Discovering small faults with flat/house before completing purchase

gilesm89

OK thanks everyone. I'm going to go and take another look myself and then, if no joy, I will get a plumber to take a look at it before I move in.

AdrianC

jonnygee2 wrote: »

If its just the lever, that's fine, quick fix. But really I would want to test the shower out. It could have other problems that are more difficult or expensive to fix.

The property I bought recently, for example, had a shower which only belted out boiling hot water (or trickled out freezing cold water!). I won't go into all the details but it cost about £2k to get it all fixed, the whole bathroom had to be re-plumbed to get a decent shower. So , I think it's worth knowing what the shower is like.

Do you have a shower and a bath in every bathroom on a viewing? Use every loo?

Bacon_Sandwich

Negotiate the price down by the price of a can of WD40. Don't take any crap from these complacent sellers

Mojisola

AdrianC wrote: »

Do you have a shower and a bath in every bathroom on a viewing? Use every loo?

You don't have to be in the shower to test it.

Don't you try every tap/toilet/light switch/etc?

noisla

When I bought my first (and only) house, a great piece of advice that a friend gave me was warning me that I would start seeing loads of issues, cracks in walls, damp, etc once I'd committed to buying and later when I'd moved in, and not to fret. This absolutely happened! And it was hard to to fret!

However, if you've had a FULL survey done, to identify anything major or structural, you shouldn't need to worry. Annoying repairs and maintenance will be ongoing for as long as you own the property.

I personally agree with newatc and think this is too small an issue to cause a fuss about, and should be within your expectations of buying a place. You don't want to use up their patience, that you might need later, if something bigger crops up before you complete.

If you do call their bluff and threaten to pull out, be sure that you have the power i.e. that they have more to lose (e.g. a house in a chain) than you, if this is not resolved.

Murphybear

societys_child wrote: »

Lever? What type of shower?

Bit extreme for a stuck lever

Surely you can get a decent new shower for that?

AnotherJoe

Murphybear wrote: »

Surely you can get a decent new shower for that?

My £250 guesstimate i take it you mean? Not if you need to chisel stuff out of the wall, replace pump and unit (it might be combined) and re-tile. As another poster said, cost them £2k.

AdrianC

Or it may just need a new cassette - or at the very outside a new bar shower valve.


If there's no pump, as with the vast majority of showers, and the pipework is already at the long-term standard 150mm/hot-on-left, then it's quick and easy DIY work and as little as <£20 for a new bar valve (I have a surplus near-new bar shower here if it's of help. Nobody on my local freegle seems to want it).

jonnygee2

Do you have a shower and a bath in every bathroom on a viewing? Use every loo?

No why would you suggest that? Do you?!

Just like the OP I do do a second viewing before exchange and one thing I test is the water pressure and temperature of the shower. No one wants to live with trickle of a shower or a faulty shower pump so if thats happening it goes on the list of things to be sorted. If it is easily sorted I'd rather do it before moving in, or at least very soon after, so its done.

hazyjo

Bacon_Sandwich wrote: »

Negotiate the price down by the price of a can of WD40. Don't take any crap from these complacent sellers

I've had two showers (my last and my current) where the lever/handle/knob has got stuck. WD has sorted it out both times. I think it's expected, isn't it?


My last buyer said they wanted it fixed, WD 40 did the job and said they should re-view if they wanted to check it.