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The daughter of a billionaire is suing for £36 million of damage to her London home caused by moths, but woke wool could be the real pest
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It sounds like a lost B-movie from the 1970s, or perhaps a lesser-known Hitchcock thriller: Invasion of the Moths. Yet this is a very real, and eye-wateringly expensive, calamity for the daughter of a Georgian billionaire, who is suing for £36 million after moths infested the wool insulation of her family’s seven-bedroom Victorian mansion in Notting Hill.
In 2019, Iya Patarkatsishvili, whose father was oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili, and her husband, Dr Yevhen Hunyak, a paediatric dentist, bought Horbury Villa in a trendy part of west London favoured by celebrities such as Robbie Williams, John Cleese and Jeremy Paxman. The luxurious property features a pool, spa, wine room and cinema – but it is also allegedly home to millions of moths, attracted by the wool insulation in the walls and ceilings. This type of installation, which uses natural materials, has become the fashionable choice for the well-moneyed eco warrior.
The incensed couple are now suing their seller, William Woodward-Fisher, a property developer who once competed for Great Britain at the world rowing championships. They allege that moths caused around £50,000-worth of damage to carpets, clothes and furniture, that they got into wine and food, and even landed on their children’s toothbrushes. They are claiming £9.6 million for the cost of removing the embedded insulation, plus the returns of their £32.5 million purchase money and £3.7 million stamp duty.
Woodward-Fisher has denied all claims and protested that the repair bill would likely be closer to £162,652.
Certainly such astronomical figures seem rather absurd, but this outlandish spat highlights a contemporary problem. The vogue for green housing solutions such as eco insulation might give you a virtuous glow, but you need to be canny about your choices – or you could pay a heavy price.
It’s a particular problem given that moth numbers are skyrocketing. English Heritage’s moth traps saw a 216 per cent increase in moths caught between 2012 and 2016. This year, the British Pest Control Association warned that rising temperatures could trigger a moth surge, and indeed Rentokil, in a report in Ireland, saw a 42 per cent rise in calls about house moths from February 2023 to 2024.
In another extreme case, an infestation even ruined a marriage, says buying agent Saul Empson. “One of the most spectacular divorces in Notting Hill was caused by moths. As is sometimes the way with aggressive men of finance, his wife had become very eco-conscious. They bought a house, refurbished it, and she insisted on all environmentally friendly ingredients, including natural wool for insulation instead of foam or Rockwool (which is “mineral wool”, made from recycling materials such as volcanic rock).
“Soon after they moved in they saw a moth, then they saw two moths, then 10, then a whole lot of moths. Pest control opened up one of the walls and found it absolutely infested. Moths are pernicious: it cost them millions to pull up floorboards and pull down the plaster on stud partition walls. The whole house had to be torn to pieces, and their marriage imploded.”
Valerie Cappell also fell victim to a moth invasion of “biblical proportions”, costing her nearly £10,000, as she told The Telegraph in 2017. She used sustainable wool insulation in her four-bedroom newbuild home in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and had been assured that it was treated with organic pesticide pyrethrin, which would ward off insects.
But it definitely wasn’t enough to deter the eager moth larvae. “I think our situation could be the tip of an iceberg – many more people must have installed this kind of insulation,” Cappell said.
“People get a bit cranky about these things and don’t look at the practicalities,” believes Empson. “They should be using inorganic stuff that critters can’t treat as lunch. Insulation that is biodegradable and edible is asking for trouble.”
Peter Ward of the property surveying specialist Heritage House agrees this has become a “very hot topic”. The problem stems, he thinks, from insulation suppliers who “didn’t do their research very well when they started working with wool. The upshot was a lot of bug infestations.”
Many suppliers now treat wool with a toxic chemical called borax (or sodium tetraborate). Ward is concerned about the alleged associated health risks, and believes it only leaves the insulation somewhat bug-proof. “It makes the fibres brittle, so the more you move it, the more the borax falls off. It just doesn’t work very well.”
There is one company that seems to have cracked it, according to Ward: Austria-based Isolena. “It’s run by a very clever engineer, and they’ve changed the molecular structure of wool to make it uninteresting to bugs [using a patent-protected plasma ion treatment called Ionic Protect]. They use British wool, and their product is supplied in the UK by Sheepwool Insulation.”
That’s good news, but most people won’t know the difference between these various insulation suppliers – or what to look for when buying a house with inbuilt insulation. Even surveyors struggle, points out property consultant Tom Tangney of Rose & Partners. “It’s not the surveyor’s job to do anything invasive like lift up floorboards or drill holes in plaster. If they’re up in the loft and they see a swarm of moths, they can say ‘You might want to have that investigated’, but otherwise it’s beyond their remit.”
A spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) echoes those sentiments, saying: “Surveyors can only generally report on what they see, unless they have express instructions and consent to start intrusive opening-up investigations.” Insulation is something that a surveyor “will have in contemplation”, they add, but if the vendor isn’t present, the surveyor can’t establish those details. RICS is going to publish a new consumer guide on domestic insulation in 2025, which might help illuminate this murky topic.
But it’s not clear what information the seller must disclose. Patarkatsishvili and her husband have accused Woodward-Fisher of either “fraudulent misrepresentation” or negligence because he didn’t mention a previous moth problem in the “vermin” section of the pre-sale enquiries.
Tangney concurs with Woodward-Fisher’s solicitor, who advised that moths aren’t vermin – “we tend to view that as four-legged furry things with long tails”. Such a disclosure, Tangney believes, is based on the owner’s moral compass. “You could say ‘We had a moth problem, we got in Rentokil and it’s all sorted’ – but you’re not obliged to do that.”
Empson thinks moths would fall under the category of pests, though, and can understand Patarkatsishvili’s frustration at the lack of information. Cautious buyers, he suggests, could ask the owners to sign an indemnity saying they have no history of moths. “That way, if you do get moths and you can prove they’ve had previous dealings with them, you’ve got a stronger case. You could also look carefully for tell-tale signs of moth damage on carpets or curtains, and ask pointed questions during your preliminary enquiries.” But who could, or should, police this element of the process? There’s no easy answer.
Ward says you may be able to find information about the provenance and type of insulation used via the local council, if the architect has specified it. But he points out that you won’t know how the insulation has been cared for after installation. “Many people now use too much insulation and not enough ventilation, trapping moisture in our buildings. When wool gets damp, you get much worse infestations.”
Tangney observes that, with the drive to be more energy-efficient – whether that’s inspired by environmental motives, financial or both – insulation is becoming an increasingly vital part of the equation. “However, you don’t want to reduce your heating bills and then discover you’ve got an expensive bug problem.” Empson sums up: “This really falls into the category of people acting for all the right reasons and getting caught out.”
Eco-friendly insulation may yet be part of a glorious green future, but do your homework if you don’t want to end up with a hole in your jumper, house and your finances.
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