Iya Patarkatsishvili bought the property in Notting Hill, west London, with her husband in May 2019 - spending £32.5million on the early Victorian pile.
Iya Patarkatsishvili bought the property in Notting Hill, west London , in 2019. She and her husband have taken a case against the ex-owner to the High CourtA Georgian billionaire's daughter is suing for more than £36million over complaints her mansion was infested by moths devouring her expensive clothes and wine.
That has now sparked a multi-million-pound claim against the home's seller and former owner, ex-Team GB rower William Woodward-Fisher, which has reached London's High Court. Dr Hunyak told the court that the moth plague hit a point where insects were landing on the couple and their two children's toothbrushes, cutlery and plates of food.The couple's barrister John McGhee KC said Dr Hunyak ended up having to swat away about 100 moths a day to stay on top of the problem.
They say he was either guilty of 'fraudulent misrepresention' or negligent in failing to disclose previous moth issues when answering pre-sale enquiries about the possiblity of 'vermin' in the house. His KC, Jonathan Seitler, said he had been honest when dealing with the enquiry about possible previous 'vermin infestation,' having told his solicitor they had experienced problems with moths but were assured that 'moths were not vermin and therefore not relevant to this enquiry'.
Read More New 'unusual' insect species is found in Wales - after hitching a ride 4,500 MILES from Guyana 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, 50, and 41-year-old Ms Patarkatsishvili in 2019. Dr Hunyak and his wife say the insects destroyed their clothes, causing £50,000 worth of damage, and claim it would cost almost £10million to get rid of the moths by replacing all the woollen insulation in the building.
'During those works he and his wife had installed woollen insulation in the walls, that insulation was a food source for moth larvae and became infested with them, and by 2018 they were suffering serious problems with moths, which required frequent treatments.' 'Despite this knowledge, when asked by the claimants' solicitors in pre-contract enquiries whether the property had ever been affected by a vermin infestation, Mr Woodward-Fisher answered negatively,' he said.
Lawyers for the couple accept that a moth-busting project carried out in 2020 has 'improved the position,' but say Dr Hunyak still has to keep busy killing off the pests. Challenging the compensation claim, Mr Seitler noted that his client now simply 'can't afford to re-purchase the property'. In the witness box, Dr Hunyak was quizzed by the defence barrister about the scale of the moth scourge.
The barrister said: 'At the time of the replies seven months later, there was no visible moth problem,' From July 2018 until the Woodward-Fishers moved out in May 2019, the moths ceased to be a problem, said Mr Seitler. In March 2019, staff employed by the family visited Horbury Villa for three hours to assess whether noise from the Central Line was too intrusive, said Mr Seitler.
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