Pre-exchange and completion inspections

maurice28

My girlfriend and I are in the process of buying a house. We are first time buyers, currently living with parents, but we are now at the start of a chain. I believe there is us - our sellers - another property - top of the chain.

We have received searches back today and have been told top of the chain want to complete on the 29th October, and we are just waiting for this to be confirmed.

Ideally, we would like to have the electrics inspected on the house. i'm sure they work fine but the sellers couldn't produce a safety or inspection guarantee so we thought better safe than sorry. My girlfriend's father is an electrician so he could do a quick inspection. Is it best to have this done before exchange?

Also, we would ideally want to have one last look around the house to make sure the sellers haven't damaged anything when moving their stuff out. Is this best done just before completion? If so, if we did look round just before completion, but after exchange, is there actually anything we could do if we did find damage we weren't happy about?

Thanks in advance for any help!

poppysarah

What if you get a check done and it needs rewiring? Do you plan on reducing your offer?

Doozergirl

Check electrics before exchange.

If anything happens between exchange and completion, unless it is incredibly major, then there isn't much you can do. You can't put yourself in breach of contract by refusing to complete, and unless it costs several pounds to remedy, the cost of a litigator to go after the vendors often outweighs any gain - you're financially better off just dealing with it.

maurice28

poppysarah wrote: »

What if you get a check done and it needs rewiring? Do you plan on reducing your offer?

That's a good question. I guess it would depend on the extent of the work that needs doing and the cost, but quite possibly. In which case, I assume a pre-exchange check would be sensible?

poppysarah

It would be anyway - but if you plan on reducing an offer and they refuse what will you do?

Don't be in too much of a rush to buy - take your time and don't waste your money.

maurice28

Doozergirl wrote: »

Check electrics before exchange.

If anything happens between exchange and completion, unless it is incredibly major, then there isn't much you can do. You can't put yourself in breach of contract by refusing to complete, and unless it costs several pounds to remedy, the cost of a litigator to go after the vendors often outweighs any gain - you're financially better off just dealing with it.

Great, that makes sense, thanks. Maybe a pre-completion check would be worthwhile just so we can have advance sight of anything if it has happened in the moving out process, and be prepared?

LittleJane_2

Please do as many check as possible before buying, get the electrics looked at and if you have a builder friend get them to take a look. also check enviromental agency website for flooding. do all this before you exchange. Do not feel under any pressure to exchange until you are ready. Go and look again at this property at different times of day. You are spending a lot of money on this home and it is a big commitment for a long time.
i am sure on the web you can find advice on what to look for, check heating works, gutters working, toilet flush. (these are of the top of my head)

When you exchange you commit to buying..

good luck in your new home

Richard_Webster

If you have suspicions about the seller - that he will leave the place in a mess etc then you need to warn your solicitor before completion day because normally he will simply go ahead and send the money to the seller's solicitors on the morning of completion.

If you can see that the seller has trashed the place then contact your solicitor straight-away and depending on precisely what has happened and what the seller has said in answers to questions pre-exchange the solicitor may be able to get something off the price as recompense for a breach of a contractual term.

Once the money has gone it is generally too late. We can write letters etc complaining but if a seller doesn't want to pay he generally reckons that a buyer won't want to spend the time and money taking him to the small claims court - with little actual result if the seller has disappeared by then and so the sums awarded cannot be collected.