Moving house and water leak...

[INeedCharcoalPants]

I'm moving house in a couple of weeks and I had a dream last night that the evening before the move, we had a massive water leak - think pouring through a ceiling scale escape of water. It got me thinking, if this were to actually happen, what would we do? I guess as house is still insured in our names they woukd cover it, but if we still moved out would the new owner then have to deal with them in some regard? Could the new owner refuse to move in?

We were supposed to move house in the summer but it fell through the week before and on the day the move was supposed to happen, we had very heavy rainfall and found out the front gutter was blocked when water poured into the front bedroom via a window that I hadn't yet closed. I think subconsciously I'm worrying about something awful happening, as evidenced by my dream!

If you have a leak before you move out then yes you have to fix it.

Buyers are advised to get buildings insurance from Exchange of contracts in case anything goes wrong with the house between Exchange & Completion.

Though you would also have insurance so I'm not sure which insurance company would pay out for the repairs.

I know, but it's more the logistics, could the new owner refuse to move in, if they do move in would our insurance company then have to deal with the new owner to an extent as we are no longer there, would it have to be helped along via the solicitors?

I think once contracts have been exchanged, they can't pull out without losing their deposit. It would obviously be a major inconvenience for them, but presumably one of the insurance companies would cover the cost of temporary accommodation for them.

It's very easy for thoughts to spiral in this situation, so try not to worry too much.

I unscrewed a spice rack from the wall 3 days before moving. Screw was in a pipe. So we had to get an emergency plumber out and replaster the massive hole he made. But the disaster was our fault for screwing into a pipe.

It depends on the cause of the problem I guess, and the timing. Some people exchange and complete on the same day, some are weeks later.

I knew of a case where buyers didn't move straight in after completion as they were going to do work on the house. Two days after completion the house caught fire and burned down. Luckily they were able to extend their rental but it's an absolute minefield