Cheeky Vendors

londonlydia

We completed on our house on fri, woohoo. This was after months of battle really, based on the fact that following survey we needed to reduce the offer because of various issues. We ended up meeting half way between our new offer and the original one, which was right at the edge of what we could accept and able to afford to do the work. I know it was probably disappointing for the vendors, but in my eyes they were tempting fate by never having a survey of any description done prior to their purchase.

Well anyway, we've gone into the house and going around, you can tell that they must have been peed off and have been malicious in certain parts, on top of not telling us about some faults! Just wondering what you guys would do? We told our solicitor, but know that taking any of it up would be costly...and they've been quite clever in doing just enough to be annoying, but not enough that you would bother to sue over.

So this is what they've done (or at least what we've found so far!!):

1) Taken no care moving out, leaving scuffs over all the walls (and on some walls where furniture wouldnt have gone past?!)

2) Taken Shelving off the wall, that not only did they say they would leave, but also that has left great big holes in the plaster that will need to be reskimmed!

3) Taken the internal Letterbox. It was quite a nice one to be fair I remember, sort of a chrome ornate one. But in taking it they've actually damaged the UPVC door as they've literally ripped it off!

4) They've cut out and removed the power cable down to the shed, which took some effort (needed digging out in parts)

5) They loosened all the traps/ pipes to the sink and utility room so that turning on a tap leaked everywhere.

6) They conveniently forgot to mention there are no window keys at all in the house



...add onto this the fact they clearly weren't very clean people or had bothered to maintain anything including never having their boiker serviced since installation...thank goodness we have a boilerman in the family!

So frustrating! Still, c'est la vie, at least I can enjoy making the house nicer than they had it

m0bov

you can reduce your offer to cover the cost of repairs. get a quote or just walk.

silvercar

m0bov wrote: »

you can reduce your offer to cover the cost of repairs. get a quote or just walk.

Too late, they have completed alrready.

Sounds like they felt you took advantage of them in reducing your offer and this is their revenge.

JimmyTheWig

silvercar wrote: »

Sounds like they felt you took advantage of them in reducing your offer and this is their revenge.

Reducing an offer following a survey is standard practice. Maybe it wasn't related to this and they're just nasty people?

chewmylegoff

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Reducing an offer following a survey is standard practice. Maybe it wasn't related to this and they're just nasty people?

just cos something is standard practice doesn't mean that people will behave reasonably when you do it.

@OP - you can either attempt to sue them for the damage they have caused, or just put it right and get on with your lives. if it were me i would do the latter, but i would be asking for window keys...

Fire_Fox

Speak to your conveyancer about deliberate damage.

go_cat

But you can be smug in the knowledge of the work that went into causing the unnecessary damage ...digging out power cables isn't light work

At least you do not need to ever see them again... I do hope they have remembered to forward their mail..would be such a shame if it all went in the bin

Yorkie1

A small claims court action is straightforward and relatively cheap.

You could sue them for the cost of repairing the door, at the very least as I suspect that might not be cheap or easy to do.

Might make them think twice about doing it again.

martinsurrey

adjusting electrical work outside is notifiable work, as such it requires building regulations approval or be notified by a part P registered electrician, ask them for the paper work, then you can serious about damages, as this is illegal.

ash28

londonlydia wrote: »

We completed on our house on fri, woohoo. This was after months of battle really, based on the fact that following survey we needed to reduce the offer because of various issues. We ended up meeting half way between our new offer and the original one, which was right at the edge of what we could accept and able to afford to do the work. I know it was probably disappointing for the vendors, but in my eyes they were tempting fate by never having a survey of any description done prior to their purchase.

Well anyway, we've gone into the house and going around, you can tell that they must have been peed off and have been malicious in certain parts, on top of not telling us about some faults! Just wondering what you guys would do? We told our solicitor, but know that taking any of it up would be costly...and they've been quite clever in doing just enough to be annoying, but not enough that you would bother to sue over.

So this is what they've done (or at least what we've found so far!!):

1) Taken no care moving out, leaving scuffs over all the walls (and on some walls where furniture wouldnt have gone past?!)

2) Taken Shelving off the wall, that not only did they say they would leave, but also that has left great big holes in the plaster that will need to be reskimmed!

3) Taken the internal Letterbox. It was quite a nice one to be fair I remember, sort of a chrome ornate one. But in taking it they've actually damaged the UPVC door as they've literally ripped it off!

4) They've cut out and removed the power cable down to the shed, which took some effort (needed digging out in parts)

5) They loosened all the traps/ pipes to the sink and utility room so that turning on a tap leaked everywhere.

6) They conveniently forgot to mention there are no window keys at all in the house



...add onto this the fact they clearly weren't very clean people or had bothered to maintain anything including never having their boiker serviced since installation...thank goodness we have a boilerman in the family!

So frustrating! Still, c'est la vie, at least I can enjoy making the house nicer than they had it

Could have been one of our moves from a quite a few years ago. There was no haggling on the price, we paid the asking price and everything went through smoothly.

On removal day - a dark Friday afternoon in the winter, we found:

No light bulbs in the house at all
Living and dining rooms only had wall lights - they had removed them - so no lighting at all in those 2 rooms. We had to use a trailing lamp.
Shelving removed that they said they were leaving.
Curtain track removed in every room - they said they were taking the curtains not the track.
Living room carpet removed - said they were leaving all of the carpets
Toilet roll holder, towel rail and cabinet taken from bathroom.
Strip lighting removed from garage.

In fact if it wasn't bolted down they took it with them...and they were moving into a brand new house.

We spoke to the solicitor but he said it wasn't worth pursuing them so we didn't. We put it down to experience - quite an expensive experience though.

But I did smile when they had their new house repossessed about 3 years later. It couldn't have happened to a nicer couple.

Do you know who fitted the windows - we thought we'd lost ours and rang the company who fitted and they gave us replacements free of charge - OH had put them somewhere safe!! They did turn up.

paso11

Toilet roll holder? You really wonder sometimes what goes through people's heads..