Taking vendor to small claims

Tembo_2

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me.

I recently completed on a purchase of a flat on 31stMarch. When I got the keys to the property I found that the vendor had left furniture,rubbish, broken windows and also taken the curtain poles/rails which werespecified as being left in the inventory. Also part of the sale was a condition that the ash window operatedfully, the estate agent checked them for me and confirmed this but I now havefound out that 3 of them don’t and will need to be fully refurbished.



I have contacted my solicitors who did the sale, who contactedhis and the vendor has not replied.



I had to hire a van and a friend and filled it with therubbish and take it to the tip. I will also need to replace the 2 panes ofglass and curtain poles and the window refurbishment so all in all this will be£500 +



How can I get the vendor to pay up? Is it worth going to small claims for this?



The vendor was an a*******e, it took 14 weeks to buy the property, he didn’t vacate the flat until 1800 on completion day so caused me huge delays and was rude, and verbal insulting (as was I have to admit) when I unfortunately had to meet him.

So annoyed.


Many thanks in advance

schmouse

I can understand how annoyed you feel. When we moved into our currently property we found loads of stuff had been left behind, the boiler didn't work, and we also found a water leak!
I used to work in the legal profession, and you would be surprised just how common it is for people remove 'fittings,' I have known of cases where fitted wardrobes have been removed, and even mirrors that were stuck onto bathroom walls!

I wonder if it is actually worth suing this person. Firstly you would need to know where the vendor has moved to - do you have their current address? Secondly, even if you are successful in obtaining a judgment, what will you do if they refuse to pay up. Spend even more money on trying to enforce it? I personally wouldn't waste either my money or my time.

maninthestreet

Shouldn't your solicitor be advising you how to proceed? Do you know the current address of the venor - you will need this if you wish to pursue a claim.

Richard_Webster

In this kind of case the moral is to do whatever you can before exchange of contracts and completion to make sure that the problems don't arise. If you are not sure the seller will leave the place tidy then ask that rubbish is removed before exchange and if seller says he won't then say that if that is the case why should you trust him to do it on completion? I would never trust an estate agent to check things like whether windows work - do it yourself!

BitterAndTwisted

What undertakings were given IN WRITING before exchange of contracts took place? If it wasn't in writing you'll be on a hiding to nothing.

cattie

I know when I moved into this house and found filthly old cooker still in kitchen plus rusty old swing in garden, both which I had said I wanted removed before completion, I contacted my solicitor.

He contacted vendor's solicitor which resulted in a paltry £25 cheque being sent by vendor, which I returned, pointing out it would not even cover cost of cooker being disconnected, let alone having to hire somebody to dismantle old rusty swing and take that and cooker away. Got letter back from pompous vendor basically saying stuff you then. :eek:

It was my intention to take them to court to reclaim costs, but my solicitor pointed out that I may not be successful and could incur more costs as a result of having this load of disgusting, filthy tat dumped on me. And as I was stressed out enough after the move, I decided not to pursue the matter.

I got my voodoo doll out instead and hope that at least one of the couple had a nasty accident to pay them back for being so sly & pompous.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

phoebe1989seb

Back in the late 1990s we bought a house that had previously been divided into four flats and the vendor had to take two of the tenants to court to get them to leave before exchange could happen. We hadn't even been able to view the downstairs flat as the tenant refused the landlord/us access - although our surveyor was allowed in - and on completion we found 50+ items of furniture as well as the tenants' abandoned belongings!

Although from what I remember the paperwork (different back then, I guess) said the house would be empty, we bit the bullet and accepted it as it was.....the vendor had gone off to his house in the States and we couldn't be bothered to pursue him through the courts etc. Instead we put our old clothes on, got some saws and sledgehammers and had fun breaking it all up....yes, it cost us in trips to the dump, but we had to have skips anyway as the house needed gutting, so we just got on with it.

We, on the other hand have always got a rubbish removal co in to clear any 'stuff' we didn't want to take/the new owners didn't want left just prior to completion.....in the last house it was contents of an outbuilding and in the previous, the contents of the cellar......that way there's no bad feeling when the new owners take possession and are faced with our old carp!

Not much help, I know but just to show these things do seem to be relatively common

GDB2222

Tembo, it would not be worth hiring a solicitor to pursue this claim, so you would have to do it yourself. Are you up to that? There are 4 stages:
1. Check what contract terms were broken and what your costs are for that. Unless the sash windows were in the contract it's unlikely you can claim.
2. Letter before action.
3. issue proceedings using MCOL. Their fees for a claim of under £500 are pretty small.
4. Turn up at court - IF the buyer defends the proceedings.

sunshinetours

Not remotely worth the stress, hassle and worry IMO. Accept it as part of the experience of moving and buying a "second hand" house

motherofstudents

If you value your sanity, forget it and move on. Our last house but one had a bath buried in the back garden. There were two huge tractor tyres and they are not as easy to get rid of as you might think, it has to be a specialist place not just the tip. We hired skips and got rid of it all so that we could get on with decorating etc.

Morally I think it's awful, I would always leave a house clean for the buyer but not everyone is like that unforunately.