Can I claim compensation of fees from the sellers ???

applelady123

Any advise is much appreciated please !

We were due to complete on the purchase of a property two weeks ago , the day before we went round to do some last checks etc
Just so happens that the neighbour comes over to have a chat with my father in law as he knew him )
He informed us that the property fell though before due to a buyer pulling out after a survey confirmed there was a serious dry rot issue . Apparently this was then treated and the whole of the downstairs was ripped out and rebuilt etc .... 😱
Obviously my solicitor was very surprised with this news as the buyers had never mentioned in their sellers pack that there was any substantial work done to the house .

Basically they didn't mention anything about the dry rot at all . We have now spent the last two weeks tracing garuntees for the dry rot ( which the company want £200 to transfer new ownership ) and he keeps promising an insurance policy on the garuntee but has failed to come up with this .
He can't give us any reasurance from the dry rot company that the whole house was checked for dry rot so this has left us with no option but to pull out of the sale .

So my question is :

Can I claim back the £1000 I've spent on trying to buy this property ( searches , valuation , solicitor etc )
As I believe he has held back on information that has massively affected our desicion to buy it ?

I've also read that this is criminal offence ? Am I right ?

So angry !!

This is the second property we have lost money on and as first time buyer we just can't afford to keep doing this .

Thanks

BritishBibliophile

I think the two things that will help people answer this are;

1. Are you in England/Wales, or Scotland?

2. You were due to complete, had you already exchanged?

applelady123

Hi I'm in Wales . And we were due to exchange on the 13th Sep but didn't . ��

Chanes

A surveyor would usually spot that type of thing and question the extent of the works and why?

From what I understand they have no obligations and nothing is a done deal until contracts are exchanged. Totally understand why you are angry.

If the works have been done correctly though it should be OK. And you only have to read some of the posts here to realise some people will try and cover up a lot of defects and ask how they can get away with it.

BritishBibliophile

If you haven't exchanged then, as far as I understand, you have no legal recourse to get any kind of costs back from the vendor. They could literally have pulled out of the entire process the day before exchange and put the house back up for sale for more money, and you wouldn't be able to get any money back.

davidmcn

Hmm. Neither you nor your surveyor had noticed that the whole of the downstairs had recently been ripped out and rebuilt?

Anyway, if your concern is that they might have missed some dry rot, isn't the simplest solution to get someone out to check? I wouldn't get too hung up about getting guarantees for the work - they're not worth much.

Davesnave

applelady123 wrote: »

He can't give us any reasurance from the dry rot company that the whole house was checked for dry rot so this has left us with no option but to pull out of the sale .

No, until exchange, you always have two options: to buy, or to pull out.

You have chosen the latter, instead of doing what others might do: employ a specialist to do these checks. Anyone else, paid for by someone else, wouldn't be the best option.

Depending on the report, you'd then be at liberty to renegotiate the offer price, reducing it if necessary. At the least, you'd cover the survey fees.

applelady123

Thanks for all the replys 😀
Surely a survey wouldn't be that extensive anyway unless I went for the top end survey ?? And wouldn't they need to remove carpets and plasterboards etc to properly check ? We tried to buy a house before and had a home buyers survey and this didn't even check for dry rot.

moneyistooshorttomention

I've had mid-level Homebuyers Survey on both first house (albeit many years ago now) and current house and don't recall there being any checking for dry rot on it - and how many people are going to have a top-end survey on a house? (ie not a lot).

In your position - I'd turn round to the vendor and say that I couldnt proceed without the guarantee on the place and was prepared to avoid any further delay (for BOTH of us) by paying for the guarantee from the firm myself BUT he would need to reimburse me for that.

Closely followed by saying I would want that money from him in cash right now and, if he didn't feel happy about handing cash over to me to cover that cost, then he had precisely 24 hours to give me that guarantee. I'd point out to him that that would mean he would have the hassle/wait of then finding another buyer if he didnt do so, as I would pull out.

I would also want another viewing of the house prior to Exchange and would be researching how to check the house out for myself for dry rot before doing so and would want to pull up carpets, etc, to get a full look at it.

At that point = his call and he has to bear in mind there is a good chance the helpful neighbour would also tell any other potential buyers.

davidmcn

applelady123 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replys 😀
Surely a survey wouldn't be that extensive anyway unless I went for the top end survey ?? And wouldn't they need to remove carpets and plasterboards etc to properly check ? We tried to buy a house before and had a home buyers survey and this didn't even check for dry rot.

Following that logic, you'd never buy anything because you're not getting a cast iron guarantee that there's no rot. I'd rather buy a house which has had rot recently treated than one where it's a completely unknown quantity.

Davesnave

applelady123 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replys 😀
Surely a survey wouldn't be that extensive anyway unless I went for the top end survey ?? And wouldn't they need to remove carpets and plasterboards etc to properly check ? We tried to buy a house before and had a home buyers survey and this didn't even check for dry rot.

You are missing the point.

In the situation you're in, which is the only relevant one now, you can get a specialist independent timber and damp surveyor (not a company giving 'free' surveys) to inspect and report. You then use that report appropriately.

Or you just walk away.

Sounds like you have done the latter, but you do have two options.

While you feel you've lost money and your anger is understandable, property ownership is a long game and purchasing carefully is more important than anything else. You only have to buy one lemon to lose much more than £1k.