Advice please, think we have to pull out of our sale

mistree

First time buyers, me, partner, our little girl and slightly relevant is we have another on the way. Currently in a tiny flat whilst we saved (SE).

Found a house we loved, offered 20k under asking (330 asking) as cosmetically it needed updating. They counter offered, as did we, and in the end we came to the agreement of 320 sold as seen as they had advised us that they were doing some cosmetic work. What they said was being completed was repainting garage door, tiling a bathroom wall, painting the exterior front of the house and replacing an oak sideboard which had gone mouldy, we wanted to redo the kitchen as it wasn’t to our taste and same with the bathroom, so didn’t see the point in the work anyway.

Fast forward 2.5 months and the sale has been progressing and we were expecting to sign contracts soon. Today I had a call from our solicitor telling us that:

It has a cesspit in the garden, it’s not connected to the mains and the cesspit is 9000 litres and somewhere under the garden outside the garage although the owners don’t seem to know where exactly. Don’t know when it was installed. What type it is, haven’t had it maintained although they do get it emptied and did so in April at the cost of £350. Solicitor was angry on our behalf that this was never mentioned as she said it should have been advised at viewing as it comes with maintenance costs so would factor into a buying decision. We were never told and being in a residential street in a non rural location had no reason to think it would be there!

The extension in 2015 never was signed off by building regs, have an email from the local council from April detailing the work that needs to be done which includes damp proofing a lean to, floors and ceiling, insulating floors and ceiling, checking something to do with the join to the original structure and having a structural engineer perform some sort of check. There were previous buyers mentioned in the email chain so no doubt also pulled out because of this !!!! show of dishonesty. Estate agents ‘sure they would have told us at viewing’ and apparently buyers under the impression that we were always aware and that’s why we offered under in the first instance. No one at any point has said anything about either of these very relevant points to buying this house.

I’m 8 months pregnant and we have spent at least a few thousand getting this far and I’m so angry at the lies and dishonesty, and they knew our situation and desperation for a quick move. How on earth did the estate agent/buyers think this would sail through unnoticed, I don’t know if this is salvageable, my guts telling me to walk away and start again somewhere new. Some perspective needed if anyone can help, never dealt with a cesspit or a 4 year old half finished extension so no experience. What would you do and why?

Is there anything we can do to get any of the money spent back if we do pull out as I feel we have been missold

Slithery

mistree wrote: »

Is there anything we can do to get any of the money spent back if we do pull out as I feel we have been missold

Nope, I'm afraid not...

The EA's description is only as accurate as the information they are given by the vendor, who had no obligation to reveal the fact that there was a cesspit at offer stage.

Your solicitor has earned their fee by bringing this to your attention.

1 in every 3 purchases fall through, mostly due to issues such as this. It's the risk that you take when attempting to buy property in this country.

eddddy

I guess the cesspit (and maybe the lack of building regs) would count as material information.

So if the EA knew (or should have known) about them, and didn't tell you at the earliest opportunity, the Property Ombudsman might decide that EA should pay you compensation.

That assumes that the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, but most EAs are.

mistree wrote: »

There were previous buyers mentioned in the email chain so no doubt also pulled out because of this !!!! show of dishonesty.

If the previous buyers really did pull out because of the cess-pit and/or lack of building regs, and the EA didn't tell you, you have an even stronger case to take to the Property Ombudsman.

Some info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/how-to-make-a-complaint

ACG

Slithery wrote: »

1 in every 3 purchases fall through, mostly due to issues such as this. It's the risk that you take when attempting to buy property in this country.

Really? I am struggling to think of 3 of our cases that have fallen through in 6 years, let alone 1 in every 3. I think I would be puling my hair out if I had to amend 33% of our applications or anything remotely close to that.

I am not disputing that figure but would love to know where it came from.

mistree

The estate agent who showed us round initially lived next door, literally. Just from being mildly observant I’d expect him to notice the next door neighbours having their septic tank emptied once a year let alone being trusted with passing on relevant information to buy the property from him.

I think if I’d have known about these issues I wouldn’t have offered in the first place, probably wouldn’t have viewed so I’m guessing that’s a pretty clear sign to pull out. It’s not our forever home just our first step on the property ladder, 3 year home hopefully and with me on mat leave I really don’t want that time to be spent forking out even more money to get it so it can be sold on when we need to move on.

eddddy

Just to emphasise that the EA must disclose material info (whether you ask or not), here's an extract from the Property Ombudsman mandatory Code of Practice for EAs:

Published Material and Information about a Property

7i You must by law comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (or the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 where applicable). The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 require you to disclose any information of which you are aware or should be aware of in relation to the property in a clear, intelligible and timely fashion and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all statements that you make about a property, whether oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading. All material information (*) must be disclosed and there must be no material omissions which may impact on the average consumer’s (*) transactional decision (*). Where information is given to consumers and/or their representatives, it must be accurate and not misleading.

Link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/Codes_2019_a5/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A5_-_Effective_1_June_2019.pdf

And here's a similar case, where the EA didn't divulge material information, and the Ombudsman ordered the EA to pay compensation:

Complaint

Following completion Mr and Mrs B raised a complaint that the Agent had not divulged that the property suffered from severe damp and a leaking boiler despite this information being previously known as a result of a survey carried out by previous potential buyers and from conversations the Agent had held with the neighbour occupying the adjoining property which was also being affected by the problem....

Outcome
....
....
I supported the complaint and made an award of £500.

Link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/cpr-s-case-2-damp-descriptions

mistree

Thank you, will look through all the paperwork and correspondence and check nothing was said but I’m 99.9% sure I would have picked up on it. Will be putting a complaint in, thank you for the info and link.

Is it a general consensus that this is enough to make sensible people pull out? It’s not salvageable now is it

ACG

If you would have known about it, would you have still offered?
If so, what would you have offered?
If not, then time to pull out.

I am not sure I would want the hassle of sorting it out every however many months/years in addition to repair work/replacing if/when the time comes.

sammyjammy

mistree wrote: »

Thank you, will look through all the paperwork and correspondence and check nothing was said but I’m 99.9% sure I would have picked up on it. Will be putting a complaint in, thank you for the info and link.

Is it a general consensus that this is enough to make sensible people pull out? It’s not salvageable now is it

I understand that you would want to get settled in the circumstances but I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, its sad that people do this kind of thing, they just waste eveyones time and money.

chrisw

I would also be worried about why the oak sideboard had gone mouldy.

Is it damp or a leak that hasn't been fixed or a condensation issue which might cause other furniture and fabrics to go mouldy?

Thrugelmir

Cess pits require little to no maintenance. An inspection survey should be undertaken though. No need to be a deal breaker.

I'd ask the sellers to get the building regs signed off . Were the electrical installations signed off at the time?