation network for domestic wastewater”underlines a decision of the Versailles Court of Appeal dated October 2, spotted by the Neu-Janicki law firm.
If, at least, the house had a autonomous sanitation system wastewater, such as a septic tank with spreading… But this is not even the case: “It follows from the work estimate (…) that trenches and installation of conduits had to be carried out, so that it is not even demonstrated the existence of a real autonomous sanitation system for the house”notes the court of appeal.
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Impossible to rent a house without sewerage
The DP couple doesn’t take long to summon the sellercompensate up to 6,229.95 eurosas part of the connection work to the collective sanitation network that they will have to undertake. The seller, for his part, believes that the incorrect information on the presence of sewerage is not his responsibility but that of the real estate agency. Determined not to let this happen, the buyers took the seller before the Chartres judicial court in order to obtain compensation for their damage. The seller summons the real estate agency before the same court.
The latter orders Mr. K to pay the DP couple the 6,229.95 euros he requests to finance the connection work. The Chartres judicial court also condemns the seller to pay buyers the sum of 10,125 eurosfor the loss of chance of seeing the house rented. Mr. Z and Mrs. D had in fact acquired it with a view to a rental investment. However, due to the lack of a sewer connection and the absence of an independent sanitation system, the house was impossible to rent, as evidenced by the certificates from candidates who had given up renting the property, produced by the buyers.
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The real estate agency not responsible for the lack of information
The Chartres judicial court also orders Mr. K to pay 2,500 euros to the DP couple in order to compensate him for his legal costs. The real estate agency is ordered to guarantee the seller 50% of its convictions. The court considers that the agency failed in its duty to advise by not checking that the house was connected to the sewer system. This last point is overturned by the Versailles Court of Appeal, to which the case was brought, on the grounds that “while it is common ground that a real estate agent has a general obligation to provide information concerning the main characteristics of the property, he is not bound by a specific obligation to verify sanitation”.
And the court insisted: “Both within the framework of the sales agreement and in the deed of sale, it is the seller who is required to provide the obligatory information to the buyer regarding the sanitation network of the property.» The court of appeal thus condemns the seller to pay 2,500 euros to the real estate agency for his legal costs. A sum which is added to the 18,854.95 euros which he already owes to the buyers!
