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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU - house bought with stuff?!

43 replies

Vixii · 21/09/2017 18:44

Hi,

We bought a house a month or so ago and we've since found out various things that we will have to fix (eg broken lights (leaving sharp broken glass edges), broken dishwasher, plumbing system is a disaster, as are the electrics) etc etc. I know that to a point you expect some additional costs in a new house. There's also some strange things like paint jobs which literally seem to finish mid brush stroke, half way down a wall.

Anyway, the point is this - we've resigned ourselves to bearing the cost of most of this but one thing that has really irked is that our sellers left some stuff behind - furniture and rubbish. I think they should pay for a skip to get rid of it (why should I pay to dispose of the rubbish they couldn't be bothered to?). I thought this was fair enough but a friend has just accused me of being "grabby" and small minded, and they I should just suck it up, basically.

Is it unreasonable to pursue the seller for the costs of any of this?

I'm pretty sure contractually I could get more than just the cost of the skip, but am trying to pick my battles!!

Thanks (and sorry for long-windednesa)!

OP posts:

PoppyPopcorn · 22/09/2017 08:19

you can get your solicitors to pursue them for not leaving the property empty.

Which will probably cost more than hiring a skip and clearing it yourself.

Purplemeddler · 22/09/2017 08:47

Which will probably cost more than hiring a skip and clearing it yourself

I was thinking much the same! Is it really worth it?

NorthCoast · 22/09/2017 08:56

Yes, Scottish law is different, unless specifically excluded in the missives you have a set period of time to report any defects to your solicitor and pursue the seller for compensation.

It's annoying, OP, but possibly one of those things that's not going to be economically viable to pursue :( When I sold my flat in England to move up here, the buyer got the estate agent to spend about two weeks phoning me and then my solicitor saying she intended to sue for the cost of replacing the bathroom plumbing because it had started leaking when she turned the water on. I pointed out to them all that (a) it hadn't been leaking when we left and it hadn't been leaking during the time the flat had been empty because the owner of the flat downstairs would have let me know she had water coming through her ceiling; (b) if you turn a stopcock on full straight away with dry plumbing it's entirely likely something will blow in old houses, you need to turn it on gently; (c) the occupant of the ground floor flat, who worked from home, had let me know that the buyer had been given the keys by the estate agent and allowed unsupervised access to the flat the day before completion, therefore could have caused the damage herself and I would be making a formal complaint to the EA's head office about this if the matter went further.

Rachie1973 · 22/09/2017 09:02

we bought a house earlier this year, it looked lovely at the viewing, but when we took possession we found out that apparently keeping 6 rabbits and 4 cats indoors 24/7 is a thing. No hutches, just rabbits on the loose. god knows how they hid them or the smell from us when we viewed?!?

Easier to hide til we got there were the fleas. 1000s of fleas. I didn't even know they could stay alive once the animals were gone. Hidden in the half ton of hay around the house I suppose.

WineAndTiramisu · 22/09/2017 09:05

If you have a forwarding address, I'd be tempted to pay someone to remove it all and dump in previous owners new garden...

EssentialHummus · 22/09/2017 09:06

friend moved in and found 2 dobermans in the house.

poor doggos, but man I'd love this. Sorry, DH, we'll have to keep them, fixtures and fittings innit...

CamperVamp · 22/09/2017 09:10

You should have done something in the day: got straight on to the estate agents and told your solicitor. Completion is for an empty house, not half their crap!

Good luck with reclaiming fixtures and fittings money.

Nomorechickens · 22/09/2017 09:12

Offer the furniture on freecycle or see if a charity shop will take it. Clear the rubbish yourself, not worth pursuing it unless you are talking multiple large skips. Next time have it written into the contract that the house will be cleared. (of course you will never move again!)

PurpleMinionMummy · 22/09/2017 09:13

Oh its so annoying when they leave stuff. We had a fridge and washing machine left (probably because you had to take the kitchen door off to get them out) and lots of random bits. On top of this they were still bloody packing after we'd completed!! They had to return the next day to empty the garage. Fortunately we had lovely removal men who took their general random bits away for us. Their fridge is still in our garage 3 years later

BMW6 · 22/09/2017 09:15

As pp has stated, you need to weigh up the costs incurred in solicitors fees with the costs of getting rid of the crap yourself.

Our house had loads of junk left behind, and all the carpets reeked of cat and were filthy beyond cleaning.

We hired a man and van to take it all to the council tip, which he had a licence for, for £60. Cheaper than solicitor.

Ellie56 · 22/09/2017 09:18

Put the broken dishwasher on Ebay for spares or repair. Somebody will buy it. I've got rid of all my old stuff that way.No way would I pay someone to take it away.

PollyFlint · 22/09/2017 09:27

Our vendors left loads of crap in the house. A broken bedside table, ironing board, rickety bookcase, wardrobes, some crap chairs, a couple of step-stool things and some mirrors in the house, and then when we went outside they'd left their kids' slide and trampoline (we don't have kids, and they knew that) and loads of kids' stuff and gardening items, plus old tins of festering paint etc, in the shed. Also the first time I cut the grass I filled two bin bags with balls for no less than seven different sports, all of which were on the lawn. We had many, many trips to the tip and in retrospect, we should totally have pursued them for the cost of a skip at the very least.

The weird thing was that in every other respect they were really nice throughout the sale process. They were very accommodating in terms of our moving dates and left us a lovely big bunch of flowers, a card and some chocolates, as well as some really useful info about the neighbours, local amenities etc. I can only think that they just lost the plot a bit with the stress of moving.

We're also pretty sure that they never got round to having their mail redirected, as we were forwarding stuff to them for months. And we also discovered that they haven't updated their address details with the DVLA when we started to get threatening letters about unpaid parking fines...

EnterFunnyNameHere · 22/09/2017 09:28

I feel your pain, the previous owners of our place left a lot of shit - mostly in the garden and garage rather than the house, and it is infuriating to be paying to get rid of it. The bloke of the family we bought off was a bit of a dick during the process in general though, and we decided we'd rather have a clean break and spend the money ourselves than have to deal with him ever again!

I totally understand the desire though, it's just if you think it's really worth the hassle!

ShoesHaveSouls · 22/09/2017 09:29

We had loads of stuff left in our house too - and the place was far more of a wreck than we thought, despite getting a full survey done.

They weren't even packed up and out when it came to completion/key collection time We spent the first weekend in our new house letting the previous owners in to clear the garage / sheds etc. They were dicks, but disorganised dicks rather than malicious.

Quite frankly, I doubt it's worth the time hassle or money pursuing a claim - I'd just suck it up and move on. Work on making the place your own.

scortja · 22/09/2017 09:50

Ours left bed bugs.

nakedscientist · 22/09/2017 09:55

When we bought our house, the vendors (to whom we had paid hundreds of thousands of pounds) asked my DH if they could stay because they had nowhere to go!

lborgia · 22/09/2017 10:00

I was wondering if we sold you our house. ..but no. I was astonished that our buyers had a most basic of surveys done on a really really old house. We were honest about everything we knew about already. ..but I still sometimes lie here 8 weeks later, wondering if anything awful will turn up over time. Who buys a 200 year old house on a 3 page survey?

First house I ever bought she took all the light bulbs and loo paper. ... I was underwhelmed.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 22/09/2017 10:09

It could be worse, I would have taken a ton of broken furniture or a shed full of paint and toys over what awaited us...lets just say they didn't flush and leave it at that .

Personally I would say it is not worth the cost of going after them for money just hire someone to take it to the tip or a skip and chalk it up to experience don't let it tarnish the excitement of your new home.

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