Property damaged before completion of property

TranceNRG

Hello everyone, I'm after some advice regarding my situation.

Completion finally happened on my ground floor flat in west London, after 6 months! The seller's solicitor was unbelievably slow and incompetent. We couldn't contact her for a couple of months and also the documents were incorrectly signed. She also got it wrong the 2nd time.

Anyway I finally got the key from the Estate Agent yesterday evening. I went in to the flat with my builder (I'm going to renovate the flat) and was shocked to see the carpet and walls near the bathroom saturated in water. I was lucky my builder was there as he found the leak in the pipes in the bathroom and stopped the water connection to the flat.

I took some photos of the damage

http://imgur.com/a/RpWoT

I reckon it was like that for at least a couple of days as there were mushrooms growing on one of the walls.

Needless to say I was pretty disappointed to find the property in that condition and the fact that the agents didn't bother to check the property before hand over.
Are the Estate agents supposed to check the property before handing over keys? The owner lives in Australia so can't really blame him.

I emailed my solicitor this morning about the damage and she advised me to claim it on insurance. She's also informed the seller's solicitor for seller's comments.

My solicitor said I could hire a damage assessor (I've no idea where to find one) and said they can do everything for me for a fee. She also said the seller would have to pay the excess on insurance claim as this happened before completion.

I was planning to start renovations end of this week and as part of renovations we were going to install new flooring and painting walls. So a little cosmetic damage isn't a big deal but I'm worried that a thorough inspection might reveal bigger damage to the walls, floors, etc

What do you think I should do in this situation? Should I not start the renovations until the insurance claim (if we go down that path) has been processed? If it's successful, will I get money as compensation or will they give the money to another builder to repair the damage?

Thanks.

arbrighton

What matters is whether this occurred before or after exchange.


The onus to check the property, prior to exchange when you are committed to the purchase, is on you

Out,_Vile_Jelly

You should have insurance from the date of Exchange (or you've been badly advised). You need to contact the company to find out their claim procedure.

No, agents don't routinely inspect property during the process.

pmlindyloo

An estate agent doesn't have to check the property but the buyer can and it is recommended that you do so. You didn't so no good going into that aspect.

Did you have a survey done as part of the process? Did it flag up anything about damp?

If it didn't then the damage has been caused since and any damage will relate to the recent leak.

Do as the solicitor advises and get your insurance company involved. They will tell you what you have to do. Best to do this as they may have their own damage assessor.

As the solicitor said you should be able to claim the excess fee from the seller.

Your problem is that you were intending to renovate anyway so you do not have to get the insurers involved if you don't want to. Just ask your builder to check the damage and see if it is going to involve remedial work rather than just leaving it to dry out.

G_M

Claim on your insurance.

You could certainly write to the sellers requesing/demanding they pay the insurance excess, but it's unlikely to be enough o warrant a court case or eploying a damage asesor - ow much is the excess? £50? £200?

TranceNRG

I had no idea that the onus was on me to check prior to exchange or completion.
Its hard to say exactly when the leak started but it's possible it's been there more than a week (exchange was last week).

There's joint building insurance (building has 2 flats and owners have shares of the freehold) so I was asked to pay half of the building insurance (something like £180) on completion which I did. I think the insurance policy is still in the seller and other freeholder's names.

How is this going to affect the renovations I was planning on doing?

I guess it's best to speak to the insurance company.

Edit - I have no idea how much the excess is. I'm guessing it's about £300 (It's around that for building insurance right?)
What are the cons of making an insurance claim? Will the premium be much higher next year?

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...I always understood that the onus was on me as from Exchange of Contracts time. It seems to be consensus of opinion time that state of property is down to the buyer from that time onwards and that is the reason why buyers are advised to ensure that their insurance cover starts from the Exchange date, rather than the Completion date.

I know...I know...and I don't agree with that either. I feel the vendor is responsible up until 5 minutes before Completion basically. However, that consensus of opinion is what it is and I personally made sure I insured my property-to-be from Exchange of Contracts time onwards...:(

....but I did take the precaution of taking my surveyors advice about a possible problem they could see might happen. Consequently, the vendor was told to minimise the chances of that potential problem happening - and had to do so - and that was duly covered and at least that thing was covered and didn't happen:cool:

ManofLeisure_2

Sorry that you're having to face this problem. Did you have a survey carried out before buying this property and did it flag up any problems?

Thrugelmir

TranceNRG wrote: »

I had no idea that the onus was on me to check prior to exchange or completion.

Who else would be interested in the condition of the property?

lincroft1710

What does your solicitor think the seller will do?

He lives in Australia so he would most probably not be aware of the problem. He has no obligation to compensate you and even if you took a claim to court, how easy do you think it would be to get your money.

marksoton

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Yep...I always understood that the onus was on me as from Exchange of Contracts time. It seems to be consensus of opinion time that state of property is down to the buyer from that time onwards and that is the reason why buyers are advised to ensure that their insurance cover starts from the Exchange date, rather than the Completion date.

I know...I know...and I don't agree with that either. I feel the vendor is responsible up until 5 minutes before Completion basically. However, that consensus of opinion is what it is and I personally made sure I insured my property-to-be from Exchange of Contracts time onwards...:(

....but I did take the precaution of taking my surveyors advice about a possible problem they could see might happen. Consequently, the vendor was told to minimise the chances of that potential problem happening - and had to do so - and that was duly covered and at least that thing was covered and didn't happen:cool:

The two views in bold massively conflict.

One is accurate, one is wishful thinking i'm afraid.