HELP! Drainage issues on house purchase

eddddy

jowright95 wrote: »

But if we moved in part way through the works being carried out (say we moved in on May 6th but works won't be signed off until 16th May) then we would become liable to pay for it - am I correct?

No - you wouldn't become liable to pay for it.

But the much bigger problem would be if the contractor failed to finish the job, or did a botch job - you'd have no basis for pursuing the contractor.



There are quite a few ways of dealing with this if you're very keen to complete before the work is done - special terms in the house sale/purchase contract, a retention, a price reduction - each with different levels of risk and cost.

Yellow_mango

Mortgage aside, I don’t think I’d be wanting to move into a property prior to full connection to mains sewerage. There may be disruption over the connection period, not to mention residual dealings with the old cesspit.

I’d wait until it has been fully completed and paid for, and there is no remaining liability for either the old or new systems (other than regular water bills).

AlexMac

Not as simple as that;

jowright95 wrote: »

But if we moved in part way through the works being carried out (say we moved in on May 6th but works won't be signed off until 16th May) then we would become liable to pay for it - am I correct?

If you have not yet exchanged you aren't contractually bound to anything, so you're in a strong negotiating position.

I'd be insisting on either a price drop, or a "retention" equivalent to the max likely price. The sellers' solicitors, in agreement with yours, would hold this back from the settlement to their client, and after the work they (the solicitors) would pay the bill, or give you the money to do so, returning any surplus to the seller. This is quite common. I had a retention of several hundred pounds on both my last purchases; one to fill a metre-deep hole in the bit of our private road which we now own, the other for a freeholder's service charge adjustment which wasn't known til the year end; a few months after completion. In both cases the solicitors adopted this course of action without my asking as a routine way of protecting their client-me!

If you have exchanged, your solicitor ought to be advising you and protecting your interest; that's what you pay them for.

All this assumes that you buy to their (the sellers') timescale rather than delay; which you are also perfectly entitled to do- although if that happens, get advice on whether YOU will have any redress against the contractor if they screw it up; sometimes it may be that any guarantee or liability is not transferrable from their client (the selllers) to a new owner

jowright95

Just had a text from the owners, I'm calling her soon to chat things through.

She's said that she's very concerned her vendor will pull out if they know they can't complete until middle of June.

She seems open to working things through, so I may ask about the retention idea. My partner and I aren't fussed about waiting until the works are done, as most of the work got completed in Feb, this is just the last part which should be straight forward (dad works for a water company).

Thanks to everyone for their advice, I'll let you know what is said!

AnotherJoe

jowright95 wrote: »

We were never told about any of this and we don't think we should have to pay for it, but we're worried in case the sellers decide to pull out if they have to wait too long! They have already said that June wouldn't work for them to complete in...

I'd say tough, aside the complete impracticality of getting a different buyer to complete in the next 5 weeks, that buyer would also want to buy a place not connected to mains drainage and with a broken cesspit and a lender happy with that.
Wait until it's connected.

jonnygee2

Just had a text from the owners, I'm calling her soon to chat things through.

She's said that she's very concerned her vendor will pull out if they know they can't complete until middle of June.

Personally I'd be speaking through the agent or solicitor rather than directly to her.

But, really, this all sounds like her problem. SHE is in a pickle, not you. HER house is connected to a broken cesspit but she needs to sell it fast.

So she needs to come up with a solution (like a lower price, retainer etc) that makes you, the only person likely to buy her house off her before June, happy.