Feeling guilty about hidden defects

parking_question_chap

If I were to move house and they were the only hidden defects I would be very happy.

phoebe1989seb

I wouldn't worry unduly and anyway - assuming things are the same where you are - surely as you've exchanged it's a bit late to do/say anything?

I get it though. When we were selling our last-but-one house both DH and I were worried about the glass roof on the conservatory fitted about twenty years earlier by a PO. It had several fairly minor cracks that had let in tiny amounts of water during torrential downpours. Replacement of the conservatory/its roof was the only job we'd not tackled during a three year renovation and we were selling at a large loss in order to move closer to our three surviving parents who all had dementia. Time was of the essence.

Before marketing the property we explained our concerns regarding the roof to our chosen EA and said we felt it ought to be pointed out to potential purchasers. He said we shouldn't worry as it would show up in a survey and the price could be renegotiated accordingly.

There was no mention of the condition of the conservatory roof - that had muslin drapes to shade the room from overheating - in the survey that took 3.5 hours and our buyers didn't try to renegotiate post survey.

Imagine DH's horror when, two days after completion he had to pop back to collect a huge potted palm that we'd had to leave behind due to lack of space in the removal lorry and he found the new owners mopping up water that had come through the conservatory roof during a particularly bad storm :eek:

We felt awful, but at the end of the day it's buyer beware and we had tried to warn our EA........

ellie27

Sounds like its an almost perfect house if that is the only things you can find that are wrong with it!!!

You should not feel guilty of ANY of that at all!!!

Do expect that the house you are buying - old or new - it will have loads more things wrong with it than that! Boiler will last a few months if your lucky/floors creak all over/paper hanging off walls, washing machine not quite working as it should/doors that dont close, radiators that dont heat, curtain poles almost hanging off the wall, shower that cuts out every time it is used, bath that almost cracks when you stand in it....... and these are all things that are easily fixed (just a short list of some minor issues when we moved in)

Davesnave

You didn't fix these things during your occupation because they were minor irritations.

That's how the new owner will view them too, if they're at all realistic, because they've purchased a used house, not a brand spanking new one.

Mind you, those have problems too, or there would be no need for snagging lists.

Chanes

I am a firm believer in kismet and if you've wronged someone, truly wronged them, you will know about it. And if you find your life has been fine they probably don't care about the things you mention anyway.

Mickygg

thats nothing. You wouldn't highlight those as issues.

People on here saying about karma if you don't mention are idiots and obviously have never bought or sold a house before.

Those aren't even issues.

When I bought my last house the boiler wasn't working well, leaks in roof, very cold house (heating on in summer should have told me this!), filthy, damp worse than at survey.

Annoying? Yes. Would I expect them to have told me? Come on of course not or I would have probably pulled put of the sale. By not telling me they sold their house.