To ignore house buyer complaints a month after completion

definitely ignore - or rather have your solicitor say that they should have asked you put money aside for unforeseen costs related to the house pre-sale that you might be liable for

this happened to me when I sold a flat. 6 months later they wanted a few hundred pounds to cover something concerning the freehold share that their solicitor had failed to look into at the time of the sale. I told them to sling their hooks. End of.

Our buyer was pretty good but we did sell knowing our freeholder (who lived in part of same property) was a pain in the ass and had unreasonably prevented us doing some building work.

A few months later, buyer texted me a few times asking some stuff about freeholder and I could tell he was hitting problems so I just ignored it and hoped he'd just assume I'd changed numbers and the messages did stop. Buyer was a property developer by trade so I didn't feel too guilty as I'm sure he (and his lawyers) would be able to manage freeholder. He did eventually get his way and do a big extension to the property that the freeholder must have hated, and was much bigger than what he'd prevented us from doing, but I guess buyer was more bullish. Was good karma.

So you would expect a new build house not to work and be ok?

Caveat emptor.

That is latin for 'the empty guinea pig'.

So disappointing isn't it. I viewed during Covid and thought the seller was nervous behind her mask because of that - sadly it was because she was worried I'd ask the right questions. I'm sorry I didn't take more note from a jealous person who'd hoped to get this bungalow. She had also offered and when she found out I had been accepted, said 'I hope you can find the source of the damp'.

Six months after moving in I found out all of the floors were completely rotten with thick black mould, wet/dry rot and woodworm. I had the seller's number because I'd offered to put her up if she came back to the area - I texted and she texted back with some fabrication about a pest control company, she 'couldn't remember' bullshit. Turns out she'd had every floor replaced in 2016 by a cowboy company that folded in 2018. 25 year timber guarantee not worth the paper it was written on. Having every floor replaced here cost me the £20K equity I had to last me the two years before retirement at 66. I do hope it's true that what goes around comes around. But the very worst thing for me was that my beloved sheltie had a fungus in his nose when he died, the day before his 14th birthday. Without either of us knowing, he'd been lying under my bed for six months on top of the underlay which was covering the thick black mould.

@noctilucentcloud 😂 thank you! Me too, which is why I did it!

@ThatLemonViewer Aww, thanks 😊

I thought you had about a week to raise these issues? If it was there, a decent surveyor would have noticed and if not then it’s not like it’s your house so quite literally it’s a them issue.

Whereas I'd of found that really lovely!

No you do not.

We once made getting the gas boiler serviced and a valid safety certificate for it a condition of the contract before we would agree to complete. Our solicitor put the clause in for us and sent the vendors a covering letter explaining why it had to be done.

The reason we did that was because the vendors had told us that they had never had the boiler serviced at all in twenty years because "it has always worked." Not seeming to understand that gas boilers can work and still leak carbon monoxide if any seals are deteriorating or not a clean burn etc.

Similar to my parents new owner tried to clean a new heating system after 2 weeks. My unsaid it was working fine and serviced a week before they left which she had evidence of. The solicitor said as she had taken all steps to keep the system running it was the new buyers problem.

Whatever you left would have went in the bin to be honest. I have issues with people leaving me stuff and waste of time to be honest.

I think you legally have to have a working heating/hot water system

Oh we had such CFs! I’d tried hard to make it lovely for them. I’d left fizz in the (free) fridge, a little ‘welcome home’ basket with mugs and biscuits etc, a letter telling them about fun things to do in the town, where the food shops are, where the best take aways were etc. I left a bone for their greyhound, and even left them curtain poles and blinds (not cheap!). Then, three days after moving in, we were contacted with their ‘grievances’. They complained the oven and microwave hadn’t been professionally cleaned, that the fire alarm was too sensitive (it’s a new build and nothing to do with us?!), that a LIGHTBULB was out in one of the en suites and that the skirting board in the living room was a discoloured white as that’s where our sofa had been and the sun had bleached the rest of it except that bit. Honestly it was madness, really put a damper on us moving! Our solicitor told them to get lost and we never heard from them again, but some people are such chancers.

Ha ha ha.

If I had done that I'd still be pursuing the previous owners of my house for the price of rewiring their dodgy and highly illegal power points (off a shower circuit).

For the illegally installed gas fire.

For the repointing they had done with bathroom sealant. For the DIY back to front hot/cold water supply to the bath.

Ignore your purchasers. They are being ridiculous. It is very much a case of buyer beware.

We recently sold a house and no-one seemed interested in the boiler service record. We had had it done and left the previous three years' service records for the buyers but it hadn't been asked for.

We sold a house that had been empty for a few years and we hadn't had the boiler serviced in that time. We were asked to get it serviced before the sale went through and provide evidence that we had done so.

Instruct your solicitor to ignore further letters from them as otherwise they will be charging you for responding and matters could drag on.

generally if stuff that was agreed as part of the contract and hasn't been fulfilled.

Our seller was meant to complete the bathroom (master en-suite) remodel before we moved it.. we moved in and they'd just left everything piled in the middle of the room, tiling half done, no toilet, sink or shower, and claimed their contractor had let them down.

Our solicitor docked them £2000 off the asking price.

I don’t think it’s due to be in court until around Christmas time, but the OP said she would update then. I’ve ‘watched’ the thread as I’m also curious!

Ha ha ha h…..we had the buyer from Lala land once😵‍💫

We received a solicitor’s letter demanding that we reinstate the fireplace surround ( it was there in the picture he sent, it was stone and must have weighed a ton, impossible to remove), that we replace doors in the arch between the dining and sitting room ( about twelve foot across as could be seen in the EA photos showing without doors ) and best of all, that we had had a bonfire at the bottom of the acre and half garden some weeks before we left ….

Just ignore any communications, don’t feed the 😵‍💫

I don't think you do need your boiler servicing before selling. We do ours because it's relatively new and the 10 year warranty requires it (and it's sensible to anyway) but I certainly wouldn't do it for the benefit of the buyers!

I've lived in my current house for 20 years. When did all this stuff start about having to do things for the buyers' benefit? If they want the house and they want it done, they do it!

For anyone with an oil tank, if you have a split or a hole, use wet soap on it whilst you are waiting for your new tank. It blocks the hole temporarily.

My husband had just died and I went out to check the level with our 'stick' and saw the hole, I was absolutely gutted. I hadn't used the aga or heating for months because I was having to wait such a long time for probate, and all that time it had been leaking into the ground :( I had a disused railway station and think a train had shot a stone into it, it wasn't covered and protected from the line.

The nearest company that could help charged me £200 travel time to transfer to a temporary tank, then a whopping £4K to install a double bunded 1000 L - which needed more supports underneath. They didn't secure it so I had to buy the straps you see on lorries and secure it to the ground. Horrible memory!

it's THEIR oil tank. so how is it your problem to fix.