Completion Day Problem

AesopFable

Hi all, new to the site & first time poster & after some advice/info on where I stand with an issue with our new home. 

Today is completion day and we’ve picked up our keys & gone into the property on our own for the first time and we’ve discovered that the roof or specifically the flashing around the chimney has become damaged & leaked causing damp
patches to the ceiling in multiple places & bubbled plaster. This property has been empty for over a year and has been sold on by the previous owners daughter who hadn’t lived there for a long time. Where do we stand on repair responsibility ? 

Windofchange

Your house your problem I would imagine if you have signed it all over and completed. If it's a new building then there may be a guarantee, but if an old one then I'm not sure what recourse you have unless you can prove that the seller wilfully mislead you. Did you have a home buyers survey done? That should have picked this up one would have thought. If it didn't then you may have cause for complaint to your surveyor. If the damage is bad then it might be a claim on your buildings insurance. 

hazyjo

When did you last view it? What did the survey say? I'm with Windofchange - it's (more than likely) your house now. (I presume England if you mention 'completion'.)

AdrianC

AesopFable said:

Hi all, new to the site & first time poster & after some advice/info on where I stand with an issue with our new home. 

Today is completion day and we’ve picked up our keys & gone into the property on our own for the first time and we’ve discovered that the roof or specifically the flashing around the chimney has become damaged & leaked causing damp
patches to the ceiling in multiple places & bubbled plaster. This property has been empty for over a year and has been sold on by the previous owners daughter who hadn’t lived there for a long time. Where do we stand on repair responsibility ? 

Your house, your bubble ceiling.

When did you exchange?
When did you last view?
Can you say, hand-on-heart, that this wasn't an issue then?
What did your survey say? What level of survey did you get?

robatwork

You're new to the forum and new to house buying but there's no nice way to put this. It's your issue to deal with I'm afraid, unless you think the daughter has deliberately done something bad since you exchanged.

Soot2006

Sadly this is what happened to us when we moved last year. We moved after a long period of dry and at first rain the full extend of the leaking roof became clear!  The good news is that it wasn't as expensive as we'd expected and many companies offers to "patch it" cheaply. We ended up paying £120 for some basic remedial work and it actually held for the rest of this winter including all those awful storms with driving rain.

greatcrested

When did you Exchange Contracts, and did you view at that time?

The condition of the property at Completion should be the same as it was at Exchange.