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A Georgian billionaire’s daughter and her husband who said their £32.5mn Notting Hill mansion was infested by millions of moths can hand the property back to the seller and recoup their money, the High Court in London has ruled.
Mr Justice Timothy Fancourt on Monday found in favour of Iya Patarkatsishvili and Yevhen Hunyak, who said there were no obvious signs of the insects before they purchased Horbury Villa six years ago.
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He said “a substantial part” of the evidence put forward by William Woodward-Fisher, the seller, was “unpersuasive”.
“He simply wanted to sell the house and move on,” Fancourt said, adding that Patarkatsishvili and Hunyak were entitled to “rescission” of the sale contract — putting them in line for the return of the purchase money.
The couple purchased the Victorian property in west London, which featured a pool, spa, cinema and gym, in 2019. But within days of moving in they noticed the moths and it became a “constant battle” to control the insects as they flew in their faces, ruined their clothes and dropped in their wine, the couple said.
Patarkatsishvili, whose father was the late Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, and her husband, a paediatric dentist, sued Woodward-Fisher for fraudulent misrepresentation.
The couple said the moths were concealed in the walls and ceiling voids and came into the house, landing on toothbrushes and towels.
They claimed Woodward-Fisher, a surveyor, failed to tell them he had commissioned a pest control company when he lived at the property.
During a civil trial last year the defendant said he had only gone along with moth treatments to humour his wife. Any problem had been resolved before the couple had moved in, he said.
Fancourt on Monday said the prospective buyers had been given “false” answers to various questions about possible defects and that Woodward-Fisher “was hoping that the problem might have gone away”.
Patarkatsishvili and Hunyak were also due “substantial” damages, including costs the couple incurred in seeking to deal with the infestation, less a deduction to reflect their use of the property, he said.
The final sum is to be determined this month.
The judge said the property should be sold and the couple’s right to repayment would be “protected by an equitable lien” on the asset.
“There is no reason to think that, if appropriate works are done, documented and audited by professionals, there will be any significant, lasting impact on the value of the house, though a sale at full value may take longer than usual to achieve,” Fancourt added.
Chris Webber, litigation partner at Squire Patton Boggs, said the law firm was “delighted for our clients Dr Hunyak and Ms Patarkatsishvili”.
“This has been a very difficult time for our clients,” he added.
A spokesperson for Woodward-Fisher said he was “obviously disappointed and carefully considering the judgment . . . Mr Woodward-Fisher is exploring his grounds for appeal”.
