Miserable first time buyer

JosieMcfeene

Currently feeling very low, purchased what I thought would be a dream house. Have encountered problem after problem with the house after stepping foot through the door (Leaking skylight, broken garage door, broken boiler etc.) Solicitor is basically not interested - do I have any rights after completion or is it a case of selling a kidney to afford everything?

Wishing I had never stopped renting right about now - if anyone has any stories like this that have a happy ending please let me know

Mrs36

Welcome to the world of home ownership! At least it has all been fixed now, and won't need doing for the foreseeable future. Did you have a survey, and was any of this picked up?

JosieMcfeene

Survey has been very cleverly worded so that he cant be made out to have missed it.
My favourite was "Central heating was not operating when I visited and therefore I cannot comment on it"

The only leg we have to stand on is that the vendor was the one who issued the gas safety certificate (He is registered) but my plumber says it has incorrect information on it - hardly know if it is worth the hassle of small claims court though.

ThePants999

Was it working when you viewed? (You can never rely on a surveyor for gas or electrical stuff, you need to either get other experts in or satisfy yourself.)

cashbackproblems

What is the cost to fix all this? Unfotunately you have nothing on the vendor it is your responsibility to judge before you buy and have a proper survey done. You could have a case against the surveyor but im positive they will have covered their backs.

Cakeguts

This kind of maintenance is normal when you own a house. People tend to think that owning is cheaper than renting. It isn't always because of the amount of maintenance needed. Even if all of these things had been fine when you moved in you wouldn't be able to guarantee that they would continue to be.

Hoploz

How long have you been in? It's pretty normal to feel this way in my experience. It will pass and all the things that have been important up to now will settle down and you'll be fine.

When I last moved I absolutely knew it was the right house for us - really our dream house. And we paid a fortune for it. When we moved in we found the drains were all blocked, there was a huge crack in the bathroom toilet meaning the kitchen ceiling suddenly had a brown water stain on it, nothing worked! I had to pick the previous owner's sweet corn out of the bottom of the dishwasher. We were told the owner had lost their hamster in the eaves cupboard on moving day so we had to listen to it scratching away totally inaccessible. We now think it was just mice as the scratching started again the following winter. There was dog mess all over the grass. The garage doors were hanging off so not secure. The boiler went wrong 3 times in the first 6 weeks.

That's all I can remember for now. I was completely overwhelmed and depressed with it all, but I kept reminding myself this was our dream forever home and eventually we got things done in order of emergency level, and now they are all just a distant memory.

Don't worry, you'll pick up soon. Think positive!

Chanes

Ah, I know the feeling! We walked in and found the heating system was dodgy, there was a serious hidden leak in the bathroom that rotted out the floor, the kitchen was painted and knackered, the doors...soffits and fascias needed replacing. And to add insult, the place was filthy, they must have lived like pigs. The home buyers report noted only a few issues but it became so much more, we have spent close to 30k to bring it up to date. It looked like it needed nothing doing and to quote the estate agent was in "move in' condition...which I interpreted as good and needing nothing big correcting but on reflection, I guess it's open to opinion.

We are now nearly 3 years on and it is lovely but the initial bump down to earth and the works we had done took the shine off our first year. Chin up, it's part of home ownership. On a plus we have moved into properties in the past which were perfect thanks to the people who owned them, so they do exist but seem rare.

G_M

It's all fixable.

* Make a list of what needs doing.
* Prioritise it
* Take into account jobs that overlap (eg if lifting floorboards for re-wiring, check insulation, wood treatment etc at the same time)
* get 3 quotes for each job
* Stretch your 'moving-in' budget and your 'contingency fund' to do as many of the jobs as you can.

Whilst you may ot have expected this, almost every house purchase leads to some renovation work. Even New Builds!

mrginge

Ah but of course the mortgage payments were lower than rent....

This is what owning a house is all about.
It will never end.

pinkshoes

Unless you specifically asked if the boiler is working, then you have no come back...

Have you had someone come and look at it yet? It could be something very simple. Not all broken boilers cost a fortune to fix...


A leaky skylight and broken garage door are easily fixed.

Ok, so it is not perfect, but then it is not brand new! Just requires a few plasters...

(You should see ours! Still looks a little like an old people's home after 2 years, and a lot of stuff still to fix, but it is OURS!)