Dirty Pigs!

clg86

Just letting off a bit of "oh well, what can you do?" steam really...;)

We moved into our dream house 2 weeks ago and although it feels like home and we are very happy there, I'm sooooooo angry with the people we bought off. They were absolute PIGS!:eek:

Firstly, we planned on cleaning the house from top to bottom before we moved any large furniture in, common sense really. It's an old house (built in 1800's) so we expected a few cracks, cobwebs and uneven floors and what not, so we got out all the cleaning products, dusters, hoover, scourers etc, but nothing could prepare us for the pig sty that they left it in!

The living room wasn't too bad - windows were covered in dog slobber, cobwebs in every corner, curtains though very nice, clearly hadn't been washed in the 19 years that these people were living there, but nothing major. We were fairly calm at this point, quite enjoying getting the place to a livable state. They also left us a lovely stained, covered in dog hair and slobber, ripped rug, which was nice of them.

Next. The Kitchen...
Oh. My. Dear. God. Every single cupboard was a disgrace. Stained, splattered on food, cobwebs, flies, spiders, crunbs like you wouldn't believe. Then the oven. I feel sick just talking about the state of the oven. Absolutely CAKED in food. You couldn't even see the metal of the shelving racks. We had to have take away food for 3 nights whilst we soaked the oven in Oven Pride and allsorts of other products. Even now, it's useable but not great. :mad:

At the bottom of the stairs there's a square bit of flooring that is a bit slanted, not a problem as we were aware of this when we moved in. The only issue really was that there was a tiny hole where the skirting board didn't quite reach the floor at one end (due to the slanting). What we weren't aware of was the family of slugs that have been breeding there for god knows how long! EEEW! The sellers clearly knew about this problem but never thought to mention it to us. Instead, they left us a massive tub of slug pellets hiden under the stairs.

Then there was the water...
Now when you move into a house, you can imagine that if it's been un-lived in for a while, the water may be a bit murkey if not used for a while, however, we moved in on the day they moved out, so to have horrible brown water coming out of the taps constantly was a bit of a shock. This meant that they had been using this water to wash pots, wash themselves, and maybe mop the floor with it (although I doubt they did this judging by the state of the rest of the house...). So we decided to get it checked out.

Since starting to write this thread, my emotions have changed from "oh well, what can you do?" to, extremely angry and upset :mad::(:mad::(

My uncle is a plummer so today he went round to see what he could do about this brown water. Basically, the seller has put this heating/water system in himself and the fact that the way he has installed it is completely illegal and dangerous means us having to fork out £1000's to have a complete new system and combi boiler put in!!!!!

I'm beside myself! We haven't got the money to get all these new things done, and although my uncle will do it as cheap as possible for me, it's still money we don't have.

I thought the surveys would have picked up on this but apparently they don't.

It angers me that this guy has sold us this house knowing that things are not just not ok, but dangerous! And also the fact that we can't do anything about it other than to pay!

Thanks for reading if you got this far. I didn't mean this to turn into a "have you got any advice?" thread, but have you...?

katastrophy

I'm really sorry to read this, some people really are disgusting, I wouldn't dream of leaving a house in this state for someone!

You say none of it was picked up in the survey which surprises me, and I'd be going back and having a word with them if I were you. I've recently had a survey done and when it came back I was surprised to find how detailed it was, down to being told that the flush on the toilet was slightly stiff! You'd have thought that they'd turn on the taps at least to make sure the plumbing was ok?!

I hope all this gets sorted for you, sorry I can't really be any help but I wanted to offer my sympathy.

sarah_elton

What type of survey did you get? Was it the mortgage valuation, Homebuyers, or Full Buildings?

If it was just a mortgage valuation, no they probably wouldn't pick anything up. If it was Homeybuyers or Full Buildings though then yes, things like the heating and water system should have been noted and I would try taking it up with the surveyor.

queenieplum

Was it a pig-sty when you first viewed the property? I think the most shocking is the state of the water and boiler! So sorry to read this!

clg86

I've just read through the report we got back from the survey we had. It was a Homebuyers and nothing was mentioned about the water being brown, but this is in the T&C:

Services to the property

Services are often hidden within the construction of
the property and, as a result, only the visible parts of
the available services can be inspected. The surveyor
will not carry out specialist tests, or test or assess the
efficiency of electrical, gas, plumbing, heating or
drainage installations (or whether they meet current
regulations) or the inside condition of any chimney,

boiler or other flue.

Do I have anything to question?

pawpurrs

Dont let it get to you, its your dream home. I had similar when I moved in, the place was disgusting! Maggots, and sheer filth! Had to get industrial strength chemicals! Surely you would have noticed that the place wasnt the cleanest when you viewed? But perhaps not appreciated just how bad? Some people, dont see a problem with the way they live obviously, and therefore dont see a problem leaving it in that condtion for the future owners, after all if they lived like that then, they dont see a problem leaving it like that for others!
although how people lived with maggots and urine soaked carpet ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww:p
As for the heating well its buyer beware I am afraid, a normal surveyors report will just say they havent checked the heating.

clg86

queenieplum wrote: »

Was it a pig-sty when you first viewed the property? I think the most shocking is the state of the water and boiler! So sorry to read this!

No. They were a little messy but everything seemed clean enough on the outside, it's when you get to look in all the nook and crannies for yourself that you find these things out.

I'm dreading having the electrics checked. This guy was apparently an "electrician", but now all there furniture is out of the way, there are wires for allsorts coming out of the walls! Nothing dangerous I don't think, but if he's done it himself like he's done the heating system, we're screwed!

clg86

queenieplum wrote: »

Was it a pig-sty when you first viewed the property? I think the most shocking is the state of the water and boiler! So sorry to read this!

When I first rang my uncle to ask him why the water might be brown, he talked me through a couple of things to check. When he said to lift the ballcock out of the water tank to let the mucky water drain away I thought that might have done the trick, but then I could feel slush at the bottom of the tank and I got a cup and filled it up with what was there. I'm not going to discribe the colour and texture of what I pulled out. I'm sure you can imagine...

pawpurrs

Its prob just old rusty pipes, my water was the same.

poppysarah

Did you view it before you bought it?

laughingcow81

Oh god - no advice I'm afraid just sympathy.

I'm so sorry you have had to put up with this is your dream home and I hope you get it sorted out soon.