Planning to sell soonish - what about small repairs?

browsingid

Hello

I am planning to put my flat on the market next year, and in preparation for this I am going to redecorate etc, putting as much Property Ladder/House Doctor advice to work as possible. BUT, there are a few issues that I am not sure whether to deal with now, or leave for the new owners.

Firstly, our shower's thermostat is bust. We never bothered repairing it as the default temperature is pretty much just right, so didn't see the point in splashing out to fix a problem that wasn't any incovenience. This is perhaps a bigger issue than it seems as we only have a shower, no bath.

Secondly, the window in our front bedroom is a double-glazed 'tilt and turn' style window, but the lock on it doesn't work any more. The window still closes securely, but cannot be locked. All the lock really achieves is preventing it from being used in 'turn' mode, whilst allowing you to still use it in 'tilt' mode. Although we are on the ground floor, the window is to the front on a fairly high-traffic street, so never really felt that it was insecure.

Now, my question is, are these the kind of things that surveys would pick up? (I wouldn't have thought so) Should I get them fixed? I feel a bit guilty leaving them as unpleasant surprises for the new owner. What do you think?

I feel totally confident with dealing with the financial side of house-selling, but the practical things like this leave me a bit non-plussed.

lynzpower

we hada few things like that, we are putting ours on the market next week

One, I have a broken lightfitting in the bathroom. Ive left it its the LF itself thats bust, not the actual electrics which are all sound. there was no chance I would be able to replace the fitting as I bought it so long ago & it was in the sale. If a buyer twigs, Im happy to give a reduction to the tune of a replacement lightfitting for this.

Everything else, we have done. And the place looks all the better for it. I think that otherwise I would have been on pins hoping that a buyer doesnt twig on, when all the jobs were so minor that it cost us very little to do them.

Angela_D_3

I would do the jobs personally then there's no ill feeling and good karma.

silvercar

The two things you mention would not be picked up by a full structural survey. I would leave them. Only on new houses do you expect everything to be in perfect working order.

We had a full structural survey on our house and I could write a book on the things that were not working when we moved in. All things that weren't picked up in a survey. If you think your shower thermostat is bad, we couldn't get any hot water at all in the en-suite, that was only put in 2 years ago!

cattie

I tend to ensure that small repairs are done before I move house for the simple reason I like to leave things in the way I would like to find them in my new house.

A surveyor won't pick up on the problems you've mentioned, but as you say, they will probably come as unpleasant surprises to the new owners.

The window problem is actually a security issue if it doesn't lock, so could invalidate any contents insurance.

lynzpower

Id definately get the window lock sorted BTW and I would be pretty pi55ed off if I moved in somewhere that had a dodgy shower.

Hopefully I can get an answer to my lightfitting problem sooner rather than later