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Original poster

New detached house not so detached

266 replies

Gemmawashere · 23/07/2014 19:46

Hello - I have been reading many a useful topic on here for ages and am now hoping somebody can help with my issue regarding boundaries etc.

We are about to sign for a new house - a persimmon detached house that was already built with wall and roof and is just having the insides finished.

The neighbours to each side have already moved in - perhaps 1 month ago max.

This is our first house so not very experienced with how it all goes - anyway, the first thing was - which we stupidly didnt realise, the house is detached but we don't have access to one of side of our house - I thought it was a bit strange that, whats the point in having a detached? anyway, it appears this is quite normal so no real issues. The wall that we can't have access to forms the boundary, and on further inspection our neighbour has bolted his gate to this wall, he has also bolted his back garden fence to this wall and also there is a plank of wood bolted to my house rear wall! (does that make sense) which helps support his fence, and then to make matters worse the 5 wall posts are completely into our garden and over the boundary so that his fence is nice and flush with our wall! and then the cheeky guy has put flags down which go under his fence and a couple of inches past the edge of our house and into our garden!

So then to the other side - the other neighbour, they have built a supporting wall around there garden so that they can have it flattened (the gardens have an incline) which is a good idea, she has built this wall on the boundary line so I suppose half of it is into our garden - not the end of the world and I dont think this is a relationship breaker, but then the fence built on top of the wall has its 4 or 5 posts into our garden and they are secured into concrete!

I wanted to get the garden flattened - got a friend round, he said it couldn't really be done as next doors fence posts would end up not in the ground - would have to build another supporting wall way into our garden (am aware we need to build a supporting wall anyway) when really I should be able to build right up to the boundary line (which technically I can't build right up to the line as her wall is half over anyway - and thats if we got the posts removed!)

Sounds straight forward - so I spoke to the rude sales office, they inform me that they gave permission to the neighbours for all this to be done whilst they were still the 'owners' of the house! and we can't do anything about it - other than not sign for the house (next week), but it really is our dream home :(

Has anybody any ideas?

Thanks
Gemma
(sorry its so long)

OP posts:
playftseforme · 28/07/2014 09:32

My house has a huge incline at the back - affectionately known as the ski slope in the winter. We don't get those kind of damp problems.

MyLittleFinger · 28/07/2014 10:19

Please walk away from this now OP, my DP have read some of the thread and has been connected with the building industry in his time. He would absolutely not be buying.

LIZS · 28/07/2014 10:26

They need to landscape the garden to avoid the rain collecting. Chances are the others are similar but not yet noticed the same problems or maybe theirs runs off towards that plot. tbh this is the tip of the iceberg and you will always have your doubts every time something goes wrong.

Coconutty · 28/07/2014 10:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ICanHearYou · 28/07/2014 11:02

Mould? Nah, I would be gone in a flash, I'd drive past in 5 years though to see how many people are trying desperately to get rid of their mould-riddled houses and see how the gardens have held up in the wet weather.

PavlovtheCat · 28/07/2014 11:15

oh goodness, how horrible. can you delay the signing and paying the 10% deposit without pulling out completely? (not knowledgeable in this area). If so, I would do that and get an independent solicitor to take over the proceedings and advise you on this.

And, I know that you have saved for a long time and have already invested money. BUT. this is potentially hundreds of thousands of £ (don't know the actual cost of course), and you already, as you say, dislike your neighbours, you can already see the pitfalls of the walls being attached to your building in terms of shuddering and that will annoy you every day. It will not be your dream house and that money that you have spent and don't want to waste, will end up being thousands and thousands and may hinder you selling in the future as it will reduce the value of the house for future buyers.

If they are not prepared to change the work done, or give you a substantial discount to reflect the lower value of the property due to these changes into your boundaries (presuming they can do that), then pull out and swallow your loss, as hard as that sounds.

On a smaller scale. We had a loft converted. It went horrendously wrong when the builder messed up a major part of it (put the floor in 1 metre too high) and ran out of money while trying to rectify it. We had invested too much money and so we kept giving him money to fix it, as we 'could not afford' to get rid of him and start it again. In the end, with him having most of our money (he kept saying he needed more as he had no more cash due to the cost of the mess up - it was the money agreed for the job, but he wanted it upfront to pay for his mess-up, nor that he wanted more than the job price). Eventually we had to fire him and get another builder to fix his errors, and it cost us Thousands. It would still have cost thousands if we had sacked him earlier, but it would have been half the additional cost that it ended up being.

it's really shit and I really feel for you, but lose the money now if the independent solicitor suggests that, rather than the money and several years of upset later.

PavlovtheCat · 28/07/2014 11:19

Just read the damp problem. Don't Buy It. as mentioned already.

Of course they are going to explain to you that the boundary issue is correct, they want you to buy the house and know that you are keen to find a happy solution and proceed. You cannot trust them as they will not tell you that it's going to be a constant headache for you, of course they won't tell you that!

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 28/07/2014 11:43

Surely a builder with any degree of competence would think about the drainage of the plot to avoid stuff like this?

If they can cock up something so simple, what else have they cocked up?

Walk away. In fact, don't walk, run!

burnishedsilver · 28/07/2014 11:53

The boundary issue I could work with but mushrooms on a new build in a hot dry Summer would seriously concern me. Theres been no rain for the ground to be sodden. It sounds like if been building up for a while if mould and fungi are taking hold. I doubt it's drainage. I'd guess it's a leak of some sort. Personally I'd investigate more but would be fully prepared to walk away.

Itsfab · 28/07/2014 12:02

I can not understand why you think it is fine to be paying for space you don't get - albeit all of 12". "Explained to us" -= patronised and lied too.

Damp = no brainer. You would be a fool to buy this house now.

notapizzaeater · 28/07/2014 12:14

I'd walk away fast, the solutions means you'd have to loose loads of your garden because of the neighbours posts. If you are building a wall could you not take the neighbours fence down and build on YOUR boundary line - they'd get a wall instead of a fence, you'd get your garden back and a flat back garden.

DoristheCamel · 28/07/2014 12:14

Yikes this house sounds doomed with the damp problem ontop of the boundary issues.

Dont buy it you will be left trying to flg a dead horse in a few tears when its driven around the bend with no end of issues.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 28/07/2014 12:47

I agree - I would not be buying this house with the damp issue.

The ugly side of fence panels I could (and do) live with - we have never had any issues with neighbours painting them wacky colours and I love the fact that we get the benefit of good fencing for free!

The 6" less land either side probably wouldn't be a deal breaker for me either - if I absolutely loved the house.

The bolted on gate would need removing, but so long as the builder erected a free standing post for it I would be happy.

The level of wetness described though, in this heat, would make me run a mile. I would probably see whether Persimmon are willing to rectify the problem first - levelling the garden & supplying adequate drainage at their own cost for a starter. I would also be taking independent advice as to whether that actually was the problem solved (after the work has been done) before committing to the house/exchanging contracts.

You should be in a fairly strong position. If you have spotted the damp, no doubt any new buyer (or more likely their surveyor) will too. It may well be cheaper for Persimmon to put everything right & still sell to you - as opposed to remarketing & having to drop the price hugely to get a sale.

As many other posters have said though, you MUST only proceed with an independent solicitor.

BalloonSlayer · 28/07/2014 13:46

Oh dear, sounds like it is a dud. Sad

Persimmon could have levelled all the gardens as they were building the houses, couldn't they? But they didn't want spend the money on that (what else have they skimped on?) so they enabled the other neighbours to do their own, reducing your garden by 1' and making you unable to level yours.

This reminds me of a tale someone told me of someone they knew who bought a brand new car which rusted terribly really quickly. The explanation for this (allegedly) turned out to be that the car makers ordered, say, the bodywork parts for 100 cars which were all stacked up against a wall in all weathers. His was the 100th car, the last to be made, all his car's bodywork had been out in the rain/snow/mud for ages before his car was finally assembled and rust had set in. Your house made me think of this - it's the last to be bought and you are getting all the dregs - every concession that has had to be made by Persimmon has not been made by them, it's been made by you. eg they had a choice - have a fence put up properly for £xx or have one bodged up that goes on your land for £xx minus £100. The choice they made was at YOUR expense and they were banking on you being too naive/timid/desperate for the house to object.

IvyBeagle · 28/07/2014 15:14

Tell us (ish) where you are and what your budget is and we will find you a house that doesn't have a gate attached and a garden that needs landscaping etc :)

BridgettRousselot · 28/07/2014 15:24

I do not understand your thinking at all OP. You know things are wrong, and you allow people you know and are being told are fobbing you off to continue to fob you off. I am wondering if it is a solicitor or a counsellor you are in need of, as you are in denial about the problems this house is going to cause you.

tribpot · 28/07/2014 15:53

I think the 'it has been explained' comment relates to the fact that if the OP put a fence up, and put the posts on her own land, she'd still lose the same amount of land as she had through the neighbours putting their fence up with the posts on her land - and won't lose more if she puts up a second fence because the posts will sit in between the existing posts. Her independent builder has confirmed that this is the case (i.e. a second fence would not reduce the overall size of the garden further) but it still doesn't make it right that all the sodding posts are in the OP's garden, with the loss of usable land compared to the neighbours on both sides.

However, not that I think it's worth considering flattening the land to try and resolve this drainage problem, but this bit the cement foundations for our neighbours fence that are in our land would be ' floating' in there air so to speak makes me think: well so what? Why is it your problem if their foundations are undermined by you carrying out work you're entitled to do on your own land? This is kind of why the feckin fence posts should have been on their land in the first place.

The other question about the damp was why this wasn't picked up in the survey, when was that done? And by whom?

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 28/07/2014 18:47

Do you do a survey on a new house? (never bought one)

Fluffycloudland77 · 28/07/2014 18:53

Yes, the mortgage company do one but you can go for a full survey if you've got the cash.

tribpot · 28/07/2014 18:55

I wondered about that too, Boulevard, but I couldn't really see why you wouldn't do one. I just googled and Which seem to think you would.

Inertia · 31/07/2014 11:34

Oh dear god.

Boundary disputes, a massive damp issue , stitched up left right and and centre by builders and solicitors and you are still planning to buy it. They saw you coming - bet they struggle to keep a straight face while they 'explain ' how they are not really ripping you off.

Word of advice - watch out for Nigerian generals asking for your bank details
They will also 'explain' their reasons.

IvyBeagle · 31/07/2014 18:36

Hows it going OP?

18yearsoftrying · 02/08/2014 07:51

Just wondering how it's going.....

Pipbin · 02/08/2014 17:27

I hope the OP has run fast. I wouldn't entertain somewhere with that kind of drainage issue.
If the group is sodden now then it will be flooded in January.

MexicanSpringtime · 02/08/2014 17:38

Haven't read the entire thread, but I would think you should get all your money back because of hidden defects

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