Faults with house,buyer's sols. denying liability

rgvkid

hi all,
moved in 3 weeks ago to house(property is in Scotland),informed the solicitor within 4 days (you have 5 days to raise any problems) about the following problems:

1. electrical cupboard is a deathtrap,wires dangling everywhere,old boxes not removed/covered etc.
2. 3 of the windows do not operate properly,and are a nightmare to open/close (tilt and swing double glazing)
3. leaking radiator pipe which has been leaking for some time,as the pipe is discoloured

my solicitor last week said that she received comms from the sellers sols.,saying that they have advised their clients that they are not liable for any of it.
according to my contract,electrical and plumbing are deffo covered,cant see mention of windows.
my solicitor was saying go get it fixed,and we can then try to get the money out of them.but if i am poss. not going to get the money back,i would get it done on the cheap using people i know,bcos things like the windows prob just need adjusted.

i have seen the seller once since speaking to my sols.,she came round to pick up mail and said no probs re: faults(that she knew about them and would pay to get them fixed),i do have her number and mmore mail so its tempting to give her a ring then ask her what she plans on doing re: paying for repairs or not.
any advice/help much appreciated,
cheers,
rgvkid

Coupon-mad

rgvkid wrote:

hi all,
moved in 3 weeks ago to house(property is in Scotland),informed the solicitor within 4 days (you have 5 days to raise any problems)

i have seen the seller once since speaking to my sols.,she came round to pick up mail and said no probs re: faults(that she knew about them and would pay to get them fixed),i do have her number and mmore mail so its tempting to give her a ring then ask her what she plans on doing re: paying for repairs or not.
any advice/help much appreciated,
cheers,
rgvkid

I must say I think you are very fortunate that the seller is possibly willing to pay for repairs. I started to read your post and felt that the problems are quite minor (sorry) and par for the course when house-moving. They are not major faults with the house are they.

Must admit I am not in Scotland so maybe you are better covered but I would not have said anything about minor stuff like this, it's not a new house so you can't really expect it to be like one! Is this your first house?

When we moved into this house a couple of the windows wouldn't open at all (had been painted shut I think) and there were other small issues that I can't even remember because they were minor (like yours).

Having said all that, if your seller says she will pay then if it was me I would phone her up asap before she changes her mind!

rgvkid

thanks for that,while they are relatively minor faults they would still cost a good few hundred pounds to fix (electrician for electrical cupboard and plumber for radiator pipe,as tjhe system will need to be drained.
i realise these are part and parcel of house purchase,but this is why there is 5 days from entry date to report such faults,therefore the £200-£300 (at a guess) stays in my pocket and not theirs.
the seller did say she would pay,but since then their sols. have advised them theyre not liable,my solicitor says they are,so will prob ring the seller later and see what she's saying about it.
cheers

clairehi

didnt the survey pick any of this up?

rgvkid

fraid not,survey also missed a few other faults such as a pipe on side of house from guttering which has come away,but faults like that i will happily get fixed,thing with faults i raised with sols. is that they will deffo cost money,i can get a plumber friend to fix the pipe (sadly on his hols for 2 weeks) and a friend could also prob fix windows(hopefully) but would deffo need a spark for electrics.
would really rather get it all properly fixed though.

silvercar

Unless the rules are very different in Scotland, I would have thought the house is bought as seen. Its up to you and your surveyor to find faults and agree a price based on that. If its not a new build, houses generally have some faults. If the seller has not said everything is in perfect order I can't see why you would have grounds for complaint.

rgvkid

i see what youre saying,but there are 5 days from date of entry to raise points such as this,which should then be paid for by thge seller if the problem is covered eg electrical.
i realise its not huge money involved,but i dont see why i should have to fork out,moneys tight as it is.
worst comes to the worst though,its not the end of the world if i do have to shell out.

clairehi

Shame your survey ddint pick this up do you have any recourse with the surveyor.

I suggest that you proceed as if you were paying for it. get the work done to a satisfactory standard, employing trades if needed, and bill the vendor for your expenses.

its not reasonable to expect her to pay for professionals to do work if you could do it quite easily yourself. and if you go down this road and she wont pay up (and how exactly do you enforce this anyway?) then youre left with a bill you didnt need to incur.

rgvkid

yep i thought the survey would have picked up on these points,but didnt.it was obviously just the usual run-round that they do,more or less just to give me a price for mortage purposes.
i would still need a professional to do the leccy cupboard,the other things i could hopefully get friends to sort out.
i will ring the seller tonight and see what she';s saying about it,would be nice to get a contribution towards the costs.
cheers

silvercar

If there are points that the survey should have picked up, you may have a claim against the surveyor. I presume you had a full survey, if it was a valuation there won't be any comeback.

rgvkid

it was allegedly a full survey,but was a cheapo one (cheapest they did)
to be honest,the faults should only cost a few hundred pounds to fix,i would rather pay for it myself and not have the hassle of takjing the survey company (a large company) to court.
the survey was done at a discount through a friend of a friend,dont want them to have the hassle either.
think if i can get a contribution from the seller towards costs i would be happy enough,i can then get problems fixed and move on.