Final property viewing before exchange: what should we ask the vendors?

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

DH and I are going to view the property we are buying one last time before exchange of contracts. Its more just to refresh our memories over one or two things but we want to make sure we ask any questions about the house while we have the vendors there to ask face to face.

What kind of things do we need to ask our vendors?
What kind of things should we be looking at?

We have thought about things such as how the cooker/heating works, what day is bin day, and taking a mental note of where the power points and plug sockets are in each room.

Anything we are missing?

What things would you want to know before you moved in?

Well we have been strongly advised by our Solicitor to do this.

There were some things that needed to be done/changed to comply with building regs that we haven't set eyes on since they were done. It is common sense to go back and check these with our own eyes before exchange. This is one of the reasons we are going back. Just to see. It won't change our minds but its just sensible to do this when we are making such a large purchase.

The other stuff is just handover stuff that we may as well do while we are there and talk about while chatting with our vendors.

Stop cock, water, gas and electricity meters, suppliers of the above.

In the nicest possible way you no NOTHING about me. 😂

Why so nasty?

The reason our sale has taken since October has been a mixture of tons of things all down the chain.

We have been more than happy for our buyers to come and view our house multiple times and ask as many questions as they wish to. They have viewed 5 times. The last time was last week.

For what its worth I am very glad I am not buying from, or selling from, such an unfriendly person as you.

Thankfully they are very friendly. Much friendlier that many of the MN who have replied to my post. 😂

God thank you. It is isn't it? Especially when there have been things they have been asked to get done to comply with building regs. Its sensible to cast our eye over that for one. Not that we wouldn't buy anyway but why not just go back for one last look. Our buyers have done it, we are doing it and our sellers are also viewing theirs on Wednesday.

Not sure why I am getting so much stick from some people for doing what our solicitor has advised and wanting to ask a few sodding questions. 🙄

Thankfully our sellers are really friendly and are happy for us to go.

But it's not a rental!

I'm selling my parents house currently and no-one has suggested another viewing or any sort of handover. We're expecting to exchange next week.

Mind you, I can't show them how anything works anyway. Because I don't know and I'm three hours away 🤷🏻‍♀️

All these people being aghast at you turning the taps on I absolute disagree and absolutely would do it

as a first time buyer I’d obviously had been listening to Kirstie and turned the, cold taps, on. The sellers face was full of fear

only after I’d got the house did I realise the boiler was broken, none of the radiator pipe widths were right and all messed up. Apparently they’d been sending the kids round to the neighbours each night for months for buckets of hot water

theyd ticked everything to say boiler was working and serviced and in working order. The annoying thing is I would have still purchased the house but was a massive shock moving in with no hot water or heating

You literally said in your OP that the visit was to ask them to show you how the cooker and heating work and now you're saying of course you're not going to ask them to show you. But you want to know if it's an induction hob and where the stopcock is - both these things are on the sellers form you will have had.

You've then gone on to say you need to check if they've done some things that were needed for building regs. This is pretty unusual. You'd normally ask for an indemnity for that. I can't imagine how you're going to know if it's been done to the right standard just by looking at it unless you're a builder or surveyor yourself.

You also said another visit was just common sense, then said your solicitor strongly suggested it. I've never heard of that happening.

I actually saw my house again near to exchange, but I didn't call it a "handover", or ask them to show me anything. I just wanted to get a few photos and some ideas of where things would go when I moved in. My purchase took a long time because someone up the chain was moving into a care home and that took ages to get sorted.

So, go and have another look, but try not to get all detailed about it. It's best to do the detail things through your solicitors anyway.

Some of the suggestions on this thread of things you might ask are bananas!

I've never heard anything like this before. I did have a buyer plaguing me for weeks after about things even after I had left her a detailed folder.,

At this point I scribbled on a plan where all the plug sockets were in each room, which meant the furniture plan was straightforward.

Where I talk about how the cooker works I was referring to whether it was an induction hob or not. So that is what I meant. I won't ask for a demo and for them to physically show me.

We had to get our sellers to sign the build off retrospectively and part of that has meant moving the oil tank in the garden. So yes, we will be able to see that with our own eyes and we don't need to be a surveyor to see that. An indemnity was not possible. This is why our solicitor has strongly suggested we go and do a final viewing. We have been informed where the oil tank was moved to but do we just take their word for it that it is where they say it is? Or do we just, very sensibly, just go and take a look for ourselves? We would have a massive shock come move day if we turn up and find its stuck in the middle of the garden then it would be our fault for not doing our due diligence and just checking this out. You have lots of opinions about our sale but, with all due respect, you know nothing about it and what we have gone through.

We are very friendly with our sellers, and our buyers, and everyone has been more than happy for everyone to go back for a final viewing before exchange. Thankfully they won't mind us asking one or two questions about the house while we are there, as we didn't when our own buyers came. We actually DID demonstrate to our buyers how the heating and the cooker worked and we certainly didn't mind them asking. We would rather show them during the viewing, which took less than a minute each, than them call us afterwards and try and explain on a facetime call or by phone if they did have an issue.

As for the stop cock, even from the form, its actually not very clear where this actually is located so we will be just checking this with the sellers before we move.

Yes, this is what we are going to do. It will just make move day more efficient and we will know where to place everything when we get in.

You asked for opinions.

Looks like you just wanted everyone to tell you how clever you are, as you retrofit your reasoning.

Ooh, there's some snippy people on this thread. If I was buying a property I hadn't laid eyes on for 9 months I'd sure as hell want to see it again, and I don't see why people are finding this so hard to understand. Particularly if work had been done to it in the meantime.

You need to be thinking about how you'd actually occupy the space, so definitely measure for any large bits of furniture/curtains, ask for any instruction leaflets and whatnot to be left (I don't see why you wouldn't ask questions, particularly around tricky things like heating controls), check socket locations, where the cable/broadband comes in, see what's looking good in the garden. Loft access? Start mentally planning where you'd put stuff in the kitchen.

And good luck with the rest of the house purchase!

How clever I am for wanting to go back and view the house I am buying? 😂Okay. 🙄

There really is isn't there? 😂

I have no idea what people have a problem with when its MY sale and they have no idea what has happened along the way and what we have been through and done to get here.

Thank you for your sensible reply and for the kind of suggestions I was looking for. x

Been for our final viewing and all went really well.

Our vendors are really lovely and friendly and we sat outside in the sunshine and had a coffee with them before we went to do our measuring up.

They were quite happy to answer the questions we had and even offered up some of the information before we even asked (such as the cooker/heating)

We were able to make note of the bits and pieces we wanted to ahead of moving in day which was really really handy and will save some stress on the day itself.

All in all, well worth doing and we are glad that we went. It was great to talk to them ahead of move in day.

Who an earth would disclose that if there were!

Glad to hear it all went well. Good luck for the move - when are you completing?

You are legally obliged to disclose any problems with neighbours.
OP. It is your solicitor who should be checking the small details. He should make certain that you are protected by the contract. He is the professional.
Good luck.

When you exchange contracts you are committing yourselves to buying the property in the state it was at the time of exchange so from my experience it’s really common to do a final viewing at that point. Not sure why people are saying this is a new concept. If 6+ months have passed anything could happened and it’s the biggest debt you’ll likely ever have so why on earth wouldn’t you go back?!

Our buyers are doing their final walkthrough this weekend. We won’t be there, the estate agent will let them in.

In my mind, it’s literally just a chance for them to comfort themselves that the house is in fair condition comparable to how it was at the viewing before they close.

We’ve advised the EA that we’re taking the last of the furniture and clearing the garage out a few days later so they’ll just have to work around that.

I don’t see it as an opportunity to ask about bins or appliances, simply a way for them to ensure that the house they’re paying for is the same as the house they agreed to buy.

Final viewing? How many have there been? 😳

We were advised by our solicitor to have one last visit before exchange so I don’t think it’s that rare. I second the stopcock, if you need it you’ll need it fast!