Anyone else bought a house of horrors....

[Firefightress1]

No not one where a murder was committed although there's still time!

Moved into our 'dream' house 3 months ago and now the timeframe for any issues has passed, we have had nothing but problems costing us a fortune.

The home report is done before sale in Scotland and all items were 1's (no work required, in good condition'. First issue is the roof, last week we had so many leaks in 4 different places. The flat part needs replaced and the roofer has said it's obvious botched repairs have been attempted so the previous owners were obviously aware. Currently looking at 2k plus... how long is a piece of string.

Second issue was the woodburner, it's completely broken, we weren't told so we had to replace it at 3k as it's the main heat source downstairs.

Now the boiler...... the wires were actually singed and burnt at the back which as a firefighter absolutely petrified me! Plus the electrical source to the boiler does not actually switch it off, I had to isloate it at the main fuse box! The heating engineer says its basically fecked and needs so many parts replaced. Again this was a 1 on the home report. Total cost so far 1500 but will go up.
What's the bloody point of a home report if they don't actually look at all the items properly. We obviously paid over the asking too.

Sorry, it's been a long 2 weeks of hell and I'm on my own as hubbie is away so I'm dealing with everything myself, I think I will just pour a massive glass of wine, I would have a bath but with no heating that's a no.

I know it will be an amazing house when it's finished.... won't it?
Just looking for advice from anyone that was in the same situation on how to keep sane! I know it's sold as seen but we declared all the wee problems or previous repairs we made on our last house. and fixed a couple before we sold. Spot the mugs!

Thanks for listening I just need a rant.

And breathe........

Yes. I’m still in it over 30 years later, ex-H left, kids have grown and gone. I’ve never been able to afford to get things fixed and obviously should have just moved when my ex and I split up. The house is full of asbestos, which wasn’t seen as a big problem in 1990 but now it wouldn’t be mortgageable. The survey didn’t flag anything to worry about, but the terrible plumbing and electrics wouldn’t have been evident on visual inspection.

The seller was a bit keen on botching things. It is a house of horrors, every single room, the roof and every outside wall have problems I’ll never be able to afford to fix, in a house I’ll never be able to sell (at a price that would buy me something else). Thankfully the mortgage is paid off, it’s a disaster but at least I own the horror house.

Built in 2009 so not that old but it's a self build.

I'm so sorry you are in that position, that's so unfair!
This was our forever house so we budgeted for maintenance and decorating but not all these repairs all at the same time. They are all essential and immediate so we can't even pace it out.
Do you love your house x

We too are remote.... The rose tinted dream of growing veg, having a beautiful garden and pintrest worthy high ceilinged rooms is not quite so rose tinted just now!! But my husband is a handyman so fortunately is doing most of the renovations himself.

We do laugh at some disasters we've found, we've also cried and said we'd sell up but then wake the next morning and realise how beautiful the house will be. They are sent to test you I think.

We had a level 2 survey for our house in the days before home buyers was a thing. It basically said that electrics and boiler weren’t checked and we should get other people to look at those. We didn’t bother and one of the boiler valves had failed which the owners knew about prior to sale- I should have realise when she said they put the boiler on and off with the mains switch 🙄. Also it used to be economy 7 heating and they left the dual meter in but had ripped out the storage heaters and replaced them with regular sockets- which only worked during the night!

Yes, we have beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the first dusting of snow on the mountains today.
I took the dog a long walk in the morning just to help with the stress and thought how lucky we are to live here.
Then I got home and remembered its a horror house 😂
I can still laugh...... for now.

Crumbs! What the hell is wrong with people and how can they lie to your face!
I hate to say but it but misery loves company and I feel so awful for everyone in the same boat but I'm so happy to hear we are not alone.
We felt so stupid for taking things at face value and on their word.
It is a lovely house, maybe I'll remember that once it's watertight and warm 😂

Yep.

Nothing came up on our very expensive buyers report and then the first time we had heavy rain there was water pouring down the utility room wall.

Luckily we knew a roofer we'd used before but it cost £1400 to replace the flat roof. Report had said normal ongoing upkeep only.

They'd had a leak in the downstairs loo. They've supposedly fixed it but left the tiles mostly missing and the basin hanging off.

It's seemingly impossible to get someone out to just put the basin back on the wall and some tiling. The only person I can get out to it will only rip it all out and start again for £3500!

The bath wasn't sealed to the wall so every time we used the shower it was flooding the floor.

I've sealed it and descaled the manky shower head only to find that once it was clean it mostly sprays onto the ceiling. DH has attacked it with duct tape which seems to be holding until we can replace it.

Again, only tradesman I can get round wants to rip it all out and replace for around £7k.

Oh and the dishwasher is broken.

I feel your pain!

And the worst thing was fresh dog pee on the carpet by the front door which they didn't mention.

We didn't realise got a couple of days as we thought the smell was from the leaky loo issue. We ended up ripping up all the carpet and getting all of downstairs replaced 5 days after moving in as it was too disgusting to leave. Cost a fortune.

I have no words other than sorry! That is so s**t 😡

Yep! Feel your pain. We bought a 1 bed flat in London in 2019.......3 years later and we have had 5 leaks! One in which the ceiling collapsed on someone's head. Absolute nightmare. Some leaks down to external maintenance not being carried out, some leaks down to bad neighbours. I would not buy a flat again mainly because you don't know who lives above, below you and you can't trust them to take care of the property.
We also had dodgy electrics that all needed replacing.
Hope things improve for you OP!

Yep. I've got to the point where I'm done with my house of horror. It's on the market now and if anyone asks I won't be honest about the issues it has. It sounds mean but staying here will affect my mental health.

I totally understand, i think I would be the same now but if we fix everything then theres nothing for anyone else to worry about. I just wish we had the same courtesy .

My first house had such old electrics that when the fuse box tripped on Christmas Eve 🙄 we got the emergency electrician out, and he had to find a glass fuse from his antique fuse collection to get it working again! Those sellers also left a houseful of fleas, thanks to them not bothering to treat their dog, so I spent 6 months without carpets until I could afford new. They also
left what we thought was a dead body in the loft…… turned out to be a very badly wrapped army tent! Me and exP took it in turns to poke it with a stick 🤦‍♀️while arguing about who had to investigate it further.

what an unnecessarily vicious post.

and wrong - not all AIBUs are polls.

We moved 100 miles from a different, more expensive area due to ex’s relocation. We had a list of 10 things we really wanted when we were house-hunting, and this one ticked 8 boxes. It’s a tatty semi, but rural, bigger and with more land than we’d have got where we were living previously. I love the setting. I love that my kids grew up here with loads of animals, I love those memories, but the reality of having a badly botched house and neither the funds nor the practical skills to fix it is very stressful. It’s always a case of, this needs doing, I could afford it by February, but then something else goes wrong, and the overwhelming worry is always that either the roof or the boiler needs replacing and must be prioritise.

I’ve never wished we’d bought one of the other houses we viewed at the time, but with hindsight, I wish we hadn’t moved away!

We just moved from Glasgow to a Liverpool, so are well aware of shittiness of the home report in Scotland. Saying that paid for a survey for this house here and there was nothing about the fact that the top floor was sitting on rotten joists, needed brand new heating system, downpipes and a full rewire (should have got an electric survey too 🤢)
Totally feel your pain.

Our home is a total money pit. It’s a converted Victorian building which was not converted brilliantly combined with a previous owner who appeared to do his own shoddy DIY. Every time a plumber or an electrician comes out they ask who on earth did the work. Everything was installed with absolutely no thought as to access to repair/replace. We have constant leaks including one tiny one which we can’t locate and would probably involve tearing down several walls to find! Something always needs doing. It’s exhausting to be honest.

Oh god , I almost laughed thee but it's really not funny! So upsetting and bloody expensive!

That's how I feel... one step forward 2 back! But I'm so glad you have lovely memories ❤️

Yep, struggling between being raging and gutted! We had to get a structural roof engineer due to something In our survey! It was nothing but it was expensive and we had to get it signed off before we exchanged.
Thays why I'm so bloody annoyed!

So many amateur builders that know nothing except from YouTube! Or they won't pay a professional.so them it falls to the next buyer.
So unfair!

I currently have a landing strewn with pots catching drips from the flat roof ceiling. Fortunately I have plenty of empty Celebrations chocolate tubs to catch the water coming in.

I knew eating all that chocolate would come in handy one day 😀

Yep! Hot water didn’t work from day 1 & we had to get the drive dug up to fit working gas pipes and a new boiler. £4K and 18 days later we finally had hot showers.

We can’t use the upstairs bathroom as it’s totally blocked and the pipes are boxed in so that needs to be smashed open.

We’re getting the kitchen replaced next week and fully expecting something to crop up when the splashbacks are removed.

I just want to be beyond the problem. I genuinely hate the previous owners 😶

Absolutely love the optimism.... I do love chocolate!