Problems in new house...who is responsible

Archlever

Hi All,

We moved into our new place last month. It's a lovely house but we've found the following issues and am wondering whether we have any redress:

1. The front doors are jammed shut. We pointed this out to the previous owners when when we moved in. Thy assured us that they'd been opened a couple of days ago. However, after having a locksmith and two upvc engineers look at it, they are of the opinion that they've not been opened for a while (months) and the cheapest quote if £350 (for repairs) or a total replacement (upwards of £1000). The sellers have also removed lights from the lounge and dining rooms and left exposed holes covered with duct tape.
2. The property has no earth wire or thermostat for heating. We had a full structural survey carried out. Although it recommended a heating and an electrical report...the heating and electrical engineers we had in to work on the problems were of the view that these are fairly major issues and they would expect a surveyor to pick them up (we have now sorted out the probelms at some considerable expense).
3. There is some cracking on a garage wall, and although the survey picked up some cracks we are not sure whether this was commented on by the surveyor.

My query is that do we have any redress from either surveyor (on all three problems) or seller (point 1). Any suggestion welcome as to what we should be doing next.

Also, the sellers have not redirected any mail, so we're recieving loads. I've forwarded this till now (some of it my expense)...what do people suggest in the future?

Thanks

poppysarah

"NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS" in big marker pen and stick it back in the box.

Caveat emptor I think the saying goes. But they shoudln't remove lights and leave dangerous wires.

Speak to your solicitor about that but the rest ius just bad luck ... they said the doors were ok, not in writing and you'd have to prove the problem was known about. Had you opened them previously?

Fire_Fox

Did you have the heating and electrical reports done before exchanging contracts so you could renegotiate the price? Why didn't you check the front door opened yourself?

property.advert

I think the bigger question is not why the OP didn't have clauses in contracts etc. but that their solicitor didn't advise them to do so. What is wrong about having a retention amount, only released on sign off ? Nothing.

It stops all manner of this when people resent leaving you a 20p light bulb !

silvercar

If you remove lights (assuming they were not included in fixtures and fittings) then you have to replace with ceiling rose and bayonet fitting as a minimum. The problem comes with wall lights, where there are no similar devices available. I think wall lights are a bit of a grey area, though the seller should have told you they were removing them.

I guess the property having no earth wire refers to the light circuits only. To not have an earth mains wire would mean the wiring hasn't been touched since the 1920s and you probably have two pin plugpoints in the skirting board. If the letter is the case, a surveyor should have noticed. If its just the light circuits then thousands of houses in the UK are like this. Whereas it isn't ideal, many people live this way - the key is to avoid metal switches and all fit light fittings that don't insist on an earth wire; though the preference is always to upgrade to latest regulations.

Similarly, though not a safety issue, with a thermostat; latest regulations recommend it but it is not compulsary. Adding a thermostat to an existing system cost me £120 for supply and fit by a registered CORGI guy (now gasSafe) so shouldn't break the bank and you don't have to have it. I doubt a surveyor would comment on this.

If the survey picked up some cracks on the garage wall, that is a surveyors comment. I don't know what else he can say. After reading the report you could have discussed this issue with him.