Getting annoyed with buyers messages AFTER completion

[AlexisP90]

We completed a weeks ago all good all moved in etc. As the process had taken so long we got chatting to our buyers and thus they have my mobile number. Seemed nice. Was nice to complain together about the process.

Important to say we asked them if they wanted to do a survery 3 times and they declined every time.

Since then we have had constant messages about things.
"Why are there holes in the wall" - asked them for more info on this but didnt get it...
"People are parking in our space can you ask them to move" - i dont own the house i cant!
"The neighbours are having a party and its disturbing us"
"The water isnt very hot"
"Heating not coming on"
"We dont like the bins can we change them"
"We are concerned that there may be a leak"

Etc...

Now aside from being a bit of a pain they are nice people but honestly im getting sick of it now.

I politely replied that we no longer own the house and cant help with these things but the messages keep on coming!! They mentioned in the last message "we may need to take the leak further and seek some compensation"

Im close to telling them to fuck off tbh.... I dont recall any leak so could have happend at any time but they also did no survey so while im a little concerned about the "taking it further" surely thats not on us?!

I used to work for a large mortgage provider and I was always surprised how some people have no idea what actually owning a house means. I would be clear in response to say that you wish them all the very best, that you had happy times and good neighbours there and then not answer any other emails. If you continue to reply you risk tripping yourself up- so oh yes Fred was always a pain as aa neighbour could be seen as non-disclosure, so best to limit contact.

Sorry to hear youre experiencing similar.

Got to say, and im sorry but I laughed out loud at the tree 😄

Fully recommend blocking. Today has been bliss 😊 not putting it past them finding us on social media though...

Oh my goodness 😅 a whopper of a typo 🙊

Yea, I responded last night that I wish them well but im not able to help and that they are the legal owners of the property

Thing is, the neighbours there are lovely! They have big birthday parties a few times a year but its usually all over about 9pm.
Maybe something changed who knows but I couldnt help if I wanted too...! Hey neighbour I know ive moved over 60 miles away, and dont live, rent out or own the home anymore but can you keep the noise down...!

Some FTBs are like this. DBro had a buyer who pulled out a week before exchange when she realised she’d be liable for ongoing maintenance and repairs. She tried to get DBro take out an indemnity against any repair work that might be needed in the future (survey was completely clear), was told to jog on, and pulled out.

Somebody in here had a FTB asking them to go back to the old house to change a lightbulb, refill the boiler loop, and various other minor tasks I would honestly have done myself even as a renter.

It sounds like you’ve been unlucky, OP, with your difficult buyers, and I agree that blocking them was the right move. But come on people, let’s not paint everyone with the same brush 😁. I was a FTB last year after renting for 7 years. I viewed the house twice - once before I made my offer and again right before exchange to make sure everything was still good. I had a survey. The seller was upfront from the start that she wouldn’t lower the price if any issues popped up, so I didn’t even bother asking. My solicitor asked a few questions that I wouldn’t have bothered with, but I understand they were just covering their backs. I knew I’d be responsible for any repairs and definitely didn’t expect the previous owner to sort them. I was eager for the whole process to wrap up (she really dragged it out longer than necessary because she was slow with the paperwork). In fact, I had to send her gardener away a few months back because she forgot to tell him that she had sold the house. So, not everyone is crazy, some of us are actually quite reasonable 😁

Absolutely! I assume most FTB are actually sensible. I was a FTB 5 years ago and wouldnt have even dreamed of asking these things.

I think a few of us have unfortunately just caught the others in our paths

It's a good life lesson for them to stand on their own two feet, and not rely on Mum, Dad, the landlord, the handy sister/brother. They'll thank you eventually for letting them learn as they go along.

Obviously most FTBs are not like this, but most people like this are FTBs!

I can imagine it's a pain. They sound naive about house purchase, self responsibilities etc.

I'd not want to fall out with them - just in case I needed something from them in the future ie misdelivered cards, parcels etc.

So I'd not block them but I'd go low communications, not answer for days - if at all.

They should have had an inspection but some of the questions would not have been answered by one - neighbours, cars parked etc.

They sound utterly bonkers op! And late twenties/early thirties is not young. They’re fully fledged adults!!

I think it's reasonable to answer practical questions but appreciate they've gone too far.
Were there problems with neighbours and parking? Are you obligated to disclose any disputes with neighbours?

A friend had only ever rented before and was thinking about buying. When she came to my house (which I own) for the first time, she asked me if the purchase price had included the council tax. Seriously.

Is this true? That’s crazy!!

I genuinely can’t work out what goes through their heads?! What did you say to them as they kept asking? It can’t just be that they’re FTB, it must be they’re a bit thick, surely?

I totally understand its a big change renting to owning but COME ON!

If youre even considering buying a house surely step one is to look into all of this.

Also to answer a PP we never had any disputes with the neighbours. One had 4 adult kids (grown up, all moved out) who they threw a birthday party for each year but it was always over by about 9pm. Little ones were usually there so it was never late.

Wasn't aware of anyone selling or anyone new moving in but I guess anything could have changed in a week... but not really my problem.

We were genuinely happy there. We moved to be closer to family and friends and just a general want to be in a new area before DS started school.
We noticed absolutely no leaks. As someone said above they can happen at any time anyway.

Haven't heard anything today and had a lovely evening sorting some bits out in our new home.
I do genuinely wish them well and hope this is a lesson to them on the reality of home ownership!

I look back and cringe now from when I bought my house and stopped renting (about 10 years ago) because I did something fairly stupid...

The second day after I moved in the boiler went wrong with a fault code and I messaged the previous owners to ask if it had ever done it to them and, if so, how they had fixed it.

They were hardly going to reply to me and admit "yes, it does it every two days. The boilers completely screwed!"

It was quite difficult to change my mindset from always having parents or a landlord to sort everything to realising you are completely responsible for everything.

I knew someone who went from owning a house to renting for a few months. They loved that repairs etc were done by the landlord (they had a good landlord). The pressure was off.

(sorry, didn’t mean to quote).

Yep definitely true - we replaced our windows and the neighbour across the street asked me why “they” hadn’t also replaced hers. “They” being Lambeth Council. She just could not get her head around the fact that we had paid for it ourselves because we owned the flat, and was incensed the whole street hadn’t been done.

I also live next to council tenants now (different house), who were upset I landscaped my own garden and didn’t do theirs at the same time. And didn’t want to pay to replace a 20m long fence that is their responsibility to maintain on the deeds.

Yep. I used to work for a Council in the 1980s/90s and this was very common.

I also had a friend, who grew up in a Council house, who was outraged that the Council didn’t fix a burst pipe in his aunt’s flat. He just couldn’t comprehend that as she had bought her house it was no longer the Council’s responsibility.

Are they first time buyers? (not that all are like that but it seems they think you are a landlord)

Just clearly and firmly with no fluff tell them 'We are not your landlords, We do not own this home, You bought the house 'as is' and any cost from the moment of exchange are yours to deal with'.

See I don't understand this really, I was in rented about 18 years and left because I had no control over fixing/updating things. Got my own house as a doer up and spent £21k redoing the important things straight off (new roof, plumbing, electric circuits/controls... got lucky that the boiler is top of the range and well maintained but had pre planned for that too).

That was the WHOLE point of moving out of rented so it would be mine to control myself. No more having to go weeks without a showers or have a plumber come out every month of so to change a washer on a 20 year old fucked boiler the landlord is too cheap to replace or playing email ping pong about the damp that never gets fixed or just everything falling apart around me because its older than me.

Who are the people whose landlords just constantly do this stuff at the drop of a hat?

But council tax is paid by tenant too, unless she is a lodger living in someone else's main home etc... its the tenants responsibility to pay the rentals council tax while living their.

When we moved 2 years ago, the buyers were a nightmare through the process- constant questions, knocking money off every five mins, disappearing for comms for weeks etc, in the end we let a lot go as we loved the house we were buying and just wanted it done.

They had our email address and sent us a message the day after we all completed saying "we just tried to use the shower and the water took longer than we'd expect to get hot, did you know about this?" I took great joy in deleting the message and blocking them.

I had similar on a house I sold. Had the new owners message after nearly a year saying that the gutters were overflowing and did I know about this and when would I be fixing it. They hadn’t cleared the gutters at all and it was in an area of lots of trees (lots of leaf clearing every autumn, my old window cleaner did it for a fee but they hadn’t kept him on).

They were very mad when I pointed out that they were responsible for maintaining their own property.