Problem With House After Exchange.

davidmcn

When people talk about "everything going through the solicitors", they mean that you don't negotiate things directly with the other party i.e. you tell your solicitor about the issue and they can then discuss it via the other party's solicitor.

It doesn't mean that everything magically gets sorted to your satisfaction just because one of the solicitors knows about it.

Did you not think it odd that your solicitor didn't mention it?

marksoton

Tlg1991 wrote: »

Their solicitors didn't know that we knew. and everywhere going into buying our first home we was told everything should go through the solicitors. so we assumed that they informed theirs and it would get passed through to ours. I thought that was one of the main reasons you pay a bloody solicitor for.

I apologise, i have done wrong. i am the one who should have informed everyone for something to do with THEIR home.

Their home that you were buying, ergo it became your problem.

The only thing you've done wrong is failing to represent your own best interests.

Tlg1991

davidmcn wrote: »

When people talk about "everything going through the solicitors", they mean that you don't negotiate things directly with the other party i.e. you tell your solicitor about the issue and they can then discuss it via the other party's solicitor.

It doesn't mean that everything magically gets sorted to your satisfaction just because one of the solicitors knows about it.

Did you not think it odd that your solicitor didn't mention it?

Okay so we tell our solicitor and they discuss it via the other parties solicitor but the other party telling their solicitor doesn't mean they discuss it via our solicitor?

marksoton

Tlg1991 wrote: »

Okay so we tell our solicitor and they discuss it via the other parties solicitor but the other party telling their solicitor doesn't mean they discuss it via our solicitor?

Their solicitor is not going to open a discussion that compromises their client. However they would have been duty bound to disclose if the question had been asked.

The failure here is quite clear. You should have informed your legal representative.

You never know, it may all work out fine and you'll dodge the bullet.

Tlg1991

marksoton wrote: »

Their solicitor is not going to open a discussion that compromises their client. However they would have been duty bound to disclose if the question had been asked.

The failure here is quite clear. You should have informed your legal representative.

You never know, it may all work out fine and you'll dodge the bullet.

So everything we have been told about not discussing things with the other party and everything going through the solicitor is pointless, because if we hadn't being somewhat friendly with the sellers they would not have informed us about the damage and they would have only informed their solicitors. Which your saying don't need to inform our solicitors unless asked.

so anything could happen to that house and they could inform their solicitors and they don't need to tell us. That is not right at all surely.

Luckily for us though the sellers did inform us in this case, but im talking hypothetically in that scenario. someone could view a house and the place get completely flooded afterwords and not be informed about it unless asked "has the place been flooded since we saw it".

Tlg1991

on another note i have just received an email from our solicitors and the other party have agreed to a £500 retention pending the repairs.

marksoton

Tlg1991 wrote: »

So everything we have been told about not discussing things with the other party and everything going through the solicitor is pointless, because if we hadn't being somewhat friendly with the sellers they would not have informed us about the damage and they would have only informed their solicitors. Which your saying don't need to inform our solicitors unless asked.

so anything could happen to that house and they could inform their solicitors and they don't need to tell us. That is not right at all surely.

Luckily for us though the sellers did inform us in this case, but im talking hypothetically in that scenario. someone could view a house and the place get completely flooded afterwords and not be informed about it unless asked "has the place been flooded since we saw it".

Two words, due diligence.

I'm exchanging tomorrow so i'm going to view the property this lunchtime to make sure i'm buying what i offered on and that nothing has changed. Also that the fixture and fittings list is correct.

Put it down to experience and hopefully in this case goodwill might get it resolved.

mrginge

Tlg1991 wrote: »

So everything we have been told about not discussing things with the other party and everything going through the solicitor is pointless, because if we hadn't being somewhat friendly with the sellers they would not have informed us about the damage and they would have only informed their solicitors. Which your saying don't need to inform our solicitors unless asked.

so anything could happen to that house and they could inform their solicitors and they don't need to tell us. That is not right at all surely.

Luckily for us though the sellers did inform us in this case, but im talking hypothetically in that scenario. someone could view a house and the place get completely flooded afterwords and not be informed about it unless asked "has the place been flooded since we saw it".

You're missing the point.
If there was material damage to the property between offer and exchange that you were not informed about then you can *probably* argue that the seller should have informed you. I suspect that you would win with a claim in those circumstances, despite the need for due diligence.

In this case, the seller DID inform you. You chose to proceed. If you stood up in court and said that you knew but nobody told your solicitor so they couldn't then tell you the same information again then you would look like an idiot.
Fortunately your sellers appear to be not trying to screw you as they
1. Told you.
2. Have tried to sort it.
3. Accepted a retention.

Well done, calm down, accept you made a mistake, carry on with your life.

Tlg1991

Thats fair enough I understand I have made a mistake, I was under the impression that if anything happened during the whole process that their solicitors would HAVE to inform ours if they knew of anything wrong or any changes and so on. hence the reason I didn't, well not immediately anyway.

its one of those things and this time we have got away with it luckily. You live and you learn and so fourth, i am quite amazed though at the lack of help and information that first time buyers are able to get, when it comes to something like this especially, one of the biggest things someone will do in their life its pretty shocking.

Either way, thanks everyone for the help and information, I know what i will be doing if/when we go through this process again.

matttye

Tlg1991,

You seem to have a misunderstanding about what solicitors do.

Solicitors are there to represent THEIR client's best interests. The seller's best interests is probably that you don't know about the damage at all, as it may mean they can get a higher price for the house etc. Solicitors owe their clients are duty of confidentiality, so if they are not instructed to reveal such damage then the solicitor has no right to do so. If they did, they would get sacked and probably get a complaint from their client.

The principle of caveat emptor ("let the buyer beware") applies to land as much as it does anything else. That means it's up to you to make sure that what you're buying is worth buying. That's why you should get a survey carried out - so that you can check if there is anything wrong with it.

As soon as you became aware of the damage you should have been straight on the phone to your solicitor. You should never assume they will find out anything via the seller or seller's solicitor.

Had your solicitor been aware they could have incorporated a requirement for the sellers to repair the damage into the contract, which would render them liable to be sued if they did not uphold their end of the bargain, but because you signed contracts being fully aware of the damage, you have no remedy available to you because you agreed to buy the house as-is. You also have no remedy against your solicitor because they were not aware of the damage!