Dodgy sellers or an over-cautious buyer?

harz99

Money_saving_maniac wrote: »

Everything electrical that is not on the certificate has not been rewired. So it's not hard to work out when you go around and look at the house.
I'm sure they will have done everything as cheaply as possible but they don't want to tell you that, I guess that's why they are not telling you it was an Ebay kitchen. Assume the laminate and carpets are the cheapest crap available.

However the survey is ok so that's a positive. Is there building regulation control sign off for the removal of the wall? Do they have the licence for dropping the kerb and planning permission if the drive is non permeable material? That stuff is far more important than where the kitchen came from, if you were buying from someone who lived there it could be an old kitchen design and the doors no longer available, after all.

Not really, it was not a full survey just the simple version.

david1951

harz99 wrote: »

"Consultancy" indicates to me an outside company not the local council building control

http://www.eastmidlandsbc.com/

Seems legit, but I agree that they need to check it out and confirm what was inspected and signed off.

junebug87

Thanks all, some really useful advice.

Just a couple of points to clarify (should this change anything, but from the majority of the responses it seems clear what I need to do to get peace of mind on the issues raised) what documentation we have received:

- Electrical safety certificate (detailing work that has been done) researched company and seems legit and registered
- Gas safety certificate for new boiler installation and kitchen hob. Certificate states installation done in May, warranty states June… so will get the seller to clarify this. Researched company, seems small and local but registered so appears to be legit.
- Building regulation certificate from East Midlands Building Consultancy
- Retrospective Domestic Vehicular Access Licence for driveway
- Homebuyers survey report (30 pages)
- Roof survey report (1 page)
- The usual searches documentation

What I think I need to do:
- Contact council re: driveway/kerb and make sure the documentation covers us for liability claims
- Contact building regulation consultancy to get more detail on the inspection
- Take a builder to the property to assess quality of the work
- Get electricians advice on partial rewiring

Essentially it seems like I need to verify that all the work/inspections that have been carried out are legitimate and of a decent quality.

Depending on what I find, is there an opportunity to reduce my offer to cover potential work that I may need to get redone in the near future? Or would that just open up a whole new can of worms?

Smodlet

Reducing your offer is entirely up to you... and I would ask if I could lift the laminate flooring. Their answer might tell you all you need to know.

undetterred

Smodlet wrote: »

Reducing your offer is entirely up to you... and I would ask if I could lift the laminate flooring. Their answer might tell you all you need to know.

I'm sure you'd get the same response from any homeowner, when asking for this ridiculous idea.

david1951

junebug87 wrote: »

Essentially it seems like I need to verify that all the work/inspections that have been carried out are legitimate and of a decent quality.

Depending on what I find, is there an opportunity to reduce my offer to cover potential work that I may need to get redone in the near future? Or would that just open up a whole new can of worms?

Depends what you find. They may well have a high opinion of their renovation, so unless something major is uncovered then a reduced offer might not go down very well. Worst case scenario, they get annoyed and find another buyer.

Smodlet

undetterred wrote: »

I'm sure you'd get the same response from any homeowner, when asking for this ridiculous idea.

The answer they gave might, however, be very telling. Presumably these vendors are already aware the OP has reservations. There is also the requirement in law (which, admittedly is a joke, imo) for vendors and estate agents to disclose any known issues. I say, caveat emptor (that's buyer, beware! in Latin, just in case) If I were determined to sell a property, and someone who seemed like a serious buyer asked me to take up a couple of bits of laminate (as if that would ever be in my house in the first place) I would allow them to do so. Your opinion may well differ.

junebug87

After receiving some great advice from you all, I've taken it on board and now have a new dilemma relating to my initial post. I didn't want to start a new thread because I feel like the context is important.

Electrics: I've spoken with the electrician who carried out the partial rewire - he gave me loads of info and put my mind at ease.

Building regs: I've spoken with the company re: the retrospective inspection after the wall was knocked down. They confirmed the wording on the certificate is standard. They mentioned that the ceiling had to be exposed to fully inspect the work.

Kitchen: The sellers have informed me the kitchen (which they don't have the company name for.....) was based in Manchester and has since closed down. They gave me the name of the 'style' of cupboards which can be bought online.

Windows - they've given me a company name but I can't for the life of me find it anywhere on the internet. I'm not 100% convinced by it to be honest. Feel like they're just trying to shut me up!

We went to go and see the property again today, we wanted to take a look at the replastering/repainting work that would have been done in the kitchen to inspect the wall removal as well as having another look around.

Here is where the issue lies.....

- We noticed a small crack/chip in the ceiling - clearly this is where the inspection took place and they've not done a great job at covering it up. I'm sure we could fix this ourselves if needs be but it's irritating as they said they'd sorted it.

- In the living room, the paint is starting to peel around the door frames. Not sure if this is down to poor quality paint or a bad painter?

- Upstairs, the carpet is coming up from underneath the bottom of the door frame, it can be lifted up with ease, as if it's not quite fixed down properly.

- They've recently added a door handle to the living room doors and have chipped the woodwork on the door frame in the process.

All cosmetic issues really, but brings up concerns again that we may be paying more than the property is worth. We made our offer based on what the saw of the house at the time we viewed it. We knew it had been done up and did not think that corners will have been cut to do everything on the cheap. Niave perhaps, but as FTB we simply didn't know better.

I'm now stuck, they're pushing for exchange and completion. We want the house but feel like we're going to need to do a lot of cosmetic work to rectify the poor job they've done, which will cost money.

No doubt this won't be a popular question, but is it reasonable to reduce our offer at this stage to account for the issues with the work (only coming to light now) and the issues we've had over getting paperwork/company names for everything they've done?.

We're thinking £5k will cover what we want to do plus the risk of anything we have not yet spotted. (Our original offer of £235k (£4k under asking price in a popular area) was accepted immediately. I'd feel better having that £5k to spend on repainting and doing a bit of cosmetic work, but i'm not 100% sure when it's acceptable to reduce offers this late in the game. Or, is it better to accept the fact I've potentially offered a little more than it was actually worth and just deal with it.

AnotherJoe

As you say cosmetic issues. Do you really think they are worth five thousand pounds? I'd laugh in your face if you said that to me and i was the seller.

You can offer lower if you want but nothing you've mentioned it specifically warrants it in my book. If you want an excuse try Brexit, thats more credible than what you've posted, i think the situation is almost the opposite of your initial post.

Whether your seller tells you to go forth and multiple or meets you in the middle, or offers £500 for aggravation, I dont know. I think you are suffering from buyers remorse,you wish you'd been bargained up from a lower price even if to what it is now.

Clutterfree

£5k on decorating?
What are your decorating it with? Gold leaf?!