Moth brawl: billionaire wins case over infested mansion

A wealthy couple have won the right to hand back to the seller a 32.5m Notting Hill mansion they bought after it turned out to be infested by millions of moths”.

- PAUL KEOGH

High-end property developer William Woodward-Fisher had given “false” answers about the state of the property and failed “honestly to disclose” the “serious infestation” of moths, a High Court judge found yesterday.

Iya Patarkatsishvili – the daughter of a Georgian multibillionaire – bought the sumptuous Horbury Villa with her dentist husband Dr Yevhen Hunyak in May 2019. The early Victorian mansion boasts a pool and spa, gym, wine room, library and cinema and a “snoring room” specially kitted out to guarantee a peaceful night’s sleep.

But, a few days after the couple moved in, Ms Patarkatsishvili spotted the first signs of a winged “infestation”. Dr Hunyak told the High Court the moth plague hit a point where insects were landing on the couple and their two children’s toothbrushes, cutlery and plates of food and in their glasses of wine.

They said Mr Woodward-Fisher, 68, a high-end property developer and former champion rower, had failed to disclose previous moth issues when answering pre-sale enquiries about the possibility of “vermin” and hidden defects in the house.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled in the couple’s favour, finding that they had been led into the purchase by Mr Woodward-Fisher’s “false” answers about the state of the property.

He said Mr Woodward-Fisher had failed “honestly to disclose” the “serious infestation” and reports concerning work required on the insulation where the moths had nested.

Although he had not been deliberately trying to deceive the purchasers, he “simply wanted to sell the house and move on” and knew disclosure would cause the sale to “go off”.