Questions to ask a seller...?

sooz

mlz1413 wrote: »

When you are viewing remember you are looking around someones home be polite. A pet hate of mine is people who open kitchen cupboards - your looking round to buy the house not the cupboard contents.

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sorry. I open all cupboards. Though not infront of the vendor. Some may have boilers, washing machines, dishwashers etc. Others may be fake cupboards disguising chimney breasts etc.

penguine

sooz wrote: »

sorry. I open all cupboards. Though not infront of the vendor. Some may have boilers, washing machines, dishwashers etc. Others may be fake cupboards disguising chimney breasts etc.

I open cupboards too. I want to know if the hinges are working properly etc. One place I viewed, the front of the drawer almost fell off when I opened it.

ETA: I have also turned on taps and flushed the toilet, but only on a second viewing.

mlz1413

sooz totally agree that cupboards may need opening, I once opened a fitted wardrobe as it appeared to be 6" deep - but I asked if I could first. And if they had said no I wouldn't have done it.

If someone asked to see where the internal fridge/freezer was in the kitchen I wouldn't mind at all, but I don't expect anyone to open my kitchen cupboards and say oh a don't drink that brand of tea or oh aren't your saucepans arranged neatly.

warehouse

Totally agree about the neighbour question. Problems with the house can be fixed, problems with neighbours can't. Ask them how much noise the neighbours make, and would they be willing to sign a statement to that effect. If we'd done that with our current house I'd now be sueing the people who sold to us for basically lying through their teeth about the neighbours.

pawpurrs

Who would sign a document saying how much noise the neighbours make

They could be fairly quiet.......and then a teenage son, could get a drumkit and become a nightmare, or they could start having marital problems?

The problem is we all live too close together in the uk!:D

botchjob

Neighbours can be really key to a happy home but is quite tricky to gauge when viewing as you have to take the vendors word for it. Obviously solicitors ask questions about any disputes or correspondence, which is why many people are reluctant to formalise any problems that arise. If there’s a paper trail then they have to fess up when they sell or risk getting sued (although I’d imagine that’s a pretty rare occurrence in practice).

I have some friends who had nightmare neighbours at their old place. When they found somewhere new, once their offer had been accepted and things were progressing, they went so far as to park up for an hour or so outside the new house on a few Fri/Sat nights to see and hear for themselves if there were any issues. I have also heard of people actually knocking on neighbours doors to ‘introduce’ themselves and gauge what they’re like in the flesh.

Turin_Turambar

Would love to have asked the questions tonight but the seller did'nt even turn up to show me around. I waited 30 mins and phoned the ea who contacted her, she had forgot we had arranged a viewing tonight even though we made the arrangement on Monday:rolleyes: Got to wait till Thursday now.
According to the ea the couple have split up and have gone their seperate ways. Hopefully take a reasonable offer then...

charliee_3

botchjob wrote: »

I have also heard of people actually knocking on neighbours doors to ‘introduce’ themselves and gauge what they’re like in the flesh.

one of the house we we looking to buy, noone ws living there and we wanted to know the council tax band, so i knocked on the neighbours door and asked them what theirs was.. 2 birds in one stone.. and another i looked at i hadnt got an appoinment, i just went to get a feel for the area, but the neighbour was in the garden, i got chatting to her and she took me up to her bedroom (oo-er!) so i could have a look at the garden of the house next door...

i think people like to meet their potential new neighbours as well.get an idea of the sort of people who might move in...