Couple who bought £32,500,000 home can get refund over moth ‘infestation’

A couple who bought a mansion for £32.5 million can give it back and have most of the money back after it turned out to be infested by ‘millions of moths’, a judge has ruled.

Iya Patarkatsishvili, 41, the daughter of a Georgian multi-billionaire, purchased Horbury Villa, Notting Hill, with her husband, 50-year-old dentist Dr Yevhen Hunyak, in May 2019.

But within days of moving in, she spotted the first signs of the infestation, sparking their legal claim against the seller, high-end property developer William Woodward-Fisher, 68.

Suing to reverse the sale, the couple told the High Court the moth plague got so bad that insects were landing on their toothbrushes, cutlery and could even be found floating in their wineglasses.

They said Mr Woodward-Fisher had given ‘false’ answers about the state of the property and failed ‘honestly to disclose’ the ‘serious infestation’ of moths.

Judge Mr Justice Fancourt ruled in their favour and made an order rescinding the sale.

He ordered Mr Woodward-Fisher to repay the £32.5 million purchase price, minus around £6 million recognising the couple’s use of the property.

The senior judge also awarded the couple around £4 million in damages in relation to the infestation, including £15,000 for ruined clothes and the £3.7 million they paid in Stamp Duty.

Dr Hunyak is a paediatric dentist who practices in Chelsea, while his wife is daughter of Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian businessman who fell out with Vladimir Putin and set up home in the UK in 2000 before dying of heart failure in 2008.

During the trial, the judge heard that Mr Woodward-Fisher, who formerly competed for Great Britain as a rower, bought the site in 2011 and lived there with interior designer wife Kerry, 64.

The house was extended and radically remodelled by Mr Woodward-Fisher to about 11,000 sq ft, before it was sold on to Dr Hunyak and Ms Patarkatsishvili in 2019.

Prior to purchase, they or their staff visited the mansion on at least 11 separate occasions, the court was told.

The couple’s barrister, John McGhee KC, claimed Dr Hunyak ended up having to swat around 100 moths a day to stay on top of the problem.

Even now after intensive sprays and expert treatment, still maintains a daily kill count of up to 35, he added.

Mr Woodward-Fisher denied all claims, insisting that he gave honest and full replies on the pre-sale enquiries form.

He told the court as far as he knew any previous moth problems had been eliminated by the time of the move.

His KC, Jonathan Seitler, insisted Mr Woodward-Fisher had been honest when dealing with the enquiry about possible previous ‘vermin infestation’.

The court heard he told his solicitor they had experienced problems with moths, only to be assured that ‘moths were not vermin and therefore not relevant to this enquiry’.

Mr Seitler also noted that his client now simply ‘can’t afford to re-purchase the property’ and alleged that the claimants, while ‘fastidious about moths’, had ‘neglected’ the house which he spent so long restoring.

Mr Justice Fancourt said Dr Hunyak had at times ‘exaggerated’ the extent of ongoing problems, but found that Mr Woodward-Fisher had given ‘false’ answers in the pre-contract questions.

‘I do not find that he was consciously trying to deceive the claimants,’ he said.

‘He simply wanted to sell the house and move on. As he admitted in cross-examination, disclosure of the infestation would likely have caused the sale to go off, and he would have been left needing to move out of the house and do expensive works to remove all the woollen insulation.

‘In my judgment, Mr Woodward-Fisher was hoping that the problem might have gone away and he was willing to take the risk that he was wrong about that.

‘He stated that he was unaware of any defect in the property that was not apparent on inspection…that was false, because the infested condition of the insulation in the floor voids and internal walls of the house was such a defect.’

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