Should alarms bells be ringing or are we overreacting?

[BabyMogwai]

We're currently in the last few weeks of buying a house i.e. mortgage in place, searches & survey down, draft contract going between solicitors but not paid deposit yet.
We found the vendor to be a bit odd and a few things she said didn't quite add up but we thought fair enough it's none of our business what she's doing when she sells. She is very eager to sell and is wanting to leave practically all furniture as in her words she wants to start 'afresh'.
DH has found it all a bit odd from the start but I said to give her the benefit of the doubt.
However, by total conincidence we have just found out that a family friend (more an accquaintance) actually lives 2 doors down from the house we're purchasing.
He has just informed us (via a relative of mine) that when the house was being rented out (we knew it had been let out for a period) the vendor had a dispute with the person she was renting it to and the partner of the person she was renting it to has recently climbed up the house (no idea why!) and apparently quite badly damaged the guttering.
We haven't seen this damage ourselves (DH is going to look tonight) and have no idea if he was witnessed doing this but if there is damage we certainly don't want to be lumbered with the cost of having to fix it!
We're starting to feel a bit uneasy about it all what with the vendor essentially wanting to leave the house as it is furniture and all and apparent strange ex-tenants with a grudge.

We're not at a stange of pulling out of the sale but just have a bad feeling about it all now. Are we worrying over nothing?

Sorry its so long winded!!

Think you need to find out what happened first then go from there.

Get your DH to take pictures of the damage. The ex remnant sounds odd. I would want assurances the vendor had him arrested for his criminal damage or attempt to break and enter the property. If ex remnant was whitnessed scaling the property and isn't a superhero he should be dealt some sort of injunction.

It's does sound odd, I can see why you're concerned. Leaving all the furniture ? It sounds like vendor wants to make quick get away. Or, if it was rented out, she probably doesn't need furniture and doesn't want cost of shifting it on the other hand.

Sure the furniture is hers and not ex tenants?

It's perfectly normal to ask to view the house again prior to exchange of contracts.

I fyou don't want the furniture then you can ask them to empty the house prior to sale.

DH went to see the house last night and there's about a 4ft length of drain missing/ snapped off the front of the house. Its cast iron as well so can't just stick another piece in to patch it up!
I hadn't even thought about it not being her furniture!
We don't mind a few bits and pieces being left but I think given the opportunity she'd leave everything (there were a few bits she said she'd bought recently so i think was hinting at us to buy them!).
We've contacted our solicitor to let them know about the damage but would have no idea about finding out if police, etc were involved. We certainly don't want to embroiled in some bizarre feud that involves people climbing up the house!

Tbh I wouldn't be that concerned. Yes it sounds like there's a back story and odd things going on, but that'll be between the seller and them. By all means sort out the damage. But I would have thought the odd person would go and bother her elsewhere rather than continuing to damage the house when you've moved in.

I would tell your solicitor that you want the damage properly repairing and all her belongings removed BY HER or you will NOT proceed.

Yes, you don't have to take the furniture you know. Just ask them to get rid.

I think you could also get your solicitor to formally ask if there are any disputes with neighbours or former tenants. What you really have to avoid is any former tenant thinking they have any rights on the property (bitter, bitter experience).

From the information we've got so far she has declared there was no disputes with neighbours but nothing about previous tenants.
Squeaver, do you know how you'd go about making sure ex-tenants know they have no rights to the property or finding out about any disputes with them?
We haven't offered to buy anything as we have all our own furniture but didn't mind her leaving a couple of chests of drawers but might make sure that the whole lot is cleared out, just in case its not actually ours to have!
At least in all of this we've found we've got a nice neighbour who is keeping an eye out for us

Get your solicitor to ask the question if they haven't so far. What you need to know is that previous tenants were given proper notice to quit the property. Get your solicitor to ask for proof of that if they're at all unsure.

The law may have changed but 15 years ago we had a former tenant of our house (when it was bedsits and belonged to the previous owner) claiming a right to live here and demanding conpensation if he couldn't! This was 5 years after he'd lived here. We had a two-year, very expensive, legal battle.

Thanks Squeaver. We've asked the Estate Agent to get some proof/ reassurance that she terminated the tenancy correctly and there are no disputes however, no one can get hold of her now!
I really cannot believe that she's being so awkward when she has buyers ready and waiting!