To think they should let us in!?

[akennyg]

Hi there,

We exchanged last week on a family house and have set completion for 8th April. We made a good offer because we love the house (although we might have been able to get a little more off the price as we are cash, chain free buyers).

Annoyingly, had a bit of a run in at negotiation stage with the vendors as they wanted to charge £450 to leave the (bolted on, extremely ordinary) bathroom mirrors. We felt we had paid more than fairly to have the house as it is, and as the mirrors were mentioned as a selling point in the particulars we insisted that they be included.

The vendor agreed, and exchange happened last week. Since then, the agent has told us the lady is really angry and emotional about the mirror situation, as those mirrors were expensive. They are ignoring calls from the agent asking if we can have a quick look at the house now we will be living there. The agent has said she is shocked they are not returning calls.

We sent a really nice email to them two nights ago basically saying how happy and excited we are, sorry the negotiations became difficult, its so hard between middle people and at a stressful time...wishing them well and mentioning it would be really great to be able to see the place, and possibly meet them to make the whole process a bit more human after so much paperwork.

No response has come back.

And now I don't really know what to do. My main concern isnt really going in (although of course we want to) but that if they are being mean about this, what are they going to do when they leave...will we find items broken or stained or things missing that weren't on the particulars but go with the property like the made to measure drawer inserts etc?

Am i being unreasonable expecting or rather hoping to get into the property? I appreciate they are busy but a half hour visit with the agent when they're not in would make all the difference and would be a kind thing to allow. Isn't this the done thing? It's my first time but thats what everyone tells me. And why did they get so mad about bathroom mirrors, which was essentially getting mad about not getting £450 or having to rip mirrors off wall and pay a builder to make good on the holes and mess left behind? Bahhh!

We had a similar issue, when we bought our current house. The woman of the couple selling it, basically did not want to sell - but they had to downsize (we assumed, for financial reasons). She was never present at viewings - her husband did them all, apparently.

They accepted our offer, and closer to the completion date, we asked if we could get in to measure up the windows, and check one or two things, and she refused point blank. Later her husband got in touch, via the agents, and told us 'She'll be out at such-and-such a time - you can come round then' - he had to sneak us into the house!

It might reassure you to know that, despite this bad feeling from the wife, the house was left in a good state - there was no malicious damage. There was normal wear and tear (where things had been taken off walls - stuff we knew wasn't being left, so we knew there would be some making-good to do - but there wasn't any deliberate damage in retaliation for us buying the house she didn't want to sell.

We had a situation where they unexpectedly left loads of crap furniture, e.g. broken wardrobe.

I just hired a skip and chucked it. It cost me a hundred quid but hey ho, it's moving house and it's expensive, so I sucked it up to use the MN vernacular. I could have moaned to the solicitor but it was cheaper not to iyswim.

Your vendor is being extremely petty and unobliging, both for not letting you have a look (and it's natural in your excitement, or for practical reasons, to want to) and for the mirror situation/ignoring correspondence. Having moved house recently (and having sold at a MASSIVE loss), I can say that a bit of mutual kindness goes a long way in the process.

You can chase them after completion if there are problems for which you could reasonably expect to be compensaged. Have you taken out insurance on the house? You should do this from exchange.

Your vendor is being extremely petty and unobliging, both for not letting you have a look...

They really aren't...

Yep taken out insurance. It's just, yes, we were kind to them and tried to move quickly, and we didn't make unreasonable demands, so we'd hoped they'd be civil. But never mind, we will make good what we need to and deal with it. Thanks for all your replies- really useful to get different perspectives on this.

To be honest I might not acommadate another viewing if I was mid moving, house shambles, if I was fairly calm I might.

When we bought our current house the agent came up with a list of items we could buy, we did buy white goods etc however I wasn't going to pay 250 for a curtain pole, blind and curtains that were still on sale in Homebase for a fraction of that (Homebase being the only local place for Home stuff so very obvious we would look there!) or 1000 for a shed or 100 for a broken light fitting and the worst item was 100 for a blind and curtains that didn't exsist! So it may have been the Agent being over zealous?

However if the mirrors were listed in the fixtures and fittings then it their error and you were right to pursue that, YABU to expect another viewing pre completion, YANBU to ask though.

Only in my humble opinion, MrsB. It's not how I would act, but different strokes for different folks, I know.
Good luck with it all, OP.

We viewed our houses after offers and before we moved in. I 'needed' to emotionally and to get a feel for furniture etc. In fairness they were empty each time but I would have requested it regardless, and I would have allowed my buyer to view also.

I was terrified my house would be damaged - tenants and a dickhead landlord owner. But it was fine.

You've a lot of distrust in them if your main reason for visiting is to document future damage.

Yes unfortunately we are paranoid because they are so angry, emotional and upset (agents words) about the mirrors they might do something mean spirited. The agent was too scared to ask re a visit to the property for a few days after the mirror situation... Perhaps we are being too suspicious. I really hope so.

Why did you say it was hard to be middle aged?!?!?

We were allowed in here before completion but we made sure we stayed minimum time. We said we wanted to measure up but tbh it was to make sure we still liked the house as we were having cold feet. I don't feel guilty as they took everything they said they'd leave, left stuff they said they'd take and left nine bags of rubbish.

Haha we said it was hard to work through issues diplomatically through a middle person and we were sorry things became difficult. nothing wrong with being middle aged!!

Oops, sorry. Seems m? eyes are worse than I thought ??

Justusemyname - I did exactly the same thing before I re-read it!!

I'm not sure you have much recourse if there is (minor) damage to the house, for example if they take the mirrors off the wall and don't make good. When we moved into our current house the vendors had taken down the bathroom cabinet (not included in F&Fs) and left holes in the wall - we just filled and redecorated.

I did ask the solicitor at the time we exchanged what would happen if there was damage or not everything on the F&F list had been left, more out of curiosity than anything as it was my first house purchase, and he basically said that unless it was major we would have very little power to do anything without expending a lot of time and money. Don't know how true this is as an not an expert...

If you have already implied you might be concerned about cosmetic damage, maybe they don't want to let you in to see the chipped paint and stained carpets where they have started to pack and move furniture?

We had two viewings of our house, both arranged through the agent. The list of extra things they wanted to charge us for was huge - right down to a washing line and pots in the garden - and we said no to the vast majority of it. They did leave the place in a bit of a state though fortunately with no deliberate damage.

The buyers for my flat, however, were a nightmare. They demanded four separate visits and insisted I be out. When the fifth request came along I said no. They also made some extremely rude demands for the fridge, light fittings etc. I think they must have had a relative giving them very bad advice to play hardball with me but it rather backfired on them when they tried to force me to knock 10K off the price the day before exchange. I told them to do one and they lost their mortgage offer as well as the legal fees they'd already paid.

Up thread you said yourself that you wouldn't allow a buyer into your property if you were selling, yet this seller is being labelled mean spirited for not allowing you in?

I don't get it?

You won over the mirrors, be happy.

Serin I definitely didn't say that! I would absolutely let the buyer in a reasonable number of times. We are happy. I was just asking if we were unreasonable to have a chance to visit the house, when they're not there if they prefer, to see it before completion. I would not be mean spirited to buyers of my home, and I would be open to meeting them and putting a face to a name. But I appreciate from their end we are probably uber demanding and difficult as cash buyers, paying asking price, and moving at the speed they demand. Because we want the mirrors listed as features in marketing materials which are fixed to the house to stay.

How entitled are we!?

We had a situation where they unexpectedly left loads of crap furniture, e.g. broken wardrobe

We had similar, attic and shed full of their crap that they hadn't deemed worthy of taking with them. There were even old clothes hanging in the fitted wardrobe. She had the bloody cheek to knock on the door a couple of weeks later asking if she could get a specific pair of trousers back . Eh, no, fuck off love, this isn't a storage facility and they went in the skip with all your other shit.

We always insist on a "pre-settlement inspection." I had to do this once, as I house I was buying had been full of junk on first viewing, and I wanted to be sure it had been cleared before we settled. Now I do it as routine, because I've also had vendors pull up carpets or remove light fittings. God knows why, they were just B&Q but it's just annoying as it's more to do when we move in, so I like to be prepared.

But it's a business transaction, even though you & the vendor seem determined to treat it as emotional & personal. So DON'T email the vendor direct: if you did that to me, I would ignore it, or reply simply "Deal with this through my agent." Ask the agent to arrange it, and mention you will instruct your solicitor to delay settlement until you're given 30 minutes access with the agent.

Treat it as business. Do it through the agent.

We also had a pre settlement inspection written into our agreement, but it's fairly standard where I'm from. You inspect the house a day or two before completion, and if it all looks good the money gets transferred straight away.

I don't think YABU to want to get in to measure up. Is this really not the done thing? When we sold our flat the new owners came round a couple of times (with the agent, while we were at work). Wouldn't have dreamed of saying they couldn't! They were paying a lot of cash for a flat they'd only ever been in for 10 mins...

I think the OP's mistake was to approach the vendors personally, and see it as a personal favour.

It's not. It's business. They are unreasonable not to give you 30 mins access with the agent YABU in making it a personal thing.

People can be very odd about buying & selling houses they seem to forget that it's the largest amount of capital they'll ever manage to see in their lifetimes. You have to remember it's property/capital, even if it's going to be your "home" during the purchase process it's just money.

It's tricky, the whole process is so bloody stressful. I can understand why they would be awkward about you popping round after exchange, especially considering the mirror 'issue'.

When we sold our flat our buyers were first timers and really cheeky with their demands, threatening to pull out every 5 minutes because they were at the bottom of a chain of 6 and it wasn't moving quick enough for their liking. In the end we exchanged/completed all fine but we still think they are tossers.

However the point of my story is that I might have been awkward about them coming round post exchange because I had had enough of them. I still cleaned like a mad thing and left them a card and a bottle of wine on completion day - karma you know?!!

Pre exchange however I was very accommodating with visits to measure up/bring builders over etc.