Issue At Property Between Completion & Key Collection

saajan_12

You have to fulfill several steps to make a successful claim, and you have issues at each stage.

1) Vendors failed to do something? Its not clear leaving a window open for ventilation is worse than closing it. Also, check your contract, but I expect there is no obligation on the vendor to do the best thing ie secure it. If the window was small, that may even be considered sufficiently secured from theft etc.

2) Vendor's actions caused damage Not necessarily.. leaving a window open can cause damp by penetration (ie rain coming in etc). The resolution to that is closing the window during rain and drying out the wet carpets / walls. It wouldn't cause rising damp or mean you need a new DPC.. those would be other unrelated damp issues you should have picked up by your survey.

3) You suffered the damage You're only entitled to a property AT COMPLETION in the same condition as it was at exchange. If the property was etc within the few days between you checking it and completion, then the vendor would be liable. After completion, further damage is your responsibility as you could / should have control of closing the window once you owned it. How will you prove the damage existed on 8 Dec?

Lawyer or small claims costs etc will likely be too high to make it worthwhile even if you had a reasonable chance of winning..

diggingdude

You are lucky no one was squatting in there when you came back

phill99

Its always somebody else's fault isn't it?

jonnygee2

When we entered property on Jan 5th we discovered someone had left a window open in the front lounge. All surfaces were noticeably damp and rising damp was visible on two walls.

Damp proofing the two walls will probably cost about £600

Rising damp doesn't normally drift in through the windows. The name pretty clearly indicates where it comes from.

babyblade41

I find it really odd when someone spends a serious amount of money on something and treat it as though it's an afterthought.

It never mattered whether it was my own home I was buying , a residential property for letting purposes or an industrial unit , it was the first thing after completion was go and have a look round, either move in , renovate or whatever , it's the first and only time if anything is amiss to get it sorted. The day after is a day too late .

Some people treat their new phone with more concern...sorry OP but a whole month without looking at it then no real excuse.

My problem is though you say monies were mislaid ?? was completion actually when you say or was it after