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?

Yeah, once they think your soft they will come at you with complaints and look for a knockdown of price. Don't mallow out. Say no.

Obviously, no to their plan.
BUT … if the house is empty (pre completion) why don’t they pay you cash to get the work done? Obviously it’s then their risk, but if they want it done that much, they might.
we had a similar situation, the compromise we had with our buyers is that we let them deep clean the house but not redecorate. It was post exchange, they paid the cleaners directly.

For our previous house purchase the house was empty. The only thing I asked for was being able to go in and hoover through, which everyone was happy with.

This is crazy. A few years ago we bought a house that was empty for a year. We coincidentally sold our last house to colleagues of mine. It was during lockdown and we had two kids and moved on a Friday and the house was filthy and a mess from being empty and it didn’t occur to any of us to trespass in a property that we didn’t own. What a bizarre and intrusive ask. Just say no and think no more about it.

Years ago my mother was selling our house. The buyers asked if they could live in our garage until completion. That was a big "no".

We lived in an AirBnB for a week before we moved in to our house so we could do stuff before moving in. It meant we paid movers a bit more and paid for AirBnB but doable. Legal position is dodgy as hell if you let them; I would do it for family or long term v close friends but otherwise hard no.

We allowed our buyers the keys but they hadn't completed. They spent ten days squatting and nit picking. They only paid up after we threatened to call the police.
We were going into storage and it was late on a Friday night. The estate agent said he believed they had completed, everyone has gone home. They had even stripped wallpaper by the time they paid.

Could you exchange and have a 2 week gap before completion and the. Let them do it with the appropriate legalities in place re insurance risks etc

Surely after exchanging they will have insurance on the place? Yanbu for saying no though.

Actually this is a good idea

Absolutely no way and no more phone conversations. Everything through estate agent and solicitors.

Just say - sorry I have to do what my solicitor says.
no way on earth should you allow this. I wouldn’t even let family do this. House sales can and do collapse unexpectedly.

Hotels and B and Bs are there for this sort of thing. AFTER completion, they are free to spend two weeks living elsewhere but decorating if they wish but trying to make it your problem is beyond cheeky fuckery.

I have a mate who set light to her house by sanding floors. The combo of flammable old varnish dust in the air and an ignition source (the starter button on the sander) and it all went a bit sideways there for a minute.

Don't even consider it.

No because they’ll start ripping stuff out too, or making amendments, prodding and poking and if it fails to complete you’re left with repairs. There’s also a chance they’ll say we don’t like x or didn’t realise y and you need to put it right or drop the price. Direct them back to the EA.

Agreed. Bloody cheeky to set up the WhatsApp group.

I wouldn't let them do this. Currently selling my house while having moved into a rental, and even though the house is empty, the thought of something happening and the sale falling through fill me with the horrors.
Pps suggestions to tell them that you have been strongly legally advised not to do this is great advice.

Not only is it a big No, but I’d also be annoyed that they’d searched through the school WhatsApp and contacted me privately.

No that’s not how it works. Plus they’ll start making adjustments or meddling with things, drilling holes and then they’ll say x + y isn’t what they through and they need a price reduction

We were allowed to do work inside ours before we'd completed. We had to have damp sorted and plaster hacked off, so it would have been a nightmare. Having sanded floors before I can see why they wouldn't want to be there, especially with children and all the dust. I personally would probably let them.

Absolutely not! Your solicitor is giving you very good advice. Don't ignore it. The difficulties of redecorating the house with furniture in place and having children, although I sympathise, is not your issue. Most people, have this issue, they aren't in a unique situation!

This. DO NOT LET THEM.
I remember hearing about someone who let the buyers do this. Something was broken (a wall, flooring- can’t recall) then the couple split up and pulled out the sale. The person was then left with a house they couldn’t immediately remarket as things needed fixed and redecorate first, which they didn’t have the money for. They’d ripped out half the bathroom as well.

The house just down from us was having work done on it before new owners moved in. They’d done some sanding which created some sawdust, then a different workman came in to weld something back together. A spark caught the sawdust and the whole place burnt down. Fortunately (unfortunately for them!), they’d completed and it was in fact legally their house, but stuff like this happens.

They could always book into a rented property from booking.com once they are the owners and complete any work. You have had sound advice from your solicitor.

God no. You don’t know them that well. What if a leak or something major happened? They could pull out of the sale. If it’s hard for them afterwards that’s their problem. They are being cheeky and that’s probably why they started the group chat in the first place!