Dodgy sellers or an over-cautious buyer?

junebug87

Ha definitely not gold leaf!

It's a combination of cosmetic stuff and covering our backs for any other work they've done that turns out to be dodgy. Plus the risk of not having anything to cover us for poor workmanship. We wanted a place that didn't need loads of work when moving in, and part of me is annoyed that all these things have popped up so late on.

Perhaps you're right, maybe it's just buyers remorse. We've had such a rough ride with these sellers, part of me resents paying top notch for what is now turning out to be cheap work! Even with £5k less they're still selling the place for £70K more than they bought it for last year so it wouldn't be too tough on them.

Will have a think, perhaps it's not worth it in the grand scheme of things.

harz99

harz99 wrote: »

Junebug87 you may be a bit over-cautious, but its your money and if you are not happy with the property now, you likely never will be, so I would say walk away and find another place that ticks your boxes, unless as Doozergirl says a full professional survey would be enough (assuming it was satisfactory), to put your mind at rest.

I can only repeat what I said before, with emphasis as above.

tlc678910

Hi,
I have to disagree with the direction this thread is leading you (sorry). You have a favourable survey and documentation for everything down to the water quality in the loo!

Do you want the place or not? I think the delay in the sellers responding to your (many many) questions is because you are doing their heads in!

Getting hung up on the profit the sellers are making is ridiculous. If you don't want to pay a mark up on a house don't buy one that has just been renovated and do it yourself. The house is worth what someone wants to buy it for. Do you want to buy the house at the amount you offered or not? (I'm having to try hard to resist putting that in capitals as that is considered rude).

You are not going to find a house without snagging not even a new build. Do you really think you need £1000 an hour to stick a gripper rod in the carpet and paint a door frame? Just totally normal stuff.

So what if the windows weren't fitted by a firm with a royal warrant - do they look ok, open and close, are they transparent?

If you genuinely don't want to pay what you offered you can reduce your offer to whatever you like. I think your sellers will be a whisker away from telling you to do one as it is.

Tlc

Edit: do you know anyone that has been sued for someone tripping on their drop curb...ever heard of anyone. Me either. That is what insurance and legal cover is for. ....I just know someone will have a story about this ;-)

[Deleted User]

I think you are trying your hardest to find the smallest thing wrong with the house (normal easily fixable DIY jobs) now the big questions have been answered. Nit picking, really.

Is it worth wasting the money you've spent on legal fees etc?

Why are you trying so hard to find things wrong with the house.., are you like this with everything? Maybe that needs to be thought about.

junebug87

To be honest, I think it's this forum that has led me to question everything. I've been posting a few things along the last four months and the responses have generally been in the "this sounds dodgy" and "you need to look into this" camp which is what has led me to have these concerns. Perhaps too many opinions spoil the ability to make decisions! Obviously no one on here has the full picture I do, and I clearly just have to go with my gut. I guess all the advice in the world isn't as useful as that! But it was worth a try and is good to at least get some good advice through all the confusion!

Thanks for your thoughts. I think it's time to go and trust my own decisions!

MistyZ

junebug87 wrote: »

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.

These things you mention aren't anything at all! I can't believe they'd affect the value of the property. You can easily fix 'em.
I reckon you've got the jitters. This whole thing .... selling, buying, having to trust people we don't know from Adam, spending more money than we've ever done before, it's terrifying!

barbiedoll

It's perfectly normal (and quite sensible) to have doubts and fears when buying your first property. It is a huge outlay and a huge commitment, everyone feels the same. Especially after reading boards such as this!

As another poster said, even new-builds have problems with the quality of work, everyone I know that has moved into a new-build has had a list of snagging issues as long as your arm. Door handles falling off is a common complaint, along with ill-fitting doors and windows, poor quality and/or poorly fitted floor coverings and plumbing problems, with toilets especially.

Yes, of course the vendors did the work as cheaply as they could, they want to make a profit. People only tend to spend lots of cash if they're going to benefit from it personally. But as long as the building work is properly signed off, quibbling about kitchen units is a waste of time. A kitchen unit is usually just a few bits of wood or chipboard screwed together with a door attached, no matter how much or how little you spend, they normally stay up long enough to be useful. You can fix a wobbly cupboard or a wonky door yourself, it's part and parcel of being a homeowner!

If you love the house, the location is good and you can afford it, then stop fretting and get on with it. You'll be spending the rest of your days finding things wrong with it, that's just the nature of homeowning. Everyone moans about their home's previous owners and their terrible taste in decor, dreadful DIY skills or lack of hygiene.

Smodlet

tlc678910 wrote: »

Hi,
I have to disagree with the direction this thread is leading you (sorry). You have a favourable survey and documentation for everything down to the water quality in the loo!

This made me howl with laughter... now, OP, are you absolutely sure you remembered to check the pH balance is not adversely affected when you flush it more than once an hour? :rotfl:

Sorry. I get it. You have never done any DIY in your life so have no idea what is and is not a big job or how much it costs. Peeling paint? Worst case scenario: Damp issues. Most likely scenario: Lack of preparation before inexpertly applying cheap paint. 5 litres of decent quality emulsion paint costs around £30.

Carpet coming up from the floor: As has been said, you need a door bar (£5.99 from a certain building supply/DIY store beginning with W) or possibly gripper. Again, I imagine it was inexpertly fitted.

Chip in the ceiling: Worst case scenario, they did not put a steel in and it is going to fall down. Most likely scenario: It needs a decent blob of filler, a smooth down and a lick of paint when dry.

Chipped paint on the door frames? Seriously? It's called sandpaper and gloss paint!

Either you really do not want this house (or perhaps, any house yet) because you are just not ready for home ownership, or you are just over-thinking things. The reason many posters have offered cautionary tales is because, imho, only the less responsible would tell you "everything is fine, stop worrying, it's cool, chillax" without seeing the property. Certainly I and, I imagine, many others on here presented worst case scenarios to enable you to either confirm or eliminate possibilities.

Only you can decide whether or not to proceed with this purchase. I wish you the best of luck, whatever you decide to do and hope this deluge of "advice" has equipped you with the confidence to make a more informed decision. Regards, Smodlet.

Smodlet

tlc678910 wrote: »

Edit: do you know anyone that has been sued for someone tripping on their drop curb...ever heard of anyone. Me either. That is what insurance and legal cover is for. ....I just know someone will have a story about this ;-)

No, tlc, I do not but I have heard of people successfully suing councils because they tripped on the pavement. Yes I, other fossils and for all I know, you were taught to look where we were going and to pick our feet up. This is not the attitude these days. We live in a blame/compensation/my debts are the bank's/CC company's'/mortgage lender's fault society. Entire generations seem to be taught to abdicate responsibility and blame anyone but themselves for every little thing that ever goes wrong for them, not to mention, scream about it from the modern equivalent of rooftops, social media. Rant over. Smodlet out.

tlc678910

junebug87 wrote: »

To be honest, I think it's this forum that has led me to question everything. I've been posting a few things along the last four months and the responses have generally been in the "this sounds dodgy" and "you need to look into this" camp which is what has led me to have these concerns. Perhaps too many opinions spoil the ability to make decisions! Obviously no one on here has the full picture I do, and I clearly just have to go with my gut. I guess all the advice in the world isn't as useful as that! But it was worth a try and is good to at least get some good advice through all the confusion!

Thanks for your thoughts. I think it's time to go and trust my own decisions!

Of course you needed to get all the essential information about the house and make sure you are not in for any nasty surprises e.g. the removal of the load baring wall. You now seem to have everything essential.
Now.....to buy or not to buy.....THAT is the question. :rotfl: