House being sold due to conviction of owner

shaggyjh

Hi all,

Me and the wife are going to view a house tomorrow that has come onto the market due to the previous owner being imprisoned for growing Cannabis at the property!! :wall:

Is there anything we should really be wary of or look out for? I think the illegal growing was going on in the shed/outbuilding but there are apparently stairs to the loft (he was a builder in his mid 50's) so i'll have a look there for any major adjustments to the house. On the positive side it might make converting the loft to a 4th bedroom easier subject to planning permission!!

The main concern we had was whether the property might be black-listed in anyway, and any future credit checks for something might fail due to the previous owner's dodgy dealings?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated, thanks

ILW

My worry would be what dodgy characters may turn up not knowing he has moved out.

Yorkie1

Have a look at the electricity - particularly the consumer unit. I doubt the plants were being grown with paid-for electricity.

If the staircase was put in by a DIY-er, I'd be concerned about its structural strength and would want that properly investigated.

Properties are not black-listed for credit so that shouldn't be a worry.

bigchrissyg

We brought a repo that was previously run as a brothel. Their assets frozen and then bank took the house. Solicitor had to apply to remove some legal action held on the deeds. Other than 'not at this address' a bunch of debt collector letters and replacing kicked in doors we had no problems.

shaggyjh

ILW wrote: »

My worry would be what dodgy characters may turn up not knowing he has moved out.

I don't think he was selling it, according to the stories about! It's quite a nice area so i would have though they might be true, obviously you can't tell completely.

We were talking about getting a dog anyway, so maybe a rottweiller or doberman might have to replace the westie that the wife wants :rotfl:

shaggyjh

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Have a look at the electricity - particularly the consumer unit. I doubt the plants were being grown with paid-for electricity.

If the staircase was put in by a DIY-er, I'd be concerned about its structural strength and would want that properly investigated.

Properties are not black-listed for credit so that shouldn't be a worry.

He was a builder so hopefully the stairs to the loft were put in pretty well. The property details from the agent have no internal photos so we'll have to wait and see whatit looks like inside when we view it tomorrow.

We were just worried that the property maybe black-listed so that's good, if it were going to give us problems in the future it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

kidmugsy

shaggyjh wrote: »

He was a builder so hopefully the stairs to the loft were put in pretty well.

The most dangerous central heating I've ever seen was installed his own house by a gas fitter.

dimbo61

He may well have bypassed the electric meter and the electric company may have a large outstanding bill running to thousands of pounds, the whole house electrics will need to be checked, the loft maybe full of holes where electric cables pass up into the loft or outside.
No building regs for any of the work!!! IE stairs.
Damp from the water system used to water the plants, insulation to hide heat signal from Police Helicopter
Could be a total nightmare so WHY no photos on estate agents website

shaggyjh

If we really liked the house we'd definitely get a survey done to look into the points mentioned about the wiring and water.

Thanks for the pointers and what to lookk out for. I'll be asking the estate agent about some things tomorrow!!

Davesnave

dimbo61 wrote: »

He may well have bypassed the electric meter and the electric company may have a large outstanding bill running to thousands of pounds, the whole house electrics will need to be checked, the loft maybe full of holes where electric cables pass up into the loft or outside.
No building regs for any of the work!!! IE stairs.
Damp from the water system used to water the plants, insulation to hide heat signal from Police Helicopter
Could be a total nightmare so WHY no photos on estate agents website

You seem to know a lot about this, wink, wink!:rotfl:

Yorkie1

The survey will be able to comment on structural stuff and any damp. You'll need to get a separate sparky to do the electricals.