Rubbish left

tomjones333

I have just purchased a property that I intend to let out. After completion of contracts upon getting the keys I noticed that a large amount of building materials had been left at the rear of the property, Mainly paving slabs /old windows/ broken glass, Even to the fact that the gardened had been left un attended since I had made the offer to buy. Upon going to cut the garden I found again old bags of cement dumped in the bushes used bricks ect. These were obviously either coved over on my visit to the property or they are new there, Even the surveyor made no refrence to any of this, is there anything I can do, I have already complaind to my solisiter about items that were supposed to been left and have been taken but as for the garden could they say "well it was there when you viewed the house"

silvercar

you completed with vacant possession, so they should have cleared everything that wasn't included in the fixture and fittings list.

Speak to your solicitor about getting them to remover rubbish or pay for it to be cleared.

I think your stuck with the condition of the garden.

RiskAdverse100

When a property is sold with vacant possession it does not mean that everything not referred to in the fixtures, fittings and contents as being included in the sale has to be removed.

In the 1946 case of Cumberland Consolidated Holdings Limited -v- Ireland a seller left rubbish in the cellars of a warehouse which included bags of hardened cement. This meant that the cellar could not be used properly. The buyer took the seller to court and claimed that he had not been given vacant possession. The court held in this particular case that, as the rubbish left in the cellar constituted 'an impediment which substantially prevents or interferes with the enjoyment of the right of possession of a substantial part of the property', vacant possession had not been given.

It sounds like tomjones333 might possibly have a claim here as long as the amount of rubbish in the garden meant that the garden could not be used properly and that a court could be convinced that the garden was a substantial part of the property. It will help that no mention was made of the rubbish in the surveyor's report although there will undoubtedly be an element of 'the rubbish was there when you viewed' 'the rubbish was not there when I viewed' argument.

Sensible solicitors will always raise an enquiry along the lines of 'please confirm that all rubbish and any items not included in the sale price will be removed from the property prior to completion' to deal with this problem. If so much rubbish is left it can be worth the buyer bringing a small claims action against the seller for the costs of removing skip loads of broken furniture etc based on the seller's reply to this particular question.

RiskAdverse100

tomjones333

Thanks 4 the replies. I have just looked at the bottem of the "Fixtures fittings list" it does clearly state "Note to seller: You are responsible for removing all your possetions, including rubbish from the property. the garage. the garden and any outbuildings or sheds.

And the seller has signed there names under this

sportbeth

When we sold our last place we had a lot of stuff to take to the tip. As the buyer was a developer we offered to knock a hundred quid off the price as we knew they would be getting a skip in at some point. It was either that or we hired a man with a van for the same price. But it was all agreed beforehand with the solicitor

black-saturn

If he pays for you to get rid of it be careful. Most garden clearance companies wont touch building materials and neither will the council rubbish clearance service. The only way to dispose of it is to hire a skip. Some tips won't even take it.

itsakidsworld

How terrible.

Imagine that someone is selling a house and they have someone viewing. They seller is all over the buyer and gush, gush, gush.

The buyer buys and all of a sudden the seller becomes a monster like the devil and everything is a porblem and they hate everyone!!! Sound familiar to any buyers ( and sellers of course;) )?

So what can you do? Inform the solicitor that you are not happy and get them to write to the sellers solicitor explaining what action they expect in order for this siutation to be rectified. Seller pays for removal of rubbish or they remove it. Make sure solicitor is aware of how disgusted you are with the state of the premises when you purchased.

Debt_Free_Chick

It's a bummer, but your only options involve spending money i.e.

(a) get your solicitor to deal with this i.e. to get the seller to remove the rubbish. You'll need to pay the solicitor

(b) get it removed yourself i.e. hire a skip at your own cost.

(c) take action (in the Courts) against him .... risky if you don't pursue (a) first of all and more costs!

You could possibly contact the seller directly, but I doubt that anyone with the gall to leave the rubbish in the first place will be bothered by your polite request.

robwend

forget it, write it off, i got left with full house of furniture and greenhouse packed to the brim with crap when we moved in, i cryed all day,as we had to move out there crap before getting ours in,dont waste money trying to get compensation,coz it will just cost you more