Problems found after moving into house

MarkBargain

I appreciate that after moving into a house lots of things are found that need to be put right, but is there ever any legal recourse to ask the sellers to help with the cost of putting things right? We moved into a house and found the back door would not open and the side gate was locked, so on our first day we couldn't even get into our own back garden! We needed to get someone to climb over the gate, force the door open from the outside, and professionally replace the door. We also noted the house has no internal doors, which will cost hundreds to put in (we did not notice this when we viewed the house - probably our fault), and despite the heating system being recorded as working on the seller's questionaire, one radiator does not work at all and needs professional repair.

Any comments welcome. I expect I'll need to pay it all myself, but worth asking!

hcb42

As people buy houses from other people all the time, that can be in a ramshackle state of repair, I think you know the answer here.

If they have not misrepresented anything, then I cannot see they have done anything wrong.

The radiator, I would just suck up, it's not a big expense I wouldn't imagine.

t1redmonkey

I reckon you won't have a leg to stand on in terms of getting the sellers to pay towards any repairs/improvements that need doing. The house I'm in now, had a faulty boiler and some of the electrical points were totally dead. Although annoying, they are really things that I should have checked on before paying the money and then negotiated down on that basis, but I didn't. You live and you learn I suppose! Would be interested to see if there is any responses to the contrary though

caeler

Were the internal doors there on viewing? Did the backdoor open when you viewed? I think you see where I'm going with this.

I remember buying a house and found that most of the doors had holes in them (they were original doors recently dipped so looked fab) but I hadn't noticed the holes during viewing because there had been fabrics drapped over them! Plus none of the handles worked so some doors wouldn't close.

MarkBargain

Thanks for the comments. The house does look good generally and was described as 'beautifully maintained' by the estate agent; we wanted a house that required little work and paid a price on that basis. So it was rather disappointing not to be able to access the garden!

I guess the internal doors were not there when we viewed, so fair enough. The back door must have worked then as we went through it to the garden.

Another thing was they took the dishwasher leaving an open pipe which water came out of when we drained the sink. Not a major problem except there is a live electric socket centimetres away! I'll get an electrician to get that moved.

G_M

MarkBargain wrote: »

Thanks for the comments. The house does look good generally and was described as 'beautifully maintained' by the estate agent;
Meaningless! It's up to you to inspect, check, or pay someone to check on your behalf
we wanted a house that required little work so presumable you made sure, via checks above, this this house would meet your needs before you Exchanged..
and paid a price on that basis. So it was rather disappointing not to be able to access the garden!
errrr. but you did access the garden.

I guess the internal doors were not there when we viewed, so fair enough.
yup!
The back door must have worked then as we went through it to the garden.
Did you see it being opened or was it already open....?

Another thing was they took the dishwasher leaving an open pipe which water came out of when we drained the sink.
:rotfl:You saw the dishwasher was not there, did not plumb in your own dishwasher, and did not check the drains before running the taps. Sorry! Elementary my dear Watson! Where did you imagine the dishwasher drained out to...?

Not a major problem except there is a live electric socket centimetres away! I'll get an electrician to get that moved.

Why move the socket? Are planning to leave the drain open so the sink continues to drain down the wall ? :eek: For 35p you can get a drain-stop if you don't intend to put your own dishwasher in place.

Start fixing up your home the way you want it and in a few months time you'll have forgotton all this and be living where/how you want.

olias

I'm sorry, but...............:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I didn't notice the lack of doors...:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'm not able to purchase a piece of plumbing for pennies from B&Q

I'm not able to replace a lock/request missing key

I'm not able to bleed a radiator

Olias

bob2

MarkBargain wrote: »

We also noted the house has no internal doors, which will cost hundreds to put in (we did not notice this when we viewed the house - probably our fault)

Not probably - definitely!

Aside from the absent doors which will cost a bit if there are a fair number, all the other things sound pretty trivial.

Seriously - have you tried bleeding the radiator?

Did anyone try planing the stuck back door before replacing it?

It's perfectly normal to leave a dishwasher drain pipe as they did - either put in a dishwasher yourself or put a cap on it. It's your house now. Did you seriously expect the vendors to think "Hmmm - I don't think our buyers have a dishwasher so we'd better pop down to B & Q to get a cap to seal up the drain point for them"??

MarkBargain

G_M wrote: »

Why move the socket? Are planning to leave the drain open so the sink continues to drain down the wall ? :eek: For 35p you can get a drain-stop if you don't intend to put your own dishwasher in place.

No problem with the dishwasher being taken, of course not, and I know it's easy to add a stopper which of course I will do. It was just the citing of an electic socket next to water pipes that was my concern given pipes always have a tendancy to leak at some point.

MarkBargain

olias wrote: »

I'm sorry, but...............:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I didn't notice the lack of doors...:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'm not able to purchase a piece of plumbing for pennies from B&Q

I'm not able to replace a lock/request missing key

I'm not able to bleed a radiator

Olias

True, three of us didn't notice the lack of internal doors, I guess we were looking at the rooms etc.

My point isn't about the plumbing, it was the citing of the electric point.

The back door, or at least the lock, had to be replaced as the correct key wouldn't work in the lock at all.

The radiator was bled and that didn't work, the whole thing is cold as are the pipes supplying it. Could need a new thermostatic controller I suspect.

MarkBargain

b!!! wrote: »

Not probably - definitely!

Aside from the absent doors which will cost a bit if there are a fair number, all the other things sound pretty trivial.

Seriously - have you tried bleeding the radiator?

Did anyone try planing the stuck back door before replacing it?

It's perfectly normal to leave a dishwasher drain pipe as they did - either put in a dishwasher yourself or put a cap on it. It's your house now. Did you seriously expect the vendors to think "Hmmm - I don't think our buyers have a dishwasher so we'd better pop down to B & Q to get a cap to seal up the drain point for them"??

The key wouldn't turn in the lock so it wasn't a planing the door issue.

As per the above, my point was about the location of the electric socket rather than sealing the pipes.

It's all trivial enough, nothing a few hundred quid won't sort out. I just thought I'd get some opinions and at least provided some entertainment.