leaving a sold house in a state

JP08

We had the fish in the pond left by the vendor. But they did ask first (via the solicitors which was an amusing little phone-call).

In the end they cost us a few bob as the pond was a raised one built out of decking boards, the rot had got into it, and had to be replaced. It was at that point we found we had four fish and not the three signed for. There are now 7, so we assume they are happy in the replacement pond

Jagraf

Once upon a time we were say outside our new hous, with the removal lorries, all done and dusted, waiting for he previous owners to move out their ducks, chickens and kids. I said if they don't hurry up I would be keeping the all

Another house took their cat but left the mice!

phoebe1989seb

Our most recent two houses purchases have been vacant for some time when we bought them (current one which we completed on in December had been empty around two years) and one a few years back had four tenants, two of whom had to be evicted before the sale completed.

Therefore we've also had our share of filthy homes with all sorts of carp left behind - although no cats, sadly....

Our current house was actually not too bad - just a ton of cobwebs, dirty carpets (rug doctor was hired for those we intended keeping), filthy (net ) curtains and a bit of rubbish in the cellar. The vendor also left a broken washing machine - but surprisingly we had an email from our solicitor just prior to exchange saying that the vendor had noticed this no longer worked so would we accept £350 to buy a new one.....he still didn't remove the broken one though.

The previous house was worse - but it was bought as a part-finished project so no surprises really, but the tenanted house was disgustingly bad - brown ring around the yellow bath, literally dozens of empty loo roll tubes piled in a corner, noodles splattered all over the kitchen wall and door in the downstairs flat and in excess of fifty truly manky bedsit-style pieces of furniture spread throughout the 3500 sq ft house :eek:

Back then (2000) we didn't know any better, the vendor lived in the US and we just sucked it up, taking stuff to the tip ourselves, but now we'd be straight on to our solicitor. A bit of dirt is nothing by comparison, but if truly bad would definitely be something I'd want to mention if the paperwork expressly stated the house was to be cleared and left in a reasonable state - although I agree that's very subjective.

Poor cat though - hope you find a good home for him/her if you can't keep it yourself.

bouicca21

When I bought my first house the vendors left their cat - they even bought a a box to transport it in and punched a hole in it to pretend the cat had escaped! Given my allergies I wasn't best pleased. But happily the lady next door had always looked after it and was happy to adopt it.

Mind you the cat was nothing compared to the smell of stale urine from the carpets ...

tea-bag

I don't think you can own a cat, My neighbor stole two of mine and there was nothing I could do.

As for the stuff left behind, I am in the same situation I am buying a probate property but half the stuff is junk half is good, for example there are about 1000 welsh slate tiles in the garden some lovely period cowlings and and some good tools and equipment as well as some very good old furniture.

However there is A LOAD of junk in the garden as well my contract does say rubbish removed and vacant possession but I am not making a fuss at this point because I am hoping they will leave it! Any other junk I can claim for.

konark

Technically you can get someone to collect all the rubbish a previous houseowner has left and then go to the small claims court to recoup the money because they are in breach of contract. In reality, unless they left the house absolutely full of junk, it's best just to take it to the tip and forget it.

mandragora_2

Where there's muck, there's brass. In our case, also a surprising amount of ferret poo.

Both the last two houses we have bought were filthy and full off rubbish when we moved in. On the plus side, one lot left us a (rotted) speedboat in the garden - the guy who did the house move for us took it away as full payment for his services.

The other house was utterly disgusting, but they were so useless, in their filthy flit they also left behind many lovely, valuable things which we washed and flogged on, or washed and kept for ourselves, as well as a piano, which we didn't want, but which we kept as a bargaining chip when we took them to small claims court over an unpaid debt.

(Our son, who has a cast iron constitution happily tucked in to a mechant-sized box of Werther's Originals toffees that he'd found in one of the bedrooms for weeks!)

WeAreGhosts

tea-bag wrote: »

I don't think you can own a cat, My neighbor stole two of mine and there was nothing I could do.

how random. if it's microchipped to your address and/or you have paperwork to prove it's yours (from rescue centre or whatever) then surely it is "owned"

rosie383

Before you send the cat off to a rescue centre, perhaps ask around among the neighbours and make sure that it truly did belong to the vendors. We have a 'visiting cat' who lives in the house behind ours. She is on the fence every morning waiting to come in,spends the day in our house, then goes back home when I put her out at night. She has been coming every day for almost 14 years since she was a wee kitten. We love her to bits, and leaving her behind is the only thing that will be really sad about moving, but she isn't our cat. She very definitely still belongs to her owners. I will be leaving a note for the new owner about bin days, heating system etc., and will be telling her who the cat belongs to.

LplateSaver

WeAreGhosts wrote: »

how random. if it's microchipped to your address and/or you have paperwork to prove it's yours (from rescue centre or whatever) then surely it is "owned"

You can't make the cat come back...

We had two cats for a about 2 years. We moved and brought them with us then one decided the new neighbours food was better. We went and got another cat from a shelter and had 2 again for another six months when the other cat "moved out" of our garden. The shelter rescue has been the most loyal, with us 10 years.