To not want to remove vendors rubbish from my new property?!

[MissB83]

I'm not sure if this is a legal or practical query anyway and would appreciate the traffic from the MN hive mind!
I've just completed on a house which needs a lot of work anyway and I will be spending £10-15k minimum on it, and generating a lot of building mess which is being kept in the back garden for the minute. When I arrived (before work started) I found a lot of rubbish left by the vendors in various places (back garden, shed etc) which included old building materials (broken MDF, broken plastic, used wood, dried cement, two old doors) and a broken satellite dish. It's a medium van load of stuff.

Part of this was (I think) to make a point to me: the purchase price of the house was reduced during the transaction due to poor electrics etc, and some of the stuff they left was also stuff that had to be removed under the terms of the sale to bring the house into legal compliance. They are basically very petty people! I've got a small child and I can't have this stuff knocking around so I've currently removed it to the front garden and contacted their agent to ask when it will be collected.

After two days I've had very noncommittal responses from agent and now his suggestion is that (even though legally they should have removed this stuff), I pay for collection/disposal and charge it back to them. I think these people are dodgy as heck and I will never see that money again; plus I really can't afford it!

Where do I stand? What should I do? Help!

[Jackshouse]

Speak to your solicitor.

[TheOxymoron]

Was it all there at the point of exchange?

[2birds1stone]

My previous vendors left a make shift dog kennel where they kept a dog who had had puppies. Including all the newspaper and dog shit. And other bits of rubbish about.

I knew it had been there weeks before the exchange because my friend had the bitch from them.

They also never re directed their post.

I made a complaint and they offered to come round and clean it up. I didn't want them back in my house as they were vile people (found out all the neighbours hated them)

They couldn't even be bothered to wipe out the kitchen cupboards.

Because of their attitude I just got on with it and cleared it up however I wish I had taken it further and charged them a clean up fee

[MissB83]

The stuff was definitely there before exchange.

[Greatbigterribleshart]

Speak to your solicitor. They've broken the contract.

[Buddywoo]

We have had this problem twice, the first time being more serious.

When we arrived at the house the loft was packed with stuff that they obviously didn't want. Also they only left one key and we couldn't get in to the garage. Estate agents most unhelpful. The vendors turned up after a couple of days and I saw him in the garage loading a van with the stuff they had left. I then got the rest of the keys off him. His solicitor eventually settled the bill for clearing the loft.

The second time was in our present house. We bought off a very refained elderly couple. They left loads of junk and also kept coming back every couple of days and dumping more stuff they didn't want on the drive. It went straight to the tip. After a week or so we noticed a lot of rats in the garden and found they had dumped the contents of their freezer at the bottom of the garden. We dealt with that ourselves.

[FamilyReferee]

We had this - couple of sheds full of stuff, and a load of stuff left in the loft. We rang the agents, and had them speak to the vendors and tell them that we wanted them to pay for a skip. They didn't want to, so we responded that either they pay for a skip, or we would take them to court, and that we were prepared to pursue this as far as needed. They paid up for the skip. We did the work of dumping the stuff in the skip ourselves.

But it turned out that the rubbish they left behind was only the tip of the iceberg - the things we've found out that they've hidden or done around the house/garden since then is mad. Plus we've had debt collectors letters, police letters, court letters, the lot. Unluckily for them, we happen to have found out where they live & where their business has moved to (they used to illegally run it from here). Luckily for them we're decent people, and have done no more than pass their new addresses on to those searching for them.

[MissB83]

That approach with a skip/threatening court action is what I was thinking so might go that route, useful to hear it's worked before!

[FamilyReferee]

Yes, it definitely worked for us. With much grumbling from the vendors. The agents were brilliant though - it helps if they're on your side. It also helped that we were fully prepared to actually take it to court, albeit small claims. But if we'd done that, we'd have claimed back our time too, and they'd have been liable for court costs, and we told them that via the agents.

[junecat]

We had the same. All the wheelie bins overflowing and a garage and loft full of junk they didn't want. Our solicitor gave them the option of coming back and removing it all or paying for a professional to do it. They came and did it themselves. They also left their cat behind :(