House bought with faulty boiler

Puflet

ToadsFriend wrote: »

Why...what would you have done? Stood there on moving day watching them move out? I'm not sure what the correct procedure is...but I thought (naively) that we were covered by law if they destroyed or broke anything whilst moving out...but nope!

With the first house I ever bought, I was advised by the solicitor to check that the vendor was actually moving out on completion day. If they weren't, then don't agree to complete.

Granted, this is much easier if the property you're moving to isn't far away, or you have someone local who can check - but it's advice I've stuck to ever since.

I hope you got everything sorted though - sounds a total nightmare!

[Deleted User]

Puflet wrote: »

With the first house I ever bought, I was advised by the solicitor to check that the vendor was actually moving out on completion day. If they weren't, then don't agree to complete

And then what happens if you refuse to complete? The sellers solicitor transfers the money to the seller, the seller leaves the keys with the agents and goes about their lives protected by the fact you have already exchanged contracts and cant do a thing about what happens now.

Property transactions rely on 2 factors at completion state:

1. Buyer beware
2. Common decency of both parties

If either of these fail then someone will be unhappy. But being unhappy doesn't always mean there is a legal recourse.

The only way to do as you suggest is a simultaneous exchange and completion and that itself is a whole other box of horrors

baldelectrician

You do not need an address to take someone to court in Scotland

The seller may also have a new house and as such you could incur costs and have them sit as a charge on his property gaining 8% statutory interest.

The sellers solicitor should have contact details from him, I think once he gets a court summons he will reply.

ToadsFriend

Deleted_User wrote: »

And then what happens if you refuse to complete? The sellers solicitor transfers the money to the seller, the seller leaves the keys with the agents and goes about their lives protected by the fact you have already exchanged contracts and cant do a thing about what happens now.

Property transactions rely on 2 factors at completion state:

1. Buyer beware
2. Common decency of both parties

If either of these fail then someone will be unhappy. But being unhappy doesn't always mean there is a legal recourse.

The only way to do as you suggest is a simultaneous exchange and completion and that itself is a whole other box of horrors

This is very true...the house I bought a few years back had been a nasty divorce and the husband didn't want to vacate ss had pretty much trashed the place the day before I got the keys...I'd only been in a week before and it looked fine...
My solicitor literally just quoted the 'caveat emptor' (or whatever 'buyer beware is in Latin) and said there is nothing she can do except email his solicitor and ask nicely if he would be willing to contribute to repair costs and new boiler...needless to say they never replied and solicitor said there was no other recourse and fixtures and fittings form wasn't ''legally binding''. It's crazy...you could buy a pin for 10p online and send it back after 11 months if you don't like it..but the biggest purchase of your life there is no recourse. Scary!

AdrianC

ToadsFriend wrote: »

This is very true...the house I bought a few years back had been a nasty divorce and the husband didn't want to vacate ss had pretty much trashed the place the day before I got the keys...I'd only been in a week before and it looked fine...
My solicitor literally just quoted the 'caveat emptor' (or whatever 'buyer beware is in Latin) and said there is nothing she can do except email his solicitor and ask nicely if he would be willing to contribute to repair costs and new boiler...

There's one thing you forgot to mention there.
When you exchanged...

There's a legal requirement for the property to be in the same condition at completion as at exchange. When had you last viewed prior to exchange?

...fixtures and fittings form wasn't ''legally binding''.

Yes, it is. But "trashed the place" is not on the F&F form. F&F is what's included or not. You don't mention whether the cooker was meant to be left but was taken, or whatever...

It's crazy...you could buy a pin for 10p online and send it back after 11 months if you don't like it..but the biggest purchase of your life there is no recourse. Scary!

If you were talking about buying a 10p used pin from a private individual, rather than a 10p new one from a trader, then you might have an analogy.

ToadsFriend

AdrianC wrote: »

There's one thing you forgot to mention there.
When you exchanged...

There's a legal requirement for the property to be in the same condition at completion as at exchange. When had you last viewed prior to exchange?


Yes, it is. But "trashed the place" is not on the F&F form. F&F is what's included or not. You don't mention whether the cooker was meant to be left but was taken, or whatever...


If you were talking about buying a 10p used pin from a private individual, rather than a 10p new one from a trader, then you might have an analogy.

Well All I know is my solicitor was VERY uninterested when I called her (crying...not a good look, I know!) and just said there was nothing legally we could do...the F&F form cannot be used in a court and, to be fair, nothing was taken that was listed on there...but everything that was left was broken...even the boiler had been ripped off the wall. It was such a horrible time!!

AdrianC

You don't know when you exchanged? Or what state the property was in at the point of exchange?

Skiddaw1

AdrianC wrote: »

You don't know when you exchanged? Or what state the property was in at the point of exchange?

Probably easier said than done in most cases. In an ideal world you'd check your future home after exchange wouldn't you? But I can imagine it's usually just not practical. I can also imagine that if someone does decide to trash a house after exchange on a practical level it would be hard- if not impossible- to get any recourse regardless of the legalities.


Thankfully it's never happened to us....

AdrianC

Skiddaw1 wrote: »

Probably easier said than done in most cases. In an ideal world you'd check your future home after exchange wouldn't you?

Certainly, if you thought there was the slightest risk of conflict between the vendors spilling into the property condition.

But I can imagine it's usually just not practical.[/quote]
"Practical" is a decision that needs to take a whole list of things into account, like whether you think there's any chance of any comeback if there are issues...

I can also imagine that if someone does decide to trash a house after exchange on a practical level it would be hard- if not impossible- to get any recourse regardless of the legalities.

Indeed. But it's a lot easier than if you can't prove the condition of the property at exchange.

Skiddaw1

Yes that's true Adrian.


I think I'd be checking the condition before completion if I felt there was any likelihood of a problem but it wouldn't have occurred to me to do so unless anticipating trouble. It sounds like the posters who did move in to discover damaged houses hadn't had much, or any, previous indication that there would be an issue. Buyer beware indeed! Thankfully, most people aren't like that (in my experience at least ).