The daughter of a Georgian billionaire and her husband have been granted a refund after buying a £32m London mansion that was infested with moths.
Iya Patarkatsishvili and Dr Yevhen Hunyak bought the early Victorian seven-bedroom Notting Hill home in May 2019. It boasted a pool, spa, gym, wine room, library, cinema, and a “snoring room” designed for peaceful sleep.
Days after moving into Horbury Villa, the couple spotted signs of an infestation that would go on to destroy clothing and ruin their wine. They sued the house seller, William Woodward-Fisher, in an attempt to reverse the sale.
John McGhee KC, representing the couple in court, said at the peak of the infestation, Hunyak was swatting about 100 of the insects daily.
Before buying the property, the couple and their staff visited the house at least 11 times, the court heard.
Hunyak, a paediatric dentist who works in Chelsea, told the court that moths were landing on their children’s toothbrushes, cutlery and meals.
He said he was forced to tip out glasses of wine after discovering floating moths due to the infestation.
On Monday, high court judge Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that Woodward-Fisher, an elite property developer, had given “false” answers about the state of the property in west London and failed “honestly to disclose” the “serious infestation”.
Fancourt acknowledged that Woodward-Fisher, who formerly competed for Great Britain as a rower, had not deliberately tried to deceive the purchasers, but added he had “simply wanted to sell the house and move on” and knew disclosure would cause the sale to “go off”.
The judge ordered the sale be rescinded, with Woodward-Fisher required to reimburse the purchase price, minus about £6m to recognise the couple’s use of the property.
The developer was also ordered to pay the couple an additional £4m in damages for the infestation, including £15,000 for ruined clothes and £3.7m paid in stamp duty.
Appearing for the developer, Jonathan Seitler KC said Woodward-Fisher had been honest when dealing with the inquiry about possible previous “vermin infestation”, having told his solicitor that the property had experienced problems with moths only to be assured that “moths were not vermin and therefore not relevant to this inquiry”.
Chris Webber, of Squire Patton Boggs, the firm that represented the couple, said: “[The couple] hope the case will serve as a warning to unscrupulous property developers who might seek to take advantage of buyer beware to sell properties by concealing known defects.”
The court previously heard that Woodward-Fisher bought the site in 2011 and lived there with his wife, Kerry, an interior designer. The house was extended and radically remodelled before being sold to the Georgian heiress.
Patarkatsishvili is the daughter of Badri Patarkatsishvili, a businessman who fell out with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, before coming to the UK in 2000. He died of heart failure eight years later.
