Ok, own up! What did you lumber your buyer with?

[BluTangClan]

Much like an old car, it's got to the stage with our house where we think "do we spend loads of money fixing it all, or bodge it all and try to sell it?".

So here's the opportunity to own up to; the mould you painted over, the crack in the wall that you moved the bookcase in front of, the hob that doesn't work when the oven's on, and the iron mark on the carpet that you put the rug on top of.

We will forgive you your sins without judgement.

Our old neighbour was difficult. However the house was a good price.

Although I suspect if I were to buy again I would consider knocking on the neighbours doors to meet them before putting an offer on the house.

The neighbours I have now are fabulous.

The house we moved to was a fixer upper. Only just habitable, the worst thing was the rat infestation in the loft, it took a while to get rid of them the pest control company was worth every penny.. (We were prepared for everything else.)

As a prospective FTB this thread is so upsetting and shocking. We have a toddler and another on the way, and virtually no disposable cash for remedial works to a house so we are only considering things we can pretty much move straight into to be our family home. I would be absolutely devestated and totally financially ruined if we faced some of the worst issues mentioned here. I can't believe people would be so deceitful when they're almost certainly making tens of thousands of pounds worth of profit

I left my old house absolutely sparkling when I left, the only issue was a bit of slime that had damaged the carpet in the smallest of 4 bedrooms. Well, that and the pain in the ass neighbour. The house i moved into, however, was full of stuff the seller had just left behind. We ripped the kitchen out on the first weekend, and I don't think it had been cleaned the full time it was there. Worktops and units dripping with grease, crumbs in the cupboards, fridge manky and full of stains and remnants of food. Just as well we were ripping it out to start again, the entire house was the same. Painted walls around the furniture, holes in the walls with electrical extensions fed through in the absence of fitting proper sockets. The worst part though was the horrible woman abandoned her cat and moved to another county.

@picklemewalnuts and @Smokeahontas our previous Worcester Bosch had that “feature” too! we just left an ice cream tub under it, over 15 years loyal service no worries

@MeadowHay

As a prospective FTB this thread is so upsetting and shocking. We have a toddler and another on the way, and virtually no disposable cash for remedial works to a house so we are only considering things we can pretty much move straight into to be our family home. I would be absolutely devestated and totally financially ruined if we faced some of the worst issues mentioned here. I can't believe people would be so deceitful when they're almost certainly making tens of thousands of pounds worth of profit

I do understand, and no there are lots of things on this thread I wouldn't do, but as a homeowner you have to be prepared that the shit might hit the fan at any given time.

You might have the nicest vendors ever who get their boiler regularly serviced but it won't stop it breaking two weeks after you move in. These things happen. Believe me.
Not long after we moved in three windows simultaneously blew. Wasn't anyones fault just one of them annoying things.

I moved last year - knew the locks on the Bifold door would need some attention soon on the house I sold, the one on the sliding door didn't' open at all and one of the kitchen window locks had broken. Knew the guttering/fascias around one side of the house were shabby .All walls, floors, ceilings and windows were solid though!

On the house I bought so far I have found - bay roof leak during severe storms (live by the seaside), front windows need replacing, there is some problems with the channels on my roof (likely blocked by damn seagulls depositing debris) and several slipped tiles which means I have damp corners of the front bedroom and will need to be sorted this summer.

I figure there's always something whenever you move and it's par for the course really, I had assumed and budgeted for unknowns when I moved.

One of my friend when she moved into her flat realised that when her vendors had painted they hadn't bothered to move their posters/pictures and paint underneath so she had a patchwork affect on her walls!

@MeadowHay

As a prospective FTB this thread is so upsetting and shocking. We have a toddler and another on the way, and virtually no disposable cash for remedial works to a house so we are only considering things we can pretty much move straight into to be our family home. I would be absolutely devestated and totally financially ruined if we faced some of the worst issues mentioned here. I can't believe people would be so deceitful when they're almost certainly making tens of thousands of pounds worth of profit

I was a FTB and single mum.

My vendor hid a massive electrical issue. The dickhead had done some rewiring by himself - the neighbour confirmed it when asked later. He had stripped ALL of the earth wires out meaning one small malfunction could have meant we were fried.
It cost £12,000 to put right. I was recommended to Sue but I just couldn't have risked losing. It would have finished me.

I still see the bellend and his wife. They're brazen as fuck. I can't believe he put his own family at such risk as well, the "works" were done a couple of years before they moved out. One rogue knife in the toaster from one of his teens could have killed them. Mind boggling!!

God we touched up the damage walls when we left with the remains of the paint we had kept. We cleaned the place from top to bottom. We also signed a document saying everything was in working order and had to list EVERYTHING we were leaving ( a couple of mirrors on the wall, fridge, cooker etc). We also left a box of replacement lights for the kitchen in the kitchen drawer because we knew we wouldn't need them at the new place. And we left a bottle of wine.

I can not imagine even considering doing anything else.

We've had a host of problems since we moved to our curret house. All connected to the renovation job which was clearly cowboyed in places. The stress it caused was horrendous. DH was severely depressed at points due to it.

It says a lot about people imho.

Several years ago, my Dad had a problem with a tenant who refused to pay his rent for many months. When he finally evicted him, the tenant was furious and threatened to jump into the River Thames. My Dad's a softie and told him to stay. Anyway when he finally left the property after 18 months living rent-free, he had gutted the place- every light bulb, light switch, the toilet, cooker, oven, washing machine, fridge, every door handle- was gone.

We bought our first home last year. We've had no end of problems. It leaks into the master bedroom every time it rains, the garage is soaking with damp, the bathroom is freezing (poor insulation), slugs coming into the kitchen every evening, and we can't work out from where, etc etc. We've been quite unlucky.
The sellers also left us lots of useless "free gifts"- packets and packets of newborn size pampers, broken beds, smelly mattresses, lots of smelly spices in the kitchen, etc etc.

Buyer was a absolute git. I accidentally smashed the bathroom sink when taking down the bathroom cabinet and the estate agent said not to worry about if because the buyer had been so horrendous and she deserved it.

I should add the buyer lived abroad and never actually viewed the house.

@Poshjock I also left an integrated dishwasher door stuck on with no more nails. The new dishwasher arrived without a bracket for the door, I tried really hard to find one but ran out of time so just whacked it on the night before we left.

@Ohtheplacesyougo

This post is appalling and not in the least bit amusing.

I would never leave a house in such a condition and not tell the potential buyers. It’s potential fraud and really unreasonable.

I agree, I don’t find this thread very funny.

The en suite shower that leaked so badly, the last time we used it the kitchen ceiling fell down. The kids bedroom had 2 massive holes in the wallpaper that me moved the wardrobe in front of, but I still felt bad as in the marketing it looked like every child's dream bedroom.

Oh and an unfriendly ghost, the reason we sold

My god, some of these are horrendous!!

And to think I felt guilty after leaving my old house with the wheely bin almost full 5 days before bin day. I did leave them a litre bottle of blue wkd in the fridge too though!

A work colleague very recently bought a house with a decomposing fox left in the back garden. Previous owner couldn’t have missed it as apparently you’d trip over it going out of the back door!

An iron mark on the carpet in my studio flat. Considering how much they've made on selling it after me I don't feel guilty now but do if it caused them upset at the time.

This post is making me feel so much better - I just sold and was worried about the laminate floor which is not great but under a rug, and the window frames I have not repainted.

Panelling on the stairs. The walls were wonky as fuck. DH wrote underneath 'now you can see why we panelled the bloody thing.'

Also one upside down piece of wallpaper in the living room.

But also, they were overseas buyers and I wanted their move to be smooth for them so spent hours writing out info with bin days, doctors, dentist, parking permits, the neighbours details. As well as buying them toilet roll, kitchen roll, light bulbs, some bread, milk, butter and fruit etc for when they arrived.
We couldn't afford to fix the shower or we would have done it for our own benefit, nothing could be done about said ghost though

A cursed stuffed dog in the loft. We were told we had to keep it or bad luck would befall us. I didnt mention the curse to our buyers so they could throw it out witbout a thought. They are still very happy there but i dont know if the stuffed dog is still there and i thought should i have said?

I know someone who rented a flat to a random who contacted her from an ad she put up in a shop. No references. After a few months the tenant started defaulting on rent. When challenged she sent her abusive messages in capital letters .
The tenant wouldn’t allow anyone into the flat to fix things . Eventually after months of non payment the owner got her to leave somehow or other. Can’t remember how. When she got access there was a knife under the bed and the flat wa s totally wrecked. The tenant tried to come back a few weeks later when decorators were in but the locks had been changed. Never let to randoms
Without references.

The neighbours.

house we bought:

• bad damp from condensation, they had lots of plug in air fresheners. But we spotted the smell and investigated, ofund that the carpet in the bay was soaking wet, and the wall too. We got a surveyor in before purchase. (was condensation and good ventilation and extractor fans fixed it)
• shed was collapsing, propped up -our surveyor noticed
• extractor fan in kitchen wasn't. It didn't go to the outside
• carpet was eaten by moths under their furniture - we knew carpet needed replacing due to the damp.
• tiles in kitchen were missing under the dishwasher and fridge-freezer, but we spotted that before purchase.
• double glazing in 2 rooms was blown, but we spotted it (surveyor didn't)
• every DIY thing they did was a bodgejob. Fortunately dhis handier than they were

Buyers were nice, seemed like nice people, but I think they would have sold it to us without us noticing all that. I am glad we had spotted it all, but it was a salutory lesson in buyer beware.

I’m afraid I left my old home immaculate, for instance mowed the lawn the day before we left.
We’d replaced the hearth but not yet the carpet in one room and I made sure the buyer knew there was a gap (we had a rug). The buyer was fine, already planned to replace the flooring, but I couldn’t have had that on my conscience if I hadn’t made sure they knew.