The state people leave their houses in .... and keys .... rant

[guineapiglet]

Following on from another thread about who should bring keys.. yesterday my mil (elderly) moved into a house, smug agent broughtkeys to house ( one set) and assured that was all we would need. Removal van turned up on moving day, keys would not work in back door, despite several of us trying, including neighbour and a large can of WD40. Without access to back, large items of furniture had to stay on the van withthe men getting increasingly irate. Phoned the EA who couldnt have been less helpful, told us he had been assured by seller that these were correct keys. Full stop. I asked if the keys had been checked ' not our responsibility', would try phoning the seller. I asked if we could get a locksmith as furniture sitting on the garden. They werent interested. We had no phone line, no phone book etc. I asked him if he c ould think out of the box and get us a locksmith ' we wont be paying for it' he said, and ' its not our responsibility'.

I organised a locksmith who came within half an hour and charged us £120 for two new locks and labour. EA phoned back to say seller assured us that they were the right keys...... and wouldnt pay anything towards to the cost of new locks. Told him that now he had his commission his attitude stank . Wasn't remotely bothered.

We had been assured the house had been cleaned, it was disgusting, really disgusting and it took us all day to clean the main rooms and scrub all the blu tack of the walls, etc etc - what a day. I really feel the EA should guarantee a buyer a minimum assured level of cleanliness, particularly when the buyer is an elderly person - this was a straightforward purchase, no acrimony etc and the house should at the least have been ready to move into. What the hell do the EAs do to earn their fees I wonder.

IMHO you have two issues here. The problem with the keys, yes, I would have expected the EA to work harder to sort that out for you. After all, if the keys given don't allow you access to your home then they're not a lot of use are they?

The cleanliness, I'm afraid, is all just a part of house buying. Some people will leave their old homes spotless & others will not. In my experience, it's pretty standard to have to deep clean a house before you move in.

Yes, some people leave their houses in a horrible state. Nothing that can be done about it, tbh I would normally expect to have to clean a house immediately on moving in. However, when we have moved in the past, we have always gone around first thing on the morning of completion with the EA to the new house to check that the house really is empty, the utilities are still connected, etc. Obviously more difficult to do though it you are moving hundreds of miles away.

Yes, I think that is a brilliant idea, and should be part of EAs spec, to make sure the purchaser is satisfied. No sign AT ALL of EA on this purchase, even despite my phone calls and we had moved hundreds of miles. This is not customer service at all.

Agree- fully expected to clean the house on arrival, but not to the extent that it took most of yesterday and is still ongoing. I would have been ashamed to leave my house in that state. I think the 'seller' should legally have to pay for a professional clean - we are in rented at the moment, and have paid part of our deposit to do just that, to clean up after our tenancy has ended.

However, when we have moved in the past, we have always gone around first thing on the morning of completion with the EA to the new house to check that the house really is empty

Why should it be empty? The vendors will most likely be moving out that day.

ANyway - the keys thing is ridiculous and the vendors should, IMO, be charged for the locksmith. I suspect you have no chance there though.

Hmm, good point about the other people moving out on the day, it has just occurred to me that the last three houses we moved to were in fact empty for either days or weeks before we moved in - that's probably a bit odd these days! Still, I would always go round anyway, if there is a skip load of rubbish in the garden at 10 a.m. on the day of completion, you would be well-placed to ask what the plans were for moving it before completion in a couple of hours!

This is not customer service at all.

I think you have the wrong idea about EAs tbh. You are the buyer. You are therefore not the EA's customer. You did not pay his commission. In fact you have paid nothing for the EA's services.

The seller is the EA's customer. So if the seller is satisfied (and once the purchase has gone through, of course they are) the EA has done a good job.

Why do you think it should be part of the EA's job to make sure the purchaser is satisfied? As I say, you are not paying him.

If you want an EA who looks after you, you need to hire a buyer's agent. But that will cost you money.

If you wanted a guaranteed level of cleanliness you should have made sure this was specified in the purchase contract. This is not the agent's responsibility whatsoever.

As regards the keys, yes that is annoying, but legally all that is required is that you can access the house (which you could, via the front door).

We're in the process of purchasing a house, and the very first thing we will be doing is having the locks changed. It's been a rental, so who knows how many people have copies of keys to the locks. I'd do it even if it hadn't been a rental, though. You just really don't know who other than the previous owner has been given keys to the house for various reasons.

(just saying that up front to get it out there- I think it's a smart idea to do)

I'd be livid about the key thing. The EA should have been liable for the cost of the replacement, perhaps they would have been a bit more insistent with the seller about getting the proper keys in the first place. On your behalf!

Oh, and when we get the locks changed, the locks on the front will be the same as the ones in the back. I've no idea why it seems to be written here that the back door key should be different from the front door key. It makes you no more safe to have to schlep around yet another key. Either someone has the key to your house or they don't.

would never expect house to be clean. If it is that is a bonus. Mind you as kids we usually moved in to half ruined houses that my parents did up.

Keys: this I am sure must be somewhere in your contract (vacant possession plus all keys etc) I would go in to EA and make a fuss in person. We only had one set when we moved in, no sign of any others, so EA chased the vendor who eventually handed them in.
Lawyers recomend you change locks day you move in. I am too lazy tight trusting to be bothered.