purchaced house 2 months ago, just moved in and found problems!

evilbunnyhahaha

We purchased a house 2 months ago, after decorating etc, we finally moved in 2 days ago. While decorating several problems were found, for example, there is a pipe under the bath, leading from the roof, with nothing in it! the rain etc comes straight in and leaks everywhere. Last night we attempted to use the ensuit shower, only to find it leaks into the front room ceiling. the sealant looks fine, so its a problem under the shower base. From where the water is leaking into the front room, the ceiling it clearly patched up, so the seller knew it leaked. understandably we are angry that we seem to have brought the "house jack built". :mad: Is there anything we can do? should we go back to the solicters or estate agents? or should we just take a deep breath, smile and fix it asap. thankfully there is another shower we can use in the mean time but itf anyone can point us in the right direction we'd be so thankful!

Yorkie1

Unless you can prove the sellers knowingly lied in any of the sale documents, the rule is buyer beware I'm afraid.

DannyboyMidlands

Personally I'd just fix it myself and move on. This is just maintenance and you will never prove who knew what and when.

Unless it's new build......................

thelem

Those don't sound like they'd be expensive to fix, so I'd just get on and do so before it rains again. When buying property it's buyer beware I'm afraid (except new build), which is why it's important to get a survey done. I'm not sure a surveyor would have spotted the specific problems you mentioned, but they would probably have spotted the damp patches that they caused.

OddballJamie

We had that problem with the shower the day after we moved into our new build. Turns out the outlet from the shower tray was cross threaded, 5 minute job to fix. Although Barrats did also order a new part to stop it happening again.

Unscrew the access panel under the shower tray and take a look where it is leaking, could be a DIY job.

giddypenguin

We had this in our new build also, builders sent a plumber round to sort it out and re-painted our ceiling.

evilbunnyhahaha

would the fact its been patched up class as proof they knew it leaked?

WestonDave

evilbunnyhahaha wrote: »

would the fact its been patched up class as proof they knew it leaked?

Not really - they may have known it had leaked, and thought they'd fixed it. If its a joint flexing underneath then it can start leaking again. You'll never prove they knew and even if they did, unless you specifically asked whether it was in working order, you'll be back to being expected to have relied on your own inspections etc for condition as no guarantees come with second hand houses.

evilbunnyhahaha

WestonDave wrote: »

Not really - they may have known it had leaked, and thought they'd fixed it. If its a joint flexing underneath then it can start leaking again. You'll never prove they knew and even if they did, unless you specifically asked whether it was in working order, you'll be back to being expected to have relied on your own inspections etc for condition as no guarantees come with second hand houses.

thats ok, just so we know where we stand, we didnt want to attempt to fix it incase we needed to go down a legal route

Pettigrew

Your solicitors would have raised Additional Enquiries - you should have received a copy of this together with the Sellers' replies. If not, phone and ask your solicitor to send you a copy although it should have been in a report they sent you before you signed all the documents.

If there is anything in there that indicates sellers were lying you may have a case. Question may not have been raised though on that specific issue or similar.

On the other hand, solicitors are expensive. If it is an easy DIY job I would definitely try to fix it yourself as others have recommended and just put it down to experience. You could check with the estate agent though but remember they are paid by the seller.

evilbunnyhahaha

He's up there having a look at it now. We've decided prehaps the best way forward is to take pictures at every stage, but see if its something incredibly simple to fix. we're getting hold of our solicters anyway, so it will be included in the lovely long list of things said to them! We found a huge hole in the kitchen ceiling while painting it for example. where a soil pipe had not been covered, it leaked all under the bath, I'm in the kitchen right now and i can hear the wind whistling through the ceiling even though our daughters bedroom is above me. Its a lovely house, and will be amazing once its fixed, its just a case of GETTING it fixed. the other half is very handy with the ol' tools, but if we have a case to claim back from the sellers for lying to us (its pretty damn clear they have, just a case of prooving it) then we will be. I'll be checking through every tiny part of the contract now