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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to cry re new house?

197 replies

meow1989 · 30/09/2021 12:53

Or more like, wibu to expect seller to be a decent human being?

Completed on our dream forever home end of August. We left our house spotless, left flowers and advice re local area plus my number in case new people needed anything. Our seller however left us with the following issues:

  • tonnes of rubbish including a double garage door, building materials and granite slabs behind outbuilding. His response was (not true) that most of it had been there when he moved in so it wasn't his problem to sort.
  • missing plants dug up and taken
  • rubbish in house - so far I'm up to 7 different types of tiles in boxes plus skirting boards, flooring, insulation etc
  • Windows that don't lock from the outside and don't close properly (costing 4k to replace, we did know they were misted and would need doing equally but not straight away)
  • bodge job building bits (he is a builder!) Like fist sized holes where blinds had been installed, a broken TV bracket installed into the wall rather than on to, paint on floor and windows
  • broken blinds, broken bathroom cabinets
  • a boiler that I've just found out has been leaking for quite some time (noted by plumber who is fixing leak in ceiling which also seems to have been bodged and covered up from previous leaks)

Aibu or is this par for the course? We hadn't budgeted for a fixer Upper!

OP posts:
Original poster
meow1989 · 30/09/2021 13:37

Also he said he would clear the rubbish. He did "his", but not the stuff pre him!

OP posts:
imnotacelebritygetmeoutofhere · 30/09/2021 13:40

No useful advice on what you've been left with but just wanted to say you sound absolutely lovely! If I moved into a clean house and found flowers and a note I would be filled with joy!
Your seller's mess is temporary. Focus on the happiness you left with your buyer and the happiness to come when you've fixed the problems and made the home your own.

Insert1x20p · 30/09/2021 13:41

Honestly, I've never bought a house, got the keys, gone in and not thought "FML". I'd just move on. I once bought a house where there was a TV shaped patch on the top of a cupboard where the previous owner had just painted round it and the garden was colonised by feral foxes.

muddyford · 30/09/2021 13:41

Contact your solicitor, take photos. Whether stuff was left by a previous owner is irrelevant. If it costs to clear his rubbish he gets billed. I'm afraid any physical issues with the house are between you and the surveyor.

Skala123 · 30/09/2021 13:42

We had some similar issues and our solicitor spoke to the sellers and threatened to sue. We had someone come and quote for the ID'd jobs like fixing cupboards etc and rubbish removal and the sellers sent us a cheque for that amount. It wasn't a difficult process. Don't give up!

YukoandHiro · 30/09/2021 13:43

Didn't any of this come up on the survey? Eg windows? Boiler issues? That's what the survey is there for....
As for crap left around the home like building materials, get a clearance company and bill his solicitor as it wasn't clear when you arrived

Skala123 · 30/09/2021 13:43

Also with regards smell claims I used it recently against our tenants who wouldn't pay their rent and it was very straight forward and we got our money within six months

sillysmiles · 30/09/2021 13:43

Honestly, its annoying, but hire a skip and don't leave it until next summer to dump the rubbish.

The windows I would have though the surveyor should have picked up on.

Also if possible, I'd hire a cleaning company to do a deep clean. I regret not doing that when we bought.

fromdownwest · 30/09/2021 13:44

Caveat Emptor Sadly - The boiler, windows etc are yours to assess prior to exchenge.

The rubbish is his problem to remove, however, I had the same, and my solicitor said the costs to enforce it outweighed the costs to have it removed, so had to bite the bullet on that one.

Flower, plants etc are down to the fixtures and fittings list.

I know it is easier said than done, however, i found that chalking it up to experience and cracking on making it a home worked wonders for me. Otherwise, you will just end up hating your new home.

IactuallyHateMN · 30/09/2021 13:46

You can take garden plants with you when you move.

angstridden2 · 30/09/2021 13:47

When we bought a flat a couple of years ago the owner had obviously been letting rooms out on a short term basis and just told the tenants to get out on completion. The kitchen was left mid cooking, the fridge and freezer were full of food and had been switched off a week before.There were also four double beds to dispose of plus assorted chairs.

What is wrong with people?

IactuallyHateMN · 30/09/2021 13:48

Pretty typical. I take it this is your first bought house?

houselikeashed · 30/09/2021 13:49

I have to admit that we left our house without cleaning it. I still feel guilty to this day. We had hired the removal company to pack for us, and they had under estimated the time needed to do it. This resulted in our buyers hassling us to be out by 3pm. My austistic dd was having meltdowns, the packers were not going to be finished by 3pm, and I was getting pone calls from the buyers solicitors every 30 mins or so.

We were out by 5pm, but I hadn't cleaned anywhere. It was quite stressful.
Annoyingly, my old neighbour told me the new owners didn't move in for 3 weeks.
But we didn't leave a load of rubbish lying around. That's pretty bad.

user1000000000009 · 30/09/2021 13:51

I've read this exact thread before.

IactuallyHateMN · 30/09/2021 13:52

Although I said pretty typical, to clarify that doesn't mean I'd do it. I've never had time to clean a house before moving though. We've emptied it, rubbish included and bodge jobs by previous owners are just that,you hag have to hunt them down out as everyone covers them up otherwise half the housing stock wouldn't sell! And again to clarify we don't bodge job we do things properly.

WidowTwonky · 30/09/2021 13:53

Sounds like your solicitor is half your problem

Original poster
meow1989 · 30/09/2021 13:55

@user definately first time posting it, maybe there's 2 of us whove bought off this buyer before!

OP posts:
HarrietsChariot · 30/09/2021 13:59

They're allowed to take plants and almost everything else unless they specify they will be left as part of the legal agreement.

They don't legally have to clean.

The dodgy DIY, windows, holes, boiler and so on needs to be picked up in the survey. If you did the basic survey these things won't be covered, all that is concerned about is whether the mortgage provider isn't overpaying. You need the in depth survey to find these things - if you had that, you need to ask the surveyor why they didn't report on them.

The only thing you really have a case on is the rubbish. Unless the contract said the rubbish would be left, the seller will have to pay to remove it (regardless of whether it was there when he moved in or not). But you'll need to take them to court over this and a) you might lose, and b) you will be out of pocket either way. If you can deal with the rubbish yourself, it will be cheaper and less hassle in the long run.

Whinginadeville · 30/09/2021 13:59

I've moved 6 or 7 times none of that sounds too bad tbh

ouchmyfeet · 30/09/2021 13:59

YANBU

I'm in exactly the same position OP, it's horrible but I agree with PP that it happens pretty much every time we move house. It's always worse than I remember, but this one is particularly awful. Same issues with rubbish left and broken windows. We also have a garage that needs condemning and rebuilding Confused

Hope you get settled soon

Warmduscher · 30/09/2021 14:00

@IactuallyHateMN

You can take garden plants with you when you move.
Only if they are specifically omitted from the fixtures and fittings form.

The OP says they weren’t, which means they were included in the sale and not the vendor’s to take.

Whentheydontmeanwhattheysay · 30/09/2021 14:02

we raised the rubbish the day we moved in but solicitors weren't any help, they just said we would have to take to small claims court and prob not worth the hassle

That’s what we were told too.
This place was filthy and full of rubbish when we moved in. I cried when we walked in.
The kitchen cupboards took 4 hours to clean just the inside! I was quite grateful that the built in oven didn’t work, it meant we could just rip it out instead of spending hours cleaning it.

We also had a patio door that wouldn’t lock so needed immediate replacement, a loft full of rubbish, an overgrown garden and a condemned gas fire.

We had left our house spotless. Some people are just filthy op, you’ll get sorted.

TheAntiGardener · 30/09/2021 14:04

I’m pretty sure I’ve always had assurances re availability of window keys as part of the purchasing process, so that’s something that you could pick up with the solicitor. Either on the context of information not being true or a query as to why the question wasn’t raised.

Ohsugarhoneyicetea · 30/09/2021 14:06

@Navian

He's allowed to dig up his own plants and take them.
Unless otherwise agreed, plants growing in gardens form part of the sales agreement and removing them without explicit permission in the sales documentation can invalidate the transaction.

The last people I bought off did this too. The house was so filthy I had to throw away the toilet seats, they had urine ingrained into them they were cleaned so rarely. Every wall had blood and snot wiped on it. They stole plants from the garden and just left great big holes. And failed to disclose the shower was leaking into the ceiling underneath. One of theses charmers was a doctor. Filthy people unfortunately sell houses too. I wont ever make much of an effort moving again.

Dixiechickonhols · 30/09/2021 14:06

A homebuyers survey is a basic one. For an older property you’d usually have a full survey.
You’ll have to see if worth time/money pursuing him re rubbish, unless it’s going to cost a lot to clear probably not.