To want to cry re new house?

[meow1989]

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!

@YukoandHiro

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

Surveyors don't check the boiler. Solicitors normally recommend you arrange to get the boiler serviced in a property you are buying prior to exchange if it hasn't been serviced in the last 12 months. Or you can try asking the sellers to have it serviced at their expense but they may just say no.

www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/first-time-buyers/buying-a-home/house-surveys-akbw67f03dkx

This explains different type of survey.

Oh oh, also he told us the alarm was disconnected via the estate agents on day 1, it wasn't and so went off when we turned off power to sort dodgy electrics. He then told the estate agent he didn't know the code and left us to it. If people didn't know we'd moved in they soon did!!

Ultimately like I say, I love this house, it's got great bones, and we will of course be fine here (albeit poorer!). Would we have bought it knowing all that would need doing so soon? Probably not. Am I glad we found out after so we at least have the house? Yeah, in fairness probably. But then I'm ever the optimist, dh is a bit more disgruntled. I guess I just needed a rant (calmed down a bit now since boiler gate).

Yanbu for feeling this way. Moving is stressful enough!
We left our 6yr old new build in immaculate condition and we bought an older house from an elderly couple who.moved out a few weeks before completion.
The neighbours at our new house had seen professional cleaners/packers in so we were happy it would.be left clean and empty. How wrong were we?! It was filthy, I had to clean out every cupboard before we could use it and even vacuum every room before we put any furniture in there. Carpet was covered in stains, some were definitely new as they were not there when we viewed!!
The house was full of crap, stuff left in cupboards, the loft was rammed!!
And I still feel sick remembering the state of the bins, the garden bin had mouldy food in and smelt revolting!!
The garden was left a state too, loads of old rusty paint tins and tools in the shed and a broken greenhouse we were told wouldn't be staying!! We ended up getting a skip to clear most of it!
We also had to replace 3 window and the front door straight away a well as the boiler (which we knew was old) and the gas fire which wasn't even connected up!
We've had an electrician in more recently who has found some incredibly bad bodge jobs too, can't believe none of this was picked up on the survey!
2 1/2 years on I love our house but it still annoys me when I think back to how bad it was left!

@isaoddontlickthebin (excellent username) the property info form states service done on boiler in 2021

@Brefugee

didn't you do any kind of survey?

I was about to ask the same. A survey would have indicated problems.

Your solicitor needs to follow up with a list of items to be removed at the vendor's expense.

The condition of the house like faulty windows and broken cabinet etc are just how you bought the property, so no recourse

Sorry, I've just seen that you had a survey.
It obviously wasn't a good one.

I feel your pain OP. When we got our house my dad was looking at the hot water cylinder and there was a live wire and a leak....if any of us had touched it we'd have been electrocuted.

When we were putting in our new kitchen it turned out that the RSJ holding up the extension was resting on a line of half blocks and could have fallen down at any time...we had to build a new pillar for support.

There were so many things that just wouldn't show up until you dig a bit deeper than a survey and see the bodges under the surface. You'll sort them as you go along, and at least be happy that the work is done properly now.

Did you have a survey done, OP? Because a surveyor who didn't move a receptacle in the boiler cupboard and notice a wet patch and mould could well be held to account for it if the receptacle was easily seen and moved. If it was fastened down then that's different. A full survey should also have reported back on any difficulties opening, closing and locking windows. Or did you just have a quick drive-by survey for a valuation?

I don't know about fist-sized holes being concealed by blind brackets. I'm looking at my blind brackets and they wouldn't conceal a hole any larger than a 50p piece.

It sounds as if you were so taken by the location and nature of the house that you didn't pay much attention to detail. When you buy an older house you always have to factor in the unknown unknowns and be prepared for the worst. If it is such a good house/ good location then I imagine many people would be prepared to take it whatever its condition. Much, much cheaper to replace a few windows, replace a boiler and do work in what will be your forever home than to keep moving looking for the right place. And of course you add value as you improve the place.

@shedbuilder it was a homebuyers with a well known company.

The bracket thing: the blind bracket was a couple of inches above the window recess and the blind was down a few inches so as to reach to the window. I usually have the blinds to a similar length when not closed as I think it looks funny otherwise. Perhaps I should have insisted on opening them all the way but I knew we'd be replacing so wasn't thinking about checking the condition of the actual blind which would have revealed the holes iyswim

That sounds rubbish (pardon the pun). We completed our purchase and moved in a month ago and I was so stressed about potential horror stories, especially since we’d viewed in COVID restrictions which meant no touching anything and in the crazy property market we only got one 15 minute chance to view. We never saw it again until we got the keys…it’s the shortest look at something ever, considering the money swapping hands! Thankfully our sellers were extremely lovely and left us no mess, no stress, and a perfect guide to the home including all paperwork, user guides, hand written notes for where things are located, how things work, etc. I realise we were exceptionally lucky as they seemed to take it as a ‘passing over the reins’ of their family home that they’d raised their children in to us so we could go through our working life in it as they had. Couldn’t have asked for better. I hope you get all of yours sorted out and can relax.

Was your survey level 1 or 2? (Assuming this isn't a period property and you didn't do level 3?)

Boiler, windows & holes should have been flagged by the surveyor.

Our surveyor 'missed' a serious structural defect and we contacted him the day we got the keys and discovered it ourselves. He promptly repaid us the cost of the survey, plus an extra 'goodwill' amount so we wouldn't place a claim on his professional indemnity insurance - which would probably have sent his premiums rocketing.

The reimbursement and goodwill was around half the cost of putting the defect right and, ultimately, it wouldn't have prevented us from buying the house in the first place, so we were satisfied with the outcome.

I would definitely contact the surveyor and request a meeting to air your concerns over the quality of the survey provided in the first instance.

Full structural survey every time with a house of any age at all - our last one identified tens of thousands of pounds' worth of work, which we took off the offer price. Yes, it wouldn't have picked up the rubbish or the dirt - the house before this one was so ingrained with pet hair etc that toddler DS ended up being treated with oxygen as a result of respiratory illness brought on by the dust - but they are eagle eyed for the rest in general.

I'm afraid that by just going with a cheap homebuyers' one you have left yourself with little recourse.

@Navian

He's allowed to dig up his own plants and take them.

Really? Our seller asked if talking certain plants would be ok. Of course we agreed. if allowed to take dig up plants where does it stop? Surely the lawn could be dug up on this basis!

OP take comfort in the knowledge that the seller must be a very unhappy person to do this and consult your solicitor immediately.

Level 2 survey, sorry can't recall who asked

Oh that's awful OP. We sold a property earlier this year that we received with loads of rubbish left behind (including a whole room full of bed linen that filled 25 black sacks), a second kitchen full of crockery etc, about 10,000 plant pots (not exaggerating, it had been a plant nursery at one point), numerous sheds full of junk. It was a lot of work to sort out. In fact we were still dealing with some of the junk in some areas of the land when we sold 5 years later, but we cleared it all before the sale because we didn't want someone else's first experiences in the house to be on a sour note.

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!

I left flowers, biscuits, tea bags and a list of useful numbers including the best local takeaways.

But the house wasn't spotless and I felt guilty about that, though I had vacuumed everywhere and scrubbed the kitchen out. And there certainly were no piles of junk.

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

When we moved we found the previous owners had done that with the walls. Just repainted around the furniture in every room, in the same colour but different batch or brand so it wasn't a perfect match. And everything he'd touched in the place was like that. Created a lot of extra work, though luckily largely things we could deal with so not expensive, just time consuming. I was cursing him every time we did any work on the house.

It’s horrible when that happens. Anything that is left should be reported on the fixture and fittings form before you bought. I was on the other side from you recently. Left the house and gardens spotless and everything was in property info forms. When I was moving I left about a dozen bricks stacked up in the garden out of the way as they were left over from the garden remodelling, thought they could be useful to new owner in case any cracked. How wrong could I be, they requested through their solicitor to mine that I had 28 days to remove them Or they would legally charge me for leaving them. I said I would collect if they left them outside the back gate. So you should cross check your property forms then speak to your solicitor to see if it’s worth chasing for breaches.
In the end the people who bought my house sold the bricks on Facebook and made all sorts of nasty comments as to the state of the house and gardens.

With the amount you have to pay the estate agent and the solicitor, it's shocking really that there isn't someone there to hand over the keys and do a check.

Sounds like you have a rubbish solicitor.

Get an estimate for clearing the rubbish and cleaning the houseand send via your solicitor. The agreement is to clear all rubbish .

Tell them to sort it .

But if it’s small claims later just do it . It’s cheap and. Easy.

Same for anything they took that was listed as included .

The rest is buyer beware unfortunately.

Our last house found loads of hidden Problems including the bath and. Dishwasher outlets went straight under the Lawn with no soak away.

Still had 16 happy years there though.

I agree with everything except the plants. To be plant can have personal meaning like furniture etc Unless you had a very specific agreement to keep all plants I would think it fair enough to take a prize specimen but would have been polite to let you know. Am sure you will get plenty of enjoyment from planting new ones.

Its very poor behaviour on the part of the vendor. We have always left spotless, left champagne and lists of all the paints and instructions etc. And in turn we have always moved into a dirty, messy complete state of a house! Thats life.

You could involve solicitors and small claims but to be honest I would just accept and deal with it. It is not unusual at all, just part of the joy of moving I am afraid. You will very soon have it all sorted and the place will be yours. As for taking the shine off the move - moves are hard work and stressful, the joy comes once you have it all sorted and how you want it. Don't worry, you'll get there.

@meow1989

Have you seen the boiler service report? If not get it from your solicitor. If they did not get it then they should have ! You need to see it.