To say no to my house buyers wanting to redecorate before completion?

[Tarantella43]

I know my house buyers slightly as they were parents at the school my kids attended until recently. They found my phone number from a former school year group parents WhatsApp group and set up a group chat with me once they made their offer (though estate agent — it’s not a private sale). Anyway, my house is now empty and it turns out they somehow presumed they would be able to have early access before completion to have floors sanded and walls painted, My solicitor strongly advised against this as it brings various risks, not least that I’d ultimately be liable for any accidents or damage. I said, on an awkward phone call they asked for with me, sorry, no, I’m not comfortable with this. They said it will be hard for them to do the work with kids and furniture. Seems like they’d assumed my goodwill in this. AIBU?

My flat flooded between exchange and completion.
Do NOT put yourself in a position to have to fight different insurance companies etc etc.
I cannot begin to tell you what a ballache it was.

I was the person let into a house (to clean) which I was about to complete on. Something went terribly wrong (very outing so won’t say what). But it was a nightmare - solicitors and new legal council involved. No one could sort the problem because I’d been in there before legal ownership. The whole sale - and chain - almost fell apart.

It’s a hard no, OP. I would never do this again!!

I wouldn’t be happy for them to contact me directly either. They should go through the estate agent. And then this would have been thrown out long ago.

We did allow some work when we sold our old house but it was only after exchange when we had their deposit just incase anything went wrong.

If they had exchanged contracts might consider it, insurance should be arranged when you exchange to buy. If not exchanging then a big no

We did this with our house. After exchange we decorated, knocked down a wall and 'improved; the property. Removed asbestos too.

You can do anything you want, if you want to. This whole 'of course they can't' is not correct at all. It may not be standard, but of course you can agree if you choose to.

We had to insure the property and agree to certain conditions (we agreed to maintain the garden), but other than that it was fine.

Your solicitor is right. Your house insurance would not cover any accidents or damages.

No but the buyers can insure it....

Me too...in 2011 our vendors offered for us to move our worldly goods into their (empty, they'd moved into the parents' farm prior to marketing) house. It was a long distance, DIY move for us, with a five bed house's worth of stuff and thanks to their generous offer we were able to move majority in over the course of a week. Of course we insured the property from the point of exchange.

On the subject of decorating ahead of moving in - when we were naive first time sellers almost thirty years ago, our buyers asked us if we'd decorate the second bedroom (of three) for them! It was the only room we hadn't decorated. They'd supply the wallpaper etc if we'd do the work as they were crap at DIY. We were so delighted to have accepted an asking price offer within three days, we stupidly agreed 🙄

"Hey, would you mind giving me free rein with your single most valuable possession on the verbal promise that I will buy it off you afterwards?"

Umm. ..no?

No. What if they cause damage or a fire? It will be your liability. They need to do as I and many other have done and suck up the cost of renting for a few weeks while they redecorate their new home.

Of course they can INSURE the house, a sizeable chunk of their finances are now invested - that does not and never will stretch to decorating or any access whatsoever until completion.

Many houses, a surprising number, can fail to complete. It would be best for op to communicate through official channels and not engage with them again.

We paid the owners for a minor repair before we moved into our current home.

But that was minor, I'd say no to this request

No!

What if they start work then one of them gets hit by a bus tomorrow? Or they use dodgy electrical equipment and set fire to your house. They won't want to buy it then & you're left to sort the mess.

Obviously you could tell them you wish it was possible but your lawyer is adamant you can't - so sad etc. for good neighbourly feelings.

My buyer of an empty property appeared to think she owned it before paying up, telling me what I could store there and asking the agent for access every 2 days with every Tom, Dick & Harry until I said no more viewings.

She pissed me right off.

• grumbles bitterly

It can and I've done it!

After exchange we decorated, knocked down a wall and 'improved; the property. Removed asbestos too.
You can do anything you want, if the sellers agree and let you (not without their permission obviously)

This whole 'of course they can't' is not correct at all. It may not be standard, but of course you can agree if you choose to.

We had to insure the property and agree to certain conditions (we agreed to maintain the garden), but other than that it was fine.

99% of people would not agree to this, absolutely foolish.

We had the contract written up with various scenarios, all safe and above board. The only people that were vulnerable were us (buyers). We all knew it was going through, it was a good move for us, seller happy and so were we.

ANYTHING is possible. The contract cost a bit more as it was non standard.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

And most people, very sensibly IMO, won't risk the worry & unusual contract on their biggest asset to accommodate the desires of a total stranger.

Glad it worked out for you & your seller itchy.

They needed to sell so went in when the tenants had moved out, painted the whole house white so it looked fresh, deep cleaned carpets which were fine, the tenants had left it in decent condition, and put it back on the market. Got another offer within the week.

(The reason they evicted the tenants was so that they would be eligible for rehousing if needed, but they were nice people and got another tenancy. They needed to sell for other reasons )

Huge no, this happened to a friend of mine - the purchasers started ripping off wallpaper, pulling up carpets etc making a right mess in the process and ended up pulling out.

You might think anything is possible but there is no way on God’s green earth that I would tolerate the mess and inconvenience of knocking down walls and decorating in my house before completion!! Not a chance in hell.

They must have been absolutely beyond desperate to sell to agree contractually. I wonder why…have you looked under the floorboards or patio yet? 🤔

I had this with an empty house.
Without my permission, the estate agent handed over a set of keys and they had an engineer start doing work on a capped gas supply. We hadn’t even exchanged.

I only moved 8 miles and still had a set of keys and went back once a week to collect post etc while I was selling it. It was obvious work as the gas supply came in via a kitchen cupboard and there were bits left all over the worktop.

The estate agent denied any knowledge.

I was apoplectic!

Complete CF's.
We were so appreciative that our sellers were happy for us to have a set of keys to the vacant probate house we were buying.
We were fully gutting it, so being able to have all the pricing done and bids in for the work completed, meant we hit the ground running 24 hours upon completion.
The idea that we would do anything to the property before completion is totally wild.

This.