A billionaire’s daughter who is suing for more than £36million over claims her mansion home was infested with moths is facing accusations that she has caused a plague of mice and flies since she moved in.
Iya Patarkatsishvili bought the property in Notting Hill, west London, with her husband Dr Yevhen Hunyak in May 2019 – spending £32.5million on the early Victorian pile.
The home boasts a pool and spa, gym, wine room, library and cinema, as well as a ‘snoring room’ specially kitted out to guarantee a peaceful night’s sleep.
The couple say they have had to place 400 traps around their luxury home and claim they would have to ‘knock down every wall’ to rid it of the pests and now want to.
They have accused seller William Woodward-Fisher, 68, a former Great Britain rower, of not telling them about the moth infestation.
But his lawyers fighting the High Court claim have now accused the super rich couple of having ‘substantially degraded’ their ‘super-prime property’ through ‘neglect’.
Dr Hunyak’s habit of keeping ‘a very large selection of fruit’ in his bedroom has been accused of causing issues with ‘flies and fly larva’.
Mr Woodward-Fisher’s lawyers deny that the moth problem is anything above the baseline in a normal London house, and also deny that moths can be categorised as ‘vermin’ which should have been disclosed prior to sale.
John McGhee KC, for Ms Patarkatsishvili and Dr Hunyak, told Mr Justice Fancourt that the couple now want to hand the house back and allow Mr Woodward-Fisher to sell it to help raise funds to pay the damages they are claiming.
But in his closing speech at the end of the trial, Jonathan Seitler KC, for Mr Woodward-Fisher, said it would be ‘impossible’ for him to accept the house back.
He claimed they had ‘introduced a vermin infestation into the property in the form of mice and rodents’.
The barrister also claimed ‘rising damp, penetrating damp, leaks to the roof and terrace, and worn and soiled finishes and carpets, among other issues’ had been caused since the sale.
Previously, the court heard that Mr Woodward-Fisher 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, 50, and Ms Patarkatsishvili, 41, in 2019.
Dr Hunyak is a pediatric 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.
Prior to purchase, they or their staff visited the mansion – which has seven bathrooms, a swimming pool, spa, cinema and gym in a newly formed double basement – on at least 11 separate occasions, the court was told.
But despite their careful inspection, the couple say they were dismayed when they were hit with what one insect specialist called ‘an infestation of extreme proportions amounting to millions of moths.’
They claim moths would land on their toothbrushes, that £50,000 worth of clothes were left in tatters and that they sometimes have to throw away wine after finding dead moths floating in glasses.
They are suing, claiming Mr Woodward-Fisher was guilty of negligence or ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’ in not revealing previous moth issues when they asked pre-purchase about any problems with ‘vermin.’
However, Mr Woodward-Fisher strenuously denies doing anything wrong, pointing out that he told his solicitor that the house had previously had moths, but been told they do not qualify as vermin.
He also said that despite his wife having been bothered by clothes moths in the past, it was not enough to concern him and had in any case been solved by pest controllers by July 2018.
Mr McGhee, closing his case, told the judge that the mansion could be put on the market by Mr Woodward-Fisher at a ‘discount’ £25m if the oligarch’s daughter and her husband win their court fight, with him dipping into his £15m fortune to make up the rest of the £36m they are claiming.
Alternatively, the couple would be happy to give Mr Woodward-Fisher time to do works to the house to remedy the alleged moth issue and get a better price.
‘I accept that the effect of the order is going to have devastating consequences and is going to be a large part of Mr Woodward-Fisher’s existing assets, although it is still going to leave him with a number of millions of pounds,’ he said.
‘But the court has to take a step back and say this is the consequence of making deliberate dishonest representations in formal documents in relation to a substantial property.’
Explaining that compensation wouldn’t be enough and the couple insist on handing the house back, he told the judge that a ‘comprehensive program’ of ‘costly and invasive’ treatment is the only way to cure the moth issue, involving them undertaking substantial works and moving out for over a year.
‘It is not reasonable for Ms Patarkatsishvili and Dr Hunyak to leave the property for 65 weeks and spend £8million of their own money on it,’ he said.
But Mr Seitler told the judge that Mr Woodward-Fisher insists the moths are not his fault, saying: ‘Many households across the UK will house a few clothes moths as they are readily transferred from house to house.
‘It is just as likely that the cause of any remaining moth issue is clothing, furniture, food, rather than “hidden pockets” of insulation.
‘The presence of moths from sources unrelated to the insulation is far from unusual… no one can say for certain that the true source of the moths is not the claimants’ own fabrics.’
And claiming it was ‘impossible’ for Mr Woodward-Fisher to take the house back, he claimed that it has been degraded and subject to other infestations since it was sold.
He told the judge that pest controllers had asked the couple to ‘maintain hygiene levels’ in order to get rid of moths and rodents.
However, Dr Hunyak ‘has at times kept a very large selection of fruit on the radiator in his bedroom for example… eight melons, a box of kiwi fruit and eleven other pieces of fruit….These items are all likely to attract insects’.
‘In addition, Ms Patarkatsishvili and Dr Hunyak have introduced a vermin infestation into the property, in the form of mice and rodents,’ he said.
‘From what Mr Woodward-Fisher’s valuation expert can glean from visiting the property, it is apparent that it now suffers from rising damp, penetrating damp, leaks to the roof and terrace, and worn and soiled finishes and carpets, among other issues.
‘He would therefore be receiving back a property which has been substantially degraded since May 2019 as a result of the claimants’ neglect, and one which may well have as yet unknown issues as a result of the claimants’ suspected failure to maintain the property appropriately.’
Hitting back, Mr McGhee told the judge the rich couple ‘didn’t bargain on purchasing a property that had infested insulation,’ adding that ‘what they are entitled to is compensation which insures that they don’t have infested insulation’.
The judge also heard that Ms Patarkatsishvili has been so ‘distressed’ by the situation with the mansion that it has been a contributing factor in her recently seeking counselling and psychiatric consultations.
The judge has now reserved his decision in the case to be given at a later date.