bought a house and things not working

jackieb

We moved house last month. One of the first things my husband did was open the garage door which promptly fell off completely. It would have landed on top of him if his mum hadn't been there to grab hold too.The frame at the top came off too. It won't repair. I phoned our solicitor straight away (we live in Scotland). He asked us if anything else wasn't working but we hadn't tried everything out. He told us to phone him back after we'd checked everything. The shower won't turn off. We have to prise the cover off and use a screwdriver to turn it off. This isn't at all handy as my daughter can't turn it off at all. It's not just a drip either. The water is almost running as much as it is when it's on.

Our solicitor told us to get quotes for each repair, which we did. The garage door will need replaced and the quote for that is £700. The shower parts are obsolete and the plumber quoted us over £800 to replace it! I thought this was rather high but put the quotes in anyway. I had the quotes back within the week. It's now more than 3 weeks and we've heard nothing back from our sellers. I thought they were liable for at least some of the costs? I don't really care if we don't get the full amount - but we need something back. The gas fire wasn't working either but we haven't put a claim in for that because I couldn't get a Corgi registered plumber to come and give us a quote until August!

Are we right to put a claim in for the garage door and the shower? Our solicitor has been off on holiday but his secretary said they havn't heard anything back yet.

darkcloudi

When I had similar issues the solicitor told me before I agreed the exchange I should have checked everything and were happy with the purchase.

Certain issues would have been picked up during the survey this is where you would have been in a better position to re-negotiate the offer price. Can't see the sellers paying for the costs now.

My issues were not as big as yours as the only fault I had found was the shower although I was considering replacing the shower after. My solicitors response in regards to the issue was that they may not have used the shower so wasn't aware of the fault or possibly happened after and not realised it.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Did you not test these things when you went to view, I use to turn on the taps to see if there were working properly, I am surprised that you did not view the garage as well, ie open the door to see inside. I don't know about Scottish Law, or English for that matter, but the saying in England is buyer beware, you may have a come back under Scotland, if you do then you're very lucky!!!

AMD

Badger_Lady

I'd love to try going round someone's house for a viewing and switching all their appliances on and off! :rotfl: Not very British, is it?

Though it is a fair point - as a seller I'm unlikely to point out any minor faults in the house, and will be quite happy to let someone buy it. After all, how much detail would I morally have to go into? "Yes, it's a great house - should point out that the cold water pressure isn't great in the kitchen, and there's a crack in one of the windows."

As a buyer, personally I'd probably just stomach the issues. I've gone as far as buying the house - anything that's wrong with it is up to me to get sorted. And I'm not paying £800 to fix a shower!!! :eek:

pulliptears

Badger_Lady wrote: »

As a buyer, personally I'd probably just stomach the issues. I've gone as far as buying the house - anything that's wrong with it is up to me to get sorted. And I'm not paying £800 to fix a shower!!! :eek:

OP is in Scotland though, dont sellers have a greater responsibility there after a sale?

Badger_Lady

^^ Oh yes, please don't think I'm giving advice! I know nothing about the legal situation, just prattling on in my own inane way about what I'd be thinking

jackieb

There are loads of other stuff that need fixing but we've accepted that - stuff not mentioned in the survey. We weren't expecting a perfect house.

When we got shown the garage it was full of stuff so the door wouldn't have been able to open anyway - we got shown through the side door. It never mentioned the door in the survey. It did mention the roof was leaking and we accepted that - and we've had that fixed. What use is a garage if it has no door?

In the information letter we got from our solicitor i'm certain it mentions that if the value of repairs was up to £200 then we had no comeback, but if it was more than £200 then the sellers were liable to pay half - which I think is fair. The solicitor has put a claim against them anyhow.

We told our solicitor about these problems the day we moved in. He advised us to go ahead with the sale and sort it all out afterwards (we got the garage keys from the seller's estate agents a couple of hours before the sale was complete, so we could put stuff in there - there was a mix up with our removal van. Our new house had been empty for a couple of months so there was no-one living here.)

ChasingButterflies

Hi op,

From memory as long as it is reported within 7 days then it is up to your solicitor to sort it out....

From experience here - it does take time though... i.e. we took possession on 27 January (the house had been empty for 3/4months so to be insured all water/electric and gas had been shut off) We were a little concerned about the boiler so had a specific clause whereby if anything was wrong the seller would pay up to £500 :rolleyes: We could have either fixed it (parts £800) or replaced - we had to get quotes - I think 2 or 3 and tbh we gave the corgi guys details over the phone and they sent out quotes or we would have been months waiting for a visit. I think it was April before we received their cheque I think (at least that was when the new boiler was installed) This was just over 2 year ago now but I don't imagine it has really changed.

Maybe just check in with your solicitor how these issues are progressing?

I hope you manage to get everything sorted!

jackieb

I spoke to the solicitor today and he said that the sellers said everything was in working order, and they're not coming forward with anything! I'm so mad. He says he's going to consult with one of the senior partners and get back to their solicitors and hopefully we can come to some sort of agreement.

They're basically calling us liars. I told the solicitor they can send their own people round and arrange to get them fixed if they prefer. I don't care, as long as it's sorted one way or another.

ChasingButterflies

Jackie,

Don't fret about it, as long as it is reported within the timescales, just let your solicitor stress about it -that is what you pay them for!

I think even if when they left it was fine - if anything "breaks down" within the 7 days and you report it you have a claim... I think all that it means it that it will be a drawn out process and if your solicitor is consulting with someone more senior then hopefully they will have expereinced this (I am almost certain!)

I hope your sellers get their act together!

jackieb

Thanks for the reassuring words.


And here was me making sure there wasn't even a lightbulb not working in our old house.