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Original poster

Vendor left 2 skips worth of rubbish

48 replies

bimbabirba · 20/09/2013 18:58

In the loft, under the trees, behind the sheds. In very single hidden corner there's a broken chair or an old rug or broken pots, even a basin!
We've moved in 2 months ago. Is it too late to kick up a fuss? We've just discovered the loft is full of rubbish too and that's what had tipped us over.

OP posts:

KnittingAndCleaning · 17/10/2013 21:38

I feel so bad for you. I would leave it now though she will give you an ulcer at this rate.

Methe · 17/10/2013 21:46

I would dump it on her front garden. Do it under cover of darkness and the deny all knowledge.

Original poster

bimbabirba · 17/10/2013 21:55

I would Methe, but I don't know if she can call the police on me for doing so.
I am definitely not letting her get away with it though. Only costs £25 to do a money claim online for up to £300 -that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Can't believe the comments about the price of the house though!

OP posts:

C0ffeeN0biscuit · 17/10/2013 22:11

My vendor left a skip worth of junk behind the shed. At that point, there was so much pressure on me to tell solicitor to release funds, i dont know what she would have done if id asked her to dispose of her own junk. She would have reacted like i was unreasonable. She took the fridge after saying she'd leave it, but did leave a broken microwave. She had the gas cut off cos there was money owed, and then the gas co wouldnt reconnect gas as not safe. But it would have stumbled on for a while. Had the expense immediately tho. So. Was a bit surprised. Id met her briefly and she looked respectable!! Id never take something id agreed to leave, or leave a small skip worth of trash.
Think u just have to suck up the expense though. :-/

C0ffeeN0biscuit · 17/10/2013 22:23

I would stop refering to the rubbish as rubbish. Tell her you will return her possessions to her.
Like ladycelia's way of dealing with it. Would do it for the sake of one small skip , but your vendor took advantage of the fact that u dont know til its too late if the garden has junk hidden around it. And yet, she's almost suggesting u took advantage of her!!!

Original poster

bimbabirba · 17/10/2013 22:23

But why suck up? It's the principle and the fact she's reacted in such a childish and manipulative way

OP posts:

BrianTheMole · 17/10/2013 22:26

I wouldn't suck it up. Take photos, file a money claim or get solicitor to write to her. Cheeky bitch.

OTTMummA · 17/10/2013 22:30

If you leave it in her garden surely you are just returning her property?
I doubt the police will be able to do anything at all.

LackaDAISYcal · 17/10/2013 22:32

ha..we had similar! A garage and loft left full of crap. Or so we thought. As we have cleared it out, we have sold loads at car boot sales and on ebay and have made more than we would have spent on a skip...

LackaDAISYcal · 17/10/2013 22:37

though I am a bit that it took you two months to realise the attic was full of crap? We realised the week we moved in just how much stuff had been left behind.

BrianTheMole · 17/10/2013 22:43

I don't know, I've never been up to our attic in the 7 years I've lived here. There could be anything up there!

Original poster

bimbabirba · 17/10/2013 22:44

I had no reason to go and check out the attic before a couple of weeks ago. It took us a little while to discover all the stuff because it was cleverly disguised and the full scale of it wasn't clear until we actually started to clear it.
I can't see the problem with taking two months to realise fully even employment tribunals give you three months to file a claim...

OP posts:

edam · 17/10/2013 22:51

That is infuriating.

I am not a lawyer but surely there's nothing wrong with you taking it all round to hers and leaving it there? It's just returning her property, after all.

Only downside is then you are putting in the time, effort and money into clearing her stuff, rather than making her do it (or pay for it).

As it was written into the contract that the house should be cleared, presumably you would have some legal come-back?

Original poster

bimbabirba · 17/10/2013 23:02

Well it's a full skip so far so I couldn't transport it and just dump it on her front garden, I would need to arrange for the skip to be dumped at hers.

OP posts:

PastaBeeandCheese · 18/10/2013 08:20

I feel for you OP. We had a call the day before exchange on the property we're in now to say they couldn't exchange unless we accepted the garage wouldn't be cleared and accepted £50 van hire fee to compensate.

We had no choice as we'd spent a lot in legal and survey fees and were ready to exchange with our purchaser.

When we moved in there was stuff everywhere. Even clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Obviously the house was filthy too. I just sat and cried thinking of the beautiful, clean, well decorated little house I'd left behind.

I wish we'd sued them but we had a stack of debt collection letters on the mat so I doubt they'd have paid up.

C0ffeeN0biscuit · 18/10/2013 12:21

I see the principle, but I agree with the poster who said you'll give yourself an ulcer. If you got a skip and had it sent round to her house, I think that would be the same price as having it sent to the dump, but then you'd be tense waiting to see how she'd react, if she'd try and press charges against you or something like that. Perhaps there is a rule that once you take the keys whatever's there is yours? In that case it would be your property you were dumping on her property.

For the price of a skip, I'd just get it out of your way. And I do sympathise honestly but I had two unexpected expenses. The fridge was gone. I walked in expected to put my one litre of milk that I had in my hand bag in the fridge. No fridge. First shock. Then when I called out gas co to reconnect it wasn't fit to be re-connected (but had been working before it was DIS connected! So, that was an immediate expense rather than one I could have tackled in a month or two. ).

I do sympathise but if you make the decision to absorb it, rise above it, learn from it then you are free to enjoy your new house.

Original poster

bimbabirba · 18/10/2013 12:27

I'm not one to rise above it when people are arrogant and dishonest I'm afraid.
She wrote back saying she'll send someone over to clear the loft. she also threatened me with court action for harassment if I make more requests. How ridiculous is that?
I guess it's something but I still want her to pay for the skip as well. She's lucky we didn't hire a waste management company and sent her the bill for it! It would have saved my back had we just done that in the first place.

OP posts:

leastsaidsoonestmended · 18/10/2013 12:44

This happened to us too - loads of stuff like an old bath etc left in the loft and the garage. We phoned our solicitor and he said they had breached the contract as we hadn't got vacant possession. The vendor's initial response was that it was our fault as we wanted a short completion date ( that they had agreed to ! ) and they hadn't had time to pack it all.
I had managed to pack my house up, on my own, in time ,with a three year old to look after as my dh was already working in the new location and apparently they couldn't even though there were two of them, both fit and healthy.
Our solicitor sorted it out though and they turned up a few days later and cleared all their stuff, albeit with a very arsey attitude. We had noticed all the stuff within a day or two of moving in so not sure if the vacant possession claim would work for you too but maybe worth speaking to your solicitor.

C0ffeeN0biscuit · 18/10/2013 13:09

Wow, she threatened you !!! well I don't think a reasonable letter is ever going to be construed as harassment!

That'd be like a red flag to me. If i'd been thinking of letting it go, that would be like lighter fuel to me.

Find out where you would stand if you delivered old rusty bed frames to her front garden.

C0ffeeN0biscuit · 18/10/2013 13:12

What did you send? two emails? a few days apart?

I don't think there's a judge in the world who'd consider that harassment!

Original poster

bimbabirba · 18/10/2013 13:21

C0ffee I'm not going to dump the rubbish on her front garden because I'm not convinced that it would be legal to do so. At the very lest she could say I was trespassing or I've damaged her property. I'm not getting into all that, it'd be foolish to.
The arrogance is the worst part about this woman really and I'm quite pleased that she's having to back down already by agreeing to send someone to clear the loft. I cant stand people like that. Stupid cow!

OP posts:

mousmous · 18/10/2013 13:26

how annoying for you.
we had the cellar full of old doors and tiles and none of the white goods were working properly...

LackaDAISYcal · 18/10/2013 13:26

sorry I didn't mean to sound so arsey

and my DH has reminded me that we didn't initially realise just how much stuff was up in our attic as it was all tucked under the eaves. We couldn't get in the garage though! We did start to pursue it through our solicitor but in the end gave up as they were in for a fight and we couldn't be arsed with it. And eventually we made more money from it than we would have got if we had got the money for a skip...

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