Completion day – Damage to house !!

eddddy · 12 October 2016 at 3:02PM

Elinore wrote: »

We reiterated that we are not looking for a cash settlement but the damage actually repaired.

That's not a good idea.

If the seller agrees, they may be tempted to find the cheapest tradesman they can - who might do a botch job. Then the arguments will continue.

It's much more sensible for you to get quotes from tradesmen of your choice, and then claim a monetary amount from the seller.

If necessary, you can go on to claim that amount through the small claims court.

Whichever way you go, it's unlikely that you can reclaim any legal costs from the seller - so be careful about incurring solicitors fees.

Elinore · 11 November 2016 at 3:54PM

and its still dragging on.

Liability has been admitted by the removals - via the sellers sols and they have promised to contact us to arrange restoration....

Tumble weed

No one will give us the removals details to deal directly.

I have three tradesmen in next week to quote and we will pass that along to the sellers Sols in the hope it will gee everyone along.

I should mention the damage is fairly extensive and in my very humble opinion is likely to be over £500. We are not sure if the whole stair well will need to be painted (its white and there is no natural break and one of the damaged walls is to the back of the house and is unbroken up to the third storey which would require either scaffolding or a platform ladder affair to paint.) - they have damaged two wooden doors and the snapped one hand rail and gouged another.

steampowered · 11 November 2016 at 4:06PM

If you are getting messed about, it is time to call their bluff.

I am at a loss to understand why the sellers' solicitors are dealing with this if it is the removal companies that say they are liable.

You can start the legal process rolling for a small claim in the county court. This is very easy to do and you do not need to use a solicitor.

The first step is to write a formal 'letter before action'. This should clearly set out what you expect to happen and when it should happen by. You should state that you intend to issue county court proceedings if a satisfactory response is not received. You should give a deadline of 14 days for them to respond and resolve the matter (as 14 days is the deadline suggested by the court's Civil Procedure Rules). The letter should be addressed to the person you intend to sue (in this case the removals company).

If they do not provide a satisfactory resolution within the 14 days, issue a claim online through the moneyclaimonline service (https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome).

Do you know the name of the removal company? If so, that is all you need. You don't need any further details and you don't need any details of their insurance. You just need to know the name of the company and their address (which you can presumably find online).

If the removal company is insured it is their responsibility to pass the claim to their insurers, not yours.

pinkteapot · 11 November 2016 at 4:43PM

The removals company (or their insurer) will be footing the bill. You're happy to deal directly with the removals company. Why in the name of all that is holy is anyone prevaricating over giving you the removal company's name and contact details? It's so bizarre. The solicitors and seller are having to deal with you and pass along messages when you could be sorting it out with the removers directly.

What are they saying when you ask for the name of the removal company?

JimmyTheWig · 11 November 2016 at 5:19PM

Did any of your new neighbours see the removal vans and know what company it was?

HouseBuyer77 · 11 November 2016 at 5:31PM

Perhaps just send letter before action direct to the seller saying you will take them to court? You would have thought that if the removal's company has admitted liability they'd be very happy to pass on their details to you rather than getting caught up in the whole thing themselves...

Elinore · 18 November 2016 at 1:21PM

So we asked our sols to pass along our contact details to the seller. (dpa they could not give to us)

She called and confirmed there had been a miscommunication and she was both aware and happy to put the damage right. Therefore she was livid as she had been told that we had been contacted weeks ago by the removals so thought the matter had been resolved.

After the seller made a fuss at the removals we had the shift manager and the companies building assessor/fixer attended. I realised straight off this wasn't going to go well when i opened the door and before any introductions he immediately let me know he was very irritated that he had had to park a distance away. Next door had a delivery van blocking the parking bay - he took the time to let me know that he had a word with both my new neighbour and the delivery driver to let them know in no uncertain terms they were being 'kochs'! (I was mortified and had to go and apologise after they left)

Before i had even fully opened the door to let them in to the house he also said he had been sent along as he had been told he was the manager on this job. He then went on to say he had never been to our house so couldn't have been the shift leader. He wasn't going to allow any works to be done as his team was not the party that damaged the property and he wasn't losing a day on something that wasn't his fault.

I advised that as he was an employee of the company - who already had admitted liability i didn't expect a delay due to internal issues. his answer - life is hard and no one ever gets what they want.

While the assessor gave the damage a once over - He moaned that we hadn't informed them we had a dog (I had) i explained the dog was out for the day and the barking dog was the neighbours. He then went off on a rant about how many times during removals he had been bitten by dogs of irresponsible owners. He then pointed at a picture of my small dog and asked why i hadn't got a 'real' dog.

While i was spluttering over that and trying not to lose my temper the assessor had videoed the damage and confirmed that head office had advised them it was a scuff on a brick wall and some paint needed touching up. So they didn't have the tools for the job anyway and they left whilst moaning about the waste of their time.

I texted the seller, who was once again mortified, and within 20 mins had arranged for three tradesmen to come quote and her insurance has confirmed they will cover the cost and claim back off the removals. Shes also a partner in a law firm so was quite adamant that she would be taken the matter further with them.

All three tradesmen have visited so hopefully this will be brought to a resolution.

pinkpiglit · 18 November 2016 at 2:25PM

Bleeding heck - sounds like a removal company to avoid at all costs !!!

Elinore · 18 November 2016 at 3:03PM

Now i know their name i looked at their reviews - I have never seen such nasty responses to customer concerns! (admittedly older ones) sort by low ratings.

But what professional company 'outs' the full name of a customer and accuses them of 'hiding' by using initials to sign off a review!

http://www.removalreviews.co.uk/

O P E X

This being said they have 4 out of 5 score - so i bet it depends on who you get.

Niv · 18 November 2016 at 3:23PM

Elinore wrote: »

Now i know their name i looked at their reviews - I have never seen such nasty responses to customer concerns! (admittedly older ones) sort by low ratings.

But what professional company 'outs' the full name of a customer and accuses them of 'hiding' by using initials to sign off a review!

http://www.removalreviews.co.uk/

O P E X

This being said they have 4 out of 5 score - so i bet it depends on who you get.

Did you write a review in the last hour or so or has someone from this forum done it for you??

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Completion day – Damage to house !!

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