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Original poster

Petty things to do when you sell your house to annoying buyers

73 replies

Ohrobin · 08/02/2019 14:48

I won't do this but am giggling at ideas.

Backstory. Our buyers have been absolutely pain the arse with this sale, yet been nagging and pestering us to complete by Feb yet they took 1 month to actually send correct paperwork off, another month to actually instruct their solicitor and now we are the point ready to exchange and waiting on them to actually transfer deposit to their solicitor 🙄 all this time nagging us to move by Feb which we said we will happily do if we can. They delayed it.

Anyways I had little giggling thoughts about being petty like taking the trays out the oven (we never specified the oven came with trays) or the cutlery holder out the dishwasher.

Any other petty things that people have done or come across when buying new houses.

I won't actually do anything as I'm too nice to do it but it is giving me amusement thinking about it.

OP posts:
LynnLynnLynn · 08/02/2019 14:50

Sign them up for lots of direct marketing materials

jacksonmaine · 08/02/2019 14:50

Hmm ffs

LynnLynnLynn · 08/02/2019 14:51

Sprinkle dandelion seeds all over the lawn

MollysLips · 08/02/2019 14:52

Turn the mains water stopcock (inside the house) off. That'll take them a while to find and fix I would hope.

Take all the lightbulbs out.

Crockof · 08/02/2019 15:01

When I was a kid we moved into a house where all the light bulbs were taken out, all the curtain rails and plug socket covers. Now I wonder what my parents did to annoy them

Drogosnextwife · 08/02/2019 15:03

Take all the light bulbs. Someone was complaining that they people they bought their house from did that.

Original poster
Ohrobin · 08/02/2019 15:27

@crockof oops! I have heard of some people being very taking everything possible so it may be your parents didnt annoy them.

We've tried to be reasonable and not charge extra for the white goods and not taking curtain rails etc. Wish I hadn't now but we've signed all the contracts and fixtures and fittings etc.

@Molly's that would be very annoying as our stopcock is not where you would expect it to be!

Light bulbs defo seems to be the petty go to thing!

OP posts:
Crockof · 08/02/2019 15:34

If they really fuck you off maybe a fish under the floorboards?

UnderMajorDomoMinor · 08/02/2019 15:38

Oh you’re actually specifically not allowed to do no lightbulbs now.

Collect up every single key you can find and leave them unmarked up in a massive bag?

OnTheHop · 08/02/2019 15:43

Sprinkle some brightly coloured ground cover plant seeds through a huge cut-out stencil that spells 'TWATS' in the middle of the lawn.

thecatsthecats · 08/02/2019 15:58

Extra keys. Keys that have no meaning.

Sign up to an energy company with the highest tarriff just before you leave.

JennyOnAPlate · 08/02/2019 16:03

Our previous owners took all the curtain poles which was a massive pta and cost us a lot of money (town house with lots of windows!) They also replaces the nice stainless steel kitchen sink with a stained and grotty plastic one Hmm

PrincessScarlett · 08/02/2019 16:05

The first house we bought the seller took all light bulbs and curtain poles/rails. It was so annoying as we couldn't have any curtains up until we'd replaced them all.

alc3254 · 08/02/2019 16:10

My first house...the vendors took all the door handles (including for the wardrobes), they removed the tiles from around the fireplace, left many bags full of rubbish nect to the bins and left some furniture with a note wishing me well Hmm. Oh, they also took some of the light fixtures, but we had agreed that in advance. I was not impressed...but it was too much hassle to chase it up.

ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts · 08/02/2019 16:12

Only leave them 1 door key. They'll have to get new ones cut or. Change the locks.

AwkwardPaws27 · 08/02/2019 16:15

I left my downstairs neighbour for them. They deserved each other.

(Not a noise issue or dispute, just a tit)

TrixieFranklin · 08/02/2019 16:22

I used to work in property and I've known people strip copper pipes, seal windows shut, block chimneys with all sorts of crap, block drains, fish behind radiators, in airing cupboards and under floor boards - also dumping garden waste and general rubbish in the house / crap in the gardens.. All sorts.

Wankers the lot of them.

Please don't ever do anything like this.

One of the above examples said 'it's not like they're going to bother with the effort/expense to go through solicitors to seek compensation to remedy it' and the buyers did, it cost the people over a £1,000 to sort it and they weren't so smug and arrogant after that.

wizzler · 08/02/2019 16:23

You can spell lots of words with crocus bulbs planted in the lawn... and they won't know until 2020

Weezol · 08/02/2019 16:27

Extra keys. Keys that have no meaning.

Beautiful. Simple yet infuriating.

Padlock on shed - a padlock key in the big bag of random keys. Not the key that matches the padlock on the shed.

Bit of expanding foam up the fall pipes.

Pop the bath panel off and spread sone tinned tuna about. It'll take a whike but eventually, after spending a lot of time throwing bleach and drain cleaner about, they'll ring a plumber. It will not be cheap.

Birdseed in the gutters. It's a double whammy - what the birds don't noisily eat at dawn will sprout. I have seen this done and it was very effective.

There's a lot to be said for random use of superglue in a domestic dwelling. Just make sure the cupboard is securely fixed to the wall. We're aiming for irritation not hospitalisation.

Be sure to shred the instructions for the boiler and anything else you're leaving.

ivykaty44 · 08/02/2019 16:33

Seriously life is to short

Leave them a bunch of flowers and some sachets of tea and coffee

Then hope that your sellers are also pleasant

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 08/02/2019 16:35

You sure it's them holding you up?

Our solicitors (yup, suggested by EA)were useless, couldn't get the simplest thing off the ground. Estate agents kept telling the vendors it was us, evenbsending us shitty emsils demanding osperwork we'd sent weeks previously.

I threatened to pull out in the end and they got all grovelly and sappy.

Get a part time job at the solicitors, fuck shit up and leave.

I'll bet the issue lies with them, not the buyer.

afromom · 08/02/2019 16:44

When my GodParents moved house we helped them. Their DS didn't want to move so we shut overselves (9&10) in his bedroom and removed everything! Light bulbs, curtain poles, door handles, door knobs on the fitted wardrobes. We were in ALOT of trouble when his Dad found out 5 minutes before we were due to drop the keys off. He had to put everything back up!

PenguinPandas · 08/02/2019 16:51

When we got our house the gas fire was left in a lethal condition and live electrical wires in the shed according to gas engineer and electrician as well as things left in house, think I got too much off the price. 😂

Original poster
Ohrobin · 08/02/2019 16:54

@trixie when we brought the house the vendors left so much rubbish and furniture that they hadn't stated and we indeed did go through solicitors and claimed compensation for the removal of the rubbish.

@the cats - extra keys would be very infuriating but not the end of the world!

@ivykaty as our experience of buying this house made me cry. That is exactly what I had always said I would do when we sell for the next people and won't be doing this petty stuff.

@lightside you are correct it could be their solicitor which I know they used the agent reccomended one has been a bit rubbish. Hence why I won't be actually being petty. But the demands to move out when we were waiting on them/their solictor was annoying! The delay in getting money into the bank was defo them as their solicitor told my solicitor that's what they were waiting on! Still waiting a week later despite all parties ready to exchange and contracts sent back etc etc.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohrobin · 08/02/2019 16:56

@penguin Shock just out of curiosity how much did you get off? Was that before or after survey? As much as i want to be petty I wouldn't dream of putting anyone in danger, what if they moving in with kids etc.

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