House buying regrets...is this normal??? :(

[Becaroooo]

Been in our new house for 6 weeks now (moved in on 2nd December)

I had an accident (fell down the stairs!) 3 days after we moved in and so spent 2 weeks immobile (couldnt realy walk or drive - very frustrating!)

There have been a few issues;

The boiler didnt work properly (its not old either!) - very little hot water. (have to bath the dc at PILs and we have to have showers)

The kitchen hob didnt work properly - have had to replace it (£200).

Then the conservatory roof started leaking....a company came round 3 times before it seemed fixed (£300).

Not a great run up to xmas really Anyway, new year and all that, right?

Except

The boiler guy is coming out tomorrow to clean and try and sort boiler (£600)

The conservatory roof is leaking again so needs looking at again.

We have no savings left. These bills will have to go on the mastercard. Its mine and dhs 40th b day this year - were planning something special. Not going to happen now.

Just keep thinking - if we had stayed in our (too small) rental house we would have £20k in the bank, the LL would sort any issues and we would be able to go on a nice holiday and have no CC debt.

I know IABU and silly...this is a nice house BUT the shine has really been taken off it for me and all I can see are the problems and things that need doing.

I actually thought about asking dh if we could do a bit of decorating and put it back on the market in the spring!!! I didnt...he would go loopy

Come on...give me a kick and tell me I am being silly!

[Becaroooo]

hi ragged Its not just the boiler, its also all the work and parts for the old one that now doesnt work (which I am less than happy about, but he is going to try and sell the new parts for us down the line so should get some money back for those - approx: £300)

NYE You are right, its pointless being angry with the vendors - caveat emptor and all that!

Our mortage is FR - can you still go interest only on a FR??

Thanks for the sympathy

I am so angry with dh though...we had agreed that as the boiler was working (we had het and hot water albeit not enough hot water for a bath!!) we would leave it and save up for a new boiler for next winter. Dh then speaks to the plumber on the phone and suddenly the plumber is coming out (again!) yesterday to clean and put new parts in and hye presto!!! Now we have no boiler at all! Am fuming with him....why ask my opinion, agree and plan and then completely ignore me????

My parents have offered to lend us some money. bless them, but we wont be able to pay it back and its part of my dads pension pay out so have said "no thank you".

Sigh...we have £600 savings left...thats it. So the rest will have to go on the CC. Not a great start to 2012 is it?

[Pootles2010]

So sorry to hear that Becaroo :( So what's the plan then? Is he putting you a new one in?

[hippoCritt]

Please reconsider your parents offer, even if you paid them back a tiny amount a week/month. I think CC debt may make things worse. You would need to borrow £1400, is that a huge chunk of his payout? Would they have offered if they didn't mean it? As parent I'd prefer to lend money to my children than having them paying more back on a credit card for something like this. Think of petrol you will save not having to go elsewhere for baths.

[lottiegb]

Hi Becarooo,

Firstly, did you have a survey done? That might have raised a question about the standard of the conservatory, wouldn't have spotted problems with the boiler or hob but would have advised you to get the gas appliances checked. If there are things they should have spotted or recommended and didn't, you can take it up with them and may get compensation.

Presumably you checked whether there were any guarantees associated with the conservatory, hob or boiler and there weren't or they were out of date? If the previous owner had the conservatory put in, they'd have had to answer a question about this in the conveyancing docs, which would have alerted you to the lack of a guarantee but maybe it's older than that. It's worth checking these docs just to make sure the vendor didn't lie about anything. Not an easy case to pursue if they did but possible.

The boiler is a pain but I'd recommend the British Gas service plan or similar - you pay a monthly fee and they'll come out and fix anything promptly (replacing things still costs you) and include an annual check / service. We've found this invaluable, especially in the first year with appliances we weren't familair with, we've had them out about five times to sort out the boiler and central heating.

We moved 1.5 years ago and, now that we've almost finished decorating and changing little things to make the house our own I almost feel at home. I think that's normal, though love the idea of feeling 'at home' from the start.

We knew that we'd want to decorate, sand and varnish floors, add curtains, some carpet, sort out the garden etc, which all adds up to a few k (especially curtains!), also there was one non-essential job altering a doorway and floor that we thought would cost about £5k. We had about £10k available for sorting everything out, so it seemed fine.

Shortly after we moved in it rained heavily and we found water entering the house in three places. It turned out the roof was a total mess, needed urgent work and almost the entire £10k has gone on that. Although surveyors don't go out onto roofs there's a lot he should have spotted from inside the house and the garden. We're part way down a lengthy complaints procedure / heading towards court and I'd expect this to be resolved within 1.5 - 2 years of making the complaint, possibly with a payment, possibly not.

This episode and other things where the previous owners had done poor work and clearly tried to hide expensive problems e.g. painting shut rotting window frames so they weren't obvious, have made me really resent them and feel that the house is not comfortably ours until we've changed the decoration and established our identity throughout.

So I suppose I'm making four points:

• With any house there will be things you want to change, which will cost something.
  
• It could be much worse (I know that's not very helpful!)
  
• Other people, inc previous owners, aren't always as nice as you, which is why you get things checked before buying but they are not allowed to defraud you.
  
• There may be things you can do that will help e.g. checking the survey, getting service cover.
  

Also, don't forget how much it costs to move, with estate agent fees and stamp duty. Unfortunately not a cheap solution.

[Becaroooo]

He is coming back tomorrow to put a new one in...we have gone for a cheap (ish) one...i.e. not top of the range but not the same as we have now IYSWIM?

I just feel really uncomfortable about borrowing money from my parents...they arent well off and the money in the bank is all they will have when my dad decided to retire - which could be soon.

[Becaroooo]

lottie sorry to hear you have had problems too.

I am just also adding stuff up in my head that we know will need doing soon -within the next 3 years....new fridge freezer (the current one is making some very strange noises!) and new windows at the back of the house and new back door. So...£5K for windows and £500 for a FF? Oven isnt great either (cheap make) but is working ok atm as is the dishwasher, but they will both need replacing in the same timeframe IMO.

Hall stairs and landing are awful...1980s anaglypta wallpaper...ewwww. Everywhere else is ok - just very magnolia!

Atm I honestly want to get the boiler sorted, decorate the hall, stairs and landing and put the damn thing back on the market I would prefer a small house with no problems to this!

[ragged]

What is an FR mortgage?
Still sounds steep, but I guess you've got it all itemised.

[goingtoofast]

Becaroooo we had no hot water when we moved into our current home, it upset me that our new house had a problem with it - still grates now but I do love the house.

Enven though we have owned for 9 years I do miss being able to ring a ll to fix problems!

[Figgyrolls]

I do feel for you, when we moved to our house I didn't feel at home for ages. I knew I was going to get rid of the kitchen due to the fact that all the appliances were on their last legs (hob didn't work) inbuilt double oven again grill/one oven didn't work. We bought a 2 ring hob from argos for £30 to tide us over. We couldn't use any of the gas appliances as their was a leak and to top it all the kitchen was vv cold and dark brown and green which just depressed me the minute I walked in. I knew I couldn't live with it so had budgeted it before we arrived. Then the boiler broke, well ok it shot flames across the kitchen floor, was noisy and a little scary and in 3 months got through 1200 litres of gas. I wanted to go back to my home.

2 years on, have done the kitchen, new boiler and we are starting on the rest of the house (painting and stuff!), the godawful bathroom I am beginning to become quite fond of . We have had to do some work on the roof or we wouldn't be insured and other bits.

What I am trying to say is it is stressful and expensive and probably worth telling your solicitor that many things have come up that the surveyor hadn't told you about, or perhaps were there and the solicitor glossed over.

Call the conservatory people and bollock them.
Call the bank and see if there is a possibility of a loan
The boiler is important, but if you can get something for the parts on your other one that would be helpful.

Other things, check freecycle locally, there are people who just want the newest thing! The other thing is, if your fridge etc breaks look at a smaller cheaper one until things get better, look on ebay, look on freecycle and don't panic until it no longer works.

It is horrid to start off with huge bills, and it is something that when buying a house you don't get told! It does get better and I expect in 5 years time you will look back and think "its ok we did the right thing, and it was tough but we survived". Don't discount the possibility of borrowing from you parents if they have offered without being asked to offer. They want the best for you like you want the best for your dc.

[Pootles2010]

They're not giving you the money, they're lending it to you, and you won't have to pay all the interest you would with a cc.

Re the other stuff - you'll be able to redecorate hall cheaply enough. How urgent are windows and doors? Can they be ignored for a while at least?

[Figgyrolls]

OP - we desperately need to change our windows (rotting with rain coming through in the last downpour ) but we have counteracted this by having roller blinds which keep out the draft and then having to spend a bit of time and energy going round on wet days and cold condensation days with towels.

We replaced the french window in our house as it was letting in loads of draught and was a big window so wasn't helping with the boiler issue, it was also scary as far as security was concerned - literally being kept closed by a bit of broken coat hanger so it was essential for me as dh is away alot. This didn't come up in the survey but we were told that wasn't unusual . Don't talk about the tree from our property that fell into the access way of next door...............

I agree too a loan is not giving someone the money, with your parents you will be able to give them back the money in a manner that suits you - even if it is £50 a month and more when you can spare it.

With regards to holidays, its shit not being able to afford the same things that you did before you bought your house, but you have a house and hopefully all these things are short term. You might have to have a year without a fancy holiday. Lots of people have it far worse (not meant to sound harsh btw) and perhaps your holiday this year could be spend painting and redecorating your house? It is what poor dh has done for the past 2 years

[Pootles2010]

Also with regards to the windows - what's up with them? Are they rotten, or just badly fitted?

Our upvc windows & french doors were really badly fitted, drafty & dificult to shut, i avoided issues for ages thinking would cost a fortune, but we've found a chap who comes and just re-hangs them - £40 for re-hanging french doors! Was expecting hundreds. So might be worth looking into...

[lilystar]

£5k for new windows sounds a lot - we had 4 x large windows, 1 large bay window, patio doors, front door & back door done in 2010 for just over £2k

We are moving soon (ish) to a new build and I am not at all excited about it. I am expecting to spend the next 12 months dealing with snagging issues and reluctant builders, trying to figure out what colours to decorate everywhere, sorting out the garden and not having a holiday. DH can't understand why I am not more excited, but I figure this way I won't be disappointed and in about a year I'll be happy with it.

[Becaroooo]

Thanks for all your replies..it is much appreciated!

After considering some of your (very fair) points I have rung my mum and asked for the money after all....still dont feel comfortable with it, but I never would tbh. We are - hopefully! - going on hols to northumbria in a cottage with them in July and if we pay for their half too its over half of what we will owe them.

£2k for new windows? Really? That makes me feel a LOT better! We need 4 medium size windows and a back door. We probably also need a new roof for the conservatory too The ones in the back of the house now are the original ones (from 1985) and the seals arent great and the bathroom one doesnt shut properly! Back door also a bit dodgy.

Oh, anyone got any idea how we can find out how the burlgar alarm works????!!!

[lilystar]

Becaroooo - with the windows, go with a local firm, not a major window company. The DG firm who conned DH into letting them come and quote played all the usual games, starting off at £14k, and when I finally had enough and told him to leave before I let the dog out he had magically dropped the price to £4k. The guy who fitted them came round one Sunday and measured up, called me the next day with a price and fitted them 2 weeks after that. Took a day and a half in all. I don't know how much the conservatory roof would be, though, sorry.

Burglar alarm is there a manufacturer or installer name on the control panel or the alarm box outside? If so, call them, or google them and see if you can get a manual. Is it one with multiple zones and a keypad control panel? Did the previous owner give you the code?

[Figgyrolls]

I don't know op but if you find out can you let me know 2 years and I still haven't worked it out

[Becaroooo]

Dh had downloaded the manual from the web but not helpful as we dont know the code!

EA was uselsss to say the least....

figgy

[cowboylover]

Was thinking of you today after we offered ect at the same time.

Sorry it's going like like for you as its been such a rollercoaster. Hopefully as others have said you will be able to sort things out cheaper than expected as some of the estimates are high.

We where hoping to be in by now but just finished painting today but still another week off moving in and it was only supposed to be cosmetic stuff

[Becaroooo]

Good luck with it cowboy

Yes, rollercoaster would be a good word!

New boiler being fitted today!

[WhatMakesYouSay]

Hope the boiler install went ok. Regarding the alarm, could the EA contact the previous owners for you? If not, if you can find out who installed it, they may be able to come and reset it for you with a new code, but you'd have to pay them for it. Alternatively, any local alarm installer may be able to do the same.

[cheeznbreed]

What did the survey say?

If some of the problems you are experiencing ought to have been picked up by the surveyor, you may be able to do something about it. I'm not an expert, but it seems like an avenue worth exploring.

[Becaroooo]

We contacted the solictor yesterday and they are sending a letter to the vendors to
a) get the alarm code and
b) complain about the boiler and safety certs

Lets see..........

[befrazzled]

I went round my house and made a list for each room with 2 columns - 'def needs doing' and 'wish/future' so you can sort out in your mind which needs doing asap and work out some sort of order for each room without feeling overwhelmed by the whole property, both in terms of time and money.

What makes a home are happy times and lovely memories, we love a good tea party, lots of cakes and general rubbish, pots of tea and lots of juice. Get some friends and family round and have some 'nice time' in your new home. Houses are just buildings, it's a home you're trying to make. Remember all of the reasons why you wanted to leave your old house, the good points (because there are some!) for your new house and allow yourself time.

[Becaroooo]

Hi befrazzled Have been shopping this afternoon and got paint for the conservatory and wallpaper for the front room so thats cheered me up a bit!

Just praying nothing else goes wrong now........