New house left in an awful state

Bexxie1979

We completed and moved into our new house on Friday to be greeted by a shed full of rubbish (tins of paint, shelves, shoes, clothing, bikes amongst other stuff) 
The house was left in a disgusting state, had to deep clean before I could put any of the kitchen bits away as the cupboards were full of mouldy food and grime. 

We’ve also discovered the oven is broken (had an engineer out on Monday who confirmed this) so have had to order a new oven. 

I’ve contacted my solicitor who has said I can put in a claim for compensation but if the vendor refuses it would go through the small claims court.
Has anyone experienced this before and what are our chances of being compensated?

kasqueak

I honestly don’t think it’s worth the hassle. 

Yes it’s annoying to move into somewhere like that but honestly you’d be cleaning cupboards anyway and getting rid of some bits at the tip isn’t the end of the world. 

It was the same when I moved into my place. The garage had old paint tins etc here but some people could claim they’re being helpful by leaving them for you. 

If it were me I’d just throw the rubbish, clean up and move on. 

Yes the oven is annoying but they can claim it was working when they left so it’s just your word against theirs. 

davilown

I think I would claim for the oven and for skipping the contents of the shed. Cleaning - people’s standards are different 

Aspiration

Doesn’t sound Nice but I’d get a skip, clear it and enjoy your new house!! A lot of stress potentially for a few hundred pounds and May taint your enjoyment if your new house

nyermen

Anything that has a nominal value - bear in mind involuntary bailee laws.

youth_leader

So sorry to read this but I've seen other posts about this on here many times.   Don't let it spoil your enjoyment of your new home. I felt really annoyed my seller had filled both the recycling and the waste bin to overflowing with rubbish, but it's trivia compared to my feeling that I have bought a great place without the worries I had at my old house.

macman

You can only claim for the oven if you can prove that the vendor stated that it was working at the time of exchange.
Shed-you need to give the vendor the chance to clear it: you can't clear it yourself and then claim the costs back.

Bonniepurple

I do feel that anyone who complains about the state that a house has been left in should have seen our first house!  Racist graffiti on the wall walls, the kitchen cupboards that had doors had no shelves, there was a full deep fat fryer balanced in a cupboard, the missing cupboard doors were found burnt in the garden, there was a lovely bathroom suite (new - not paid for!) that wasn’t plumbed in....

That’s just the start of what we found.  There wasn’t much point in raising it with the previous owner as the bank wouldn’t have cared and I didn’t really want to antagonise the person who did the damage.  It was a repossession.

Tiglet2

Are you prepared to take the vendors to the small claims court?  The conveyancing solicitors merely write letters to each other and if the vendor says the oven was working on completion, how are you going to prove that it wasn't?  The vendor's solicitor will write to their client with your evidence and statement of costs, but they cannot force the vendor to respond.  If there is no response, next steps would be small claims court.  This will take a few months or longer, by which time you could have just got on with your lives.  Not worth the hassle or the waiting time.

RelievedSheff

This happened to a friend recently. He bought his first home and on getting the keys to move in found the house in a proper state. He decided to just get on with it, roll his sleeves up and start cleaning. He didn't feel there was much point complaining as to what should and shouldn't have been done before completion.

He now has a clean and functioning first home which he is starting to enjoy.

Vectis

It's a lesson many of us have learnt, unfortunately - never rely on other people to do what's right or to do what they say they will do.