First time buyer problem!

phl9te

Hi everyone, it's my first post here.

I'd like a bit of advice from people here please - I don't know if I'm going to be straying a bit too far into proper legal territory, but I think people here will know a lot more than I do in this area!

The situation is this: my girlfriend and I have recently bought a flat (yay!). Before we exchanged, we went for a look round and noticed that the balcony door was leaking somehow. We contacted the estate agents and they told us that it wasn't a problem and that they'd get someone to come round and fix it for us. The estate agents rang us after a week or so and told us it was fixed, before we exchanged, so we didn't think to get it put in as a condition for exchange.

Everything else went fine, but then when we completed I picked up the keys and went round to the flat to find that the door was still leaking. I called the estate agents who said that since we'd completed there was nothing they could do and we'd have to talk to the management conpany. I spoke to them and they said the only fault that had been reported was a broken lock. The lock had been fixed and therefore their obligations were complete. I found that when I reported the leak to the estate agents, our contact there had only reported a broken lock, and now neither company wants to know about it.

Our contact at the estate agents not only didn't pass on what we asked him to, but also (mis-)diagnosed the problem himself even though he has no experience in that area. The management company say that if they'd known about the problem before we could have either had the door fixed or negotiated on the price, but now we're stuck with doing it ourselves!

Obviously we were a bit naive at the time not getting it written into the contract, but is there anything we can do now? I can see that the management company have done what they were asked but surely the estate agents have some responsibility here?

Thanks in advance for any advice you've got!

silvercar

The management company say that if they'd known about the problem before we could have either had the door fixed or negotiated on the price, but now we're stuck with doing it ourselves!

I don't get this bit. Why would the management agents be prepared to put the problem right for the previous owners but not for you?

If they are responsible for the leak then they should now put it right for you.

phl9te

They're not responsible for the leak as such - they just do maintenance like painting etc, but I think it would be them who would also carry out work like that in this situation. The repairs would have been done at the request of the estate agents on behalf of the vendor I think, to facilitate the sale.

From what they said I assume that either the vendor would have paid for the repairs or we could have negotiated on price.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the quick reply!

silvercar

The repairs would have been done at the request of the estate agents on behalf of the vendor I think, to facilitate the sale

Makes sense. You now have the option of getting the leak fixed privately or getting the management agent to give you a quote. It may be worth enquiring whether the leak will be covered under the block's building insurance; if it is the managing agents should facilitate getting it fixed.

You could ask your solicitor if it is worth taking legal action agains the estate agent, but I doubt it would be.

phl9te

OK, thanks very much. So you don't think there's much we can do to get the estate agent to sort things out, seeing as it was their mistake that meant it wasn't fixed? I realise we should really have got it put in the contract but it's frustrating that they said they'd fix it and are now avoiding all responsibility!