Should I tell someone?

[ForZingyHare]

My friend found out last year the house she’d just bought had 2 serious structural issues and had quotes of over £80k to make safe. She had no work done and has just secured a cash sale with a vulnerable grieving woman trying to start a new life with money left to her, who isn’t having a survey.
My friend just leaves chaos behind her always but AIBU to consider telling the estate agent to warn their client about the problems, or should I just mind my own business?

Sadly I'm afraid it is a case of 'Buyer Beware'. When purchasing a home without a survey, you're taking a big risk, but you don't know whether the new purchaser has a brother or a friend who is a builder and has said 'any problems I'll soon sort them out for you', so it could all be fine. I know it does sound morally reprehensible to sell without revealing the situation to her buyer, but it's not illegal, and I'm afraid that telling her solicitor or estate agent, won't get you anywhere. It's down to the buyer's solicitor to strongly advise her to have a survey done, and explain the whys and wherefores, not anyone else.

I’d stay out of it, but I would phase this woman out as a friend as she’s clearly dishonest. Despite her dishonesty, you cannot be sure whether the buyer is actually vulnerable etc - people tell all sorts of sob stories when buying houses. So I wouldn’t get involved.

I was once in a chain where my buyer was telling me sob stories about their child to get money off my house and my seller was telling me sob stories about their parent. Both of them were chancers - we found out the seller was omitting structural problems, which we uncovered by chance before our survey. We pulled out of the sale and the purchase.

I knew someone like this. She went from one crash to the next, leaving victims and destruction in her wake and she thought they were all suckers and every event very humorous.
She once ditched me in Mexico and I had to hitchhike 85 miles back to San Diego in the dark with several complete strangers.
She never apologised or showed any remorse.
I don’t know what makes people behave like that - Sociopath? Narcissist? I don’t know.

So she's putting someone else in the same position as she was last year, because she didn't get a survey. Ultimately though it is up to the buyer to get a survey- anyone who doesn't is a bit daft.

I would have to say something ..i would do it along the lines of ....o would highly recommend you getting a survey on that house of the rumours are true....

Youve planted the seed of doubt

Don't be friends with a person like that.

OK, I think this anecdote needs an AIBU cheeky fucker thread of its own! 😱

Distance yourself from this woman but don't say anything.

As part of the conveyancing process, she will be asked "are you aware (or similar) of any issues with the property". The stock response to this is "Buyer to rely on own surveys" and if the Buyer chooses not to do a survey that's on her. If your friend said "not so far as I am aware" then she's lying and the Buyer can claim against her.

Even a cash buyer would do a basic survey. She might not be having a mortgage survey but structural would be advised by her solicitor.

But stay out of it. Not your monkeys.

If she is a cash buyer with no survey (aka they can do work themselves and aren't bothered about costs) then I'd bet it's not a widower but rather a property professional.

Barmy that the buyer doesn’t want a survey, especially after the house was sold twice is quick succession.

Personally I'd stay out of somebody else's business transactions. I really couldn't be friends with someone like this though. I'd have no respect for them. I'd also tell them exactly what I think.

It's really normal for people to know this stuff. When we bought our house the estate agent told us the man had been made redundant and they were having to move somewhere cheaper. We were told that our buyer was leaving the country and wanted to keep a small property in the UK so they could come back if it didn't work out.

People tell estate agents stuff and the estate agents pass it on. In my experience they are a very indiscreet profession.

Last night I bumped onto the people who I mentioned on this thread earlier, the people whose lives have been basically ruined because they weren't told something that the vendor knew. Their lives are in limbo because they actually can't afford to rectify the issues. They have half rectified it, but ran out of money. They can't afford to sell because the market in our area has tanked and they would be looking at a massive loss.

They actually had a full structural survey, but a normal survey ( according to the surveyor) would not have picked up the issue 'it needed a very specialist survey.

This type of thing can impact every area of someone's life, its not just a flat, it can effect mental health and relationships and someone's whole future.

I bet the agent in this case has lied and said "the vendor got a survey 2 years ago so you don't need to get one" because they will do anything for a sale. That's what happened to me.

OP, unless your friend was also a cash buyer, didn’t she have a survey done either before she bought? Most lenders require it. I can appreciate surveys don’t pick up everything, but major structural issue sound difficult to miss.

The one time I have pulled out of a house purchase was because the survey flagged up something that would have made the house unsellable— the vendors had to take it off the market, and it’s been rented to tenants since then because it can’t be remedied without enormous expense and going through someone else’s land.

I think the advice to “stay out of it” isn’t morally right. I’d be doing my best to track down the buyer, or I’d feel bad I hadn’t in these circumstances. Isn’t that what having a society is about? Speaking up when something is wrong.

Honestly OP this isn't your business or your problem to address. Leave the parties to it.

Who spends money on probably the most expensive thing we they ever buy without having a survey?

Absolute madness, the onus is on the buyer to arrange a survey and if she doesn't want to pay for one then it's caveat emptor.

The buyer will have a solicitor who I would have thought would have suggested a survey

Surveys are not compulsory
There are different types of survey

It is advisable to have a survey, due to the amount of money property entails

You can purchase property without having a survey

Stay out of it. You have at best second hand information on both the structural issues and the buyer. And anyone who doesn't have a survey done is very very foolish. The reason they are done is precisely so that the buyer has accurate information from someone working with their interests at the forefront.

Taking this further, would you be planning on letting every potential buyer know, with the intention of scuppering your friend's sales for evermore? Do you want her to pay for the repairs even though she can't afford it? Be stuck with the property forever? It's really none of your business.

This.

Anyone selling a house could be hiding anything.

If you don't get a survey find then you are a total muppet.

The EA will tell the buyer the very very minimum they’re legally required to on a good day, and I think a call from a third party with second-hand information wouldn’t fall under this category. You’d need to find this woman and contact her directly.

Your friend's EA probably wouldn't tell the buyer. She should have a survey.

I'd distance myself from friend though. Seems pretty dishonest.

She was a cash buyer 🤷‍♀️

I think you're right 🤷‍♀️

There is no way I would get involved in this.