Bought house - lots of problems

[foel]

Appreciate "buyer beware" applies for a lot of this but not all maybe?

Anyway, we've had loads of issues with house we bought.

Brief list:-

1. Boiler. £3000 to replace. We knew boiler was old but seller promised it had been serviced and ticked box on TA6 saying heating system in good working order. My Conveyancer never chased this up. We moved in, was making a heck of noise, and showers worked intermittently - so we got someone to do a safety check. They advised me it hadn't been serviced for a long time and was, in fact, faulty.

1. Water leak. £200. Walked in to puddle on the bathroom floor. Not just a small leak. They would have known about this.

1. Electrics. Bare wires left hanging in the ceiling.

1. Gas fire. Property advertised as Gas Fire (on TA6 also). Its there but its been disconnected from the gas supply (Assume because its faulty)

1. Left rubble/junk - looks like they just threw it all behind the garage and hoped we wouldn't notice.

These are main things, lots of others but I think I've had that.

My Conveyancer has been useless- no idea. I did speak to a solicitor but they want £1000 just to look to see if I have a case?

Any suggestions? Of course, I don't have an address for the sellers otherwise I'd consider small claims.....

Its disgraceful that there are people out there who can do this. They knew full well it'd cost us a fortune to put these things right. Not that I want a medal but we spent time fixing little things before we left our house and cleaning it (the house was also filthy!)

It is not a small fortune though and you knew boiler was elderly.

Obvious questions are:
What kind of survey did you have?
When did you last view the property before exchange? Surely the water leak and bare electrics would of been visible?
Did you actually see receipts for the boiler servicing - or did you just take sellers word for it?
Was there a long period between seller completing form and exchange/completion? I'ts always possible the boiler WAS working when the form was completed but broke sometime after that before you took possession of the property.

As you knew the boiler was old I would of thought you should of budgeted for a new one anyway?

Did you report these issues to your conveyancer straight away?

The boiler issues and leak should be able to be reported to the sellers solicitor and then they are usually responsible for repairs. However, left rubbish and junk usually isn’t really bothered with as the amount of work versus financial gain not really worth it .

If you want to be sure that the boiler and electrics are in good working order, you need to insist on a recent Gas safety certificate and Electrical Installation report before you buy. Even then there is no guarantee.

You will get nowhere with a small claims case unless you can show that the seller deliberately deceived you. That is difficult to do. You would have to show that written details were deliberately falsified. Spoken assurances do not count.

Seriously, save yourself the anger/frustration etc that pursuing this will generate. And do not pay a solicitor £1000 to tell you this.

All part and parcel of buying houses.

Did you have a full survey?

It was up to you to ask to see the boiler service certificate. It sounds like you didn't do that.

Unfortunately a leak can occur at any time.

When you say bare wires, do you mean they've taken all the light fittings?

Was the rubble there when you viewed?

I can't see why your survey wouldn't have shown up most of these issues. A boiler check is wise pre-purchase.

Chalk it up to inexperience.

This is why you should pay for a full survey, and, as a PP says, the full gas/electric survey. A good surveyor would have seen all these issues. Indeed, why did you not note the bare wires, for example?

Did you look closely at the fixtures & fittings list? They may have taken the wired in light fittings, and that should have been noted on the 'fixtures & fittings.'

1. Left rubble/junk - looks like they just threw it all behind the garage and hoped we wouldn't notice.

And this is why I'e always insisted on a pre-settlement inspection. I look with my own eyes.

These sound like normal house issues that you come across when buying a house. Mine was / is full of poor quality work, had to get boiler replaced and front door locks had become unusable too. Electrics were very poor. I had a survey. It’s normal if frustrating. Just chalk it up to the fact that this will happen on every house move and you’re not the only one.

The boiler and wires I dont think you have a case - you would have known the boiler was old when you offered. The rubble - yes they are supposed to clear it, you could take them the small claims court for the cost but I would guess it wont really be worth your time and energy. Similar with the water leak although I would guess they will say there was not one when they were there and you have no way of proving that there was.

Did you not have a survey where these matters were flagged, or even do a pre-settlement inspection yourself?

Were the exposed wires new from your initial inspection and agreement to purchase (and survey)? If so, you would have picked this up on the pre-settlement inspection and raised the flag. Ditto for a large water leak.

I think you have reason to be annoyed especially about your solicitor not chasing up the missing safety certificate, but doubt that theres a legal route that will help in practice. Better to focus your money and energy on clearing up and getting a new boiler. In a years time you’ll hardly remember this frustrating time.

That's why we get a builder to walk through, insist we see certs ourselves and check on the companies that carry out the checks! Buyer beware and having had surveyors, carry out a full survey once, then miss a huge amount of the bloody obvious then picked up by my Dad, a builder, then hide their liability behind small print (we pulled out on exchange day) we always use a builder and our eyes. I am sorry you've got added expenditure but as house purchasers we rarely do our own, in situ, due diligence and certs and checks are a couple of those we can do without a solicitor being involved, alongside insisting heating is running, running taps, using a damp meter....

Old boilers can develop a fault at any time. Lying about a service would possibly give you cause for action but it could have been serviced a week ago and still develop a fault. You could - and should - have asked for details of who did the service, it's useful to know who to call next year if the boiler does work.

Water leak and exposed wires - if not there when you viewed could have happened any time. Did they remove a ceiling fitting that was supposed to be included?

Was the gas fire connected when you viewed? £240 at the range. May not have been disconnected because it was faulty but modern regulations are different. A fire that has been used for years without issue can now be deemed "unsafe". It can be a ventilation issue. Not generally covered in surveys unless you ask for a gas safety certificate.

Basically none of this is worth legal action.

Normal I'm afraid.

Just deal with them and move on.

There’s not a lot you can do here - better off spending the money on fixing the issues rather than seeking action.
most house surveys explicitly say they don’t test appliances so the boiler and fire wouldn’t have been picked up on this. It would be up to you to ask for service certificates etc or ask for your own survey to be done pre sale.

Not that most people do this but it’s always recommended to view again on the day of exchange to avoid things like rubble, rubbish, light fittings being removed etc

You just have to suck it up I'm afraid. As a pp said, spend the money fixing the issues.

I’d just crack on.

You should have chased up the certificate. I get my boiler serviced every year. It used to be done with British Gas but I’ve changed to someone else now. This second company did much huffing and puffing and telling me it had never been serviced when it definitely has. You knew it was old, they told you it worked and even you say it works intermittently so what would you say in court?

It’s not brilliant to chuck rubble behind a garage but it’s rubble, not sacks of animal carcasses or mattresses.

They should not be bare wires, if they took the fittings they are supposed to replace them with standard pendants.

Is this your first property purchase? Did you have a survey? Why did you not ask for gas/electricity certificates? If you don’t ask the questions you can’t complain about not being given the answers

Agree.

Didn't you have sight of the annual boiler service reports/certificates or were they not asked for by conveyancing/solicitor? We've always been asked to provide them as part of the checks when we've moved, thought it was standard.

Why didn’t you ask for proof of the booker maintenance?

they’re all quite minor issues

If you're asking whether you can launch some kind of case about this... I am not a lawyer, but I have bought three places and sold two and, though those problems may be expensive and annoying, none of them is exceptional.

They're not ruinously expensive to fix, nor is the house unmortgable or unsellable on account of them, so it would be a bigger waste of money to engage lawyers than in would be to get them dealt with.

I'd be expecting my solicitor to follow up and ask for proof of the boiler being serviced, we had to do this when we both sold.

However, if he hadn't I would have asked him to.