Homeowners: did any of you discover your new place had a surprise feature AFTER moving in?

olgadapolga

Sandtree said:

In our last rental we were late getting there and so the check in agent did his thing without us and we got the keys from the development's concierge. One thing not on his report was the giant poo in the toilet that wouldn't flush and given how clean the place was I suspect it was his.

When we moved into the first - and last - rental, the toilet bowl was severely "pebble-dashed". I was so annoyed that I wrote a comment on the check-in report to that effect and sent a copy to the letting agent. 

When the LA did the check out inspection, she saw the comment on the check in report and actually checked the toilet bowl! She didn't find anything because I wouldn't do that to another person so ensured that it spotlessly clean.

Tahlullah.H

House was an old school and found parquet flooring under the carpet and slates that the children drew on, stuck in the walls under the old rotting wainscoting in the main room.  Also found a windsurfing board with it's sail and pots of honey - looked like they had their own hives and had a bit of a cottage industry going on.

rexmedorum

Sandtree said:

In our last rental we were late getting there and so the check in agent did his thing without us and we got the keys from the development's concierge. One thing not on his report was the giant poo in the toilet that wouldnt flush and given how clean the place was I suspect it was his.

The other thing was we were told it was in floor storage heating but found out that the lounge and two bedrooms had a boost function in the ceiling... very odd sensation of hot head and cold feet. Wouldnt have it again!


Years ago my mother fell out with her buyer, offered the normal appliances etc which she didnt want as she was moving in with relatives initially and was told that the buyer "didnt want any of her old tat". She decided to leave them all anyway but sabotaged them notably. Small holes in the washing machine waste pipe, industrial foaming cleaner in the dishwasher, adjustment to oven temp dial so its 20C higher than the dial indicates, whole chicken forced between built in wardrobe and it's 2nd fit innards, various whole fish concealed in as many hard to get to places as possible... thankfully never heard anything of it but then looking at the property 10 years later as a random trip down memory lane the place looked dilapidated 

that's just vindictive
When we bought or vendor offered to leave their washing machine for £125. We asked what brand it was and how old. It took almost 2 weeks of chasing to be told that it was an indesit, but they didn't mention how old it was. We then just decided that it probably wasn't brand new o probably not worth £125 and either way not worth waisting more time chasing up the age.

seven-day-weekend

We found our garden was twice as big as we thought it was

There was a fence at one end of the (large) garden which we assumed on a quick look was the boundary. On a second viewing when my husband   looked at the garden properly, he discovered that it was actually part of our garden, overgrown with brambles.  It had just been fenced off and not maintained.

When we moved in and cleared the brambles, we found our already large garden was twice as long and had various bits of decorative masonry lying around and we also uncovered a concrete path going all the way up.  There was also a mature apple tree.

We used the masonry as decorative frame for the pond we put in, and there was also enough room in this area alone for three sheds, a greenhouse, a log store and a gazebo, as well as the pond and a couple of small patios.

The part of the garden nearer the house had lawn and flowerbeds, we have kept these although we have altered the shape and had more flowerbed and less lawn.

A very nice bonus!

ChilliBob

Underfloor heating in the kitchen and a downstairs loo was a surprise, and to my son (age 4) a surprise was shed loads of footballs and basketballs in the garden, and a little play shed. Result! 

Marcimarci

Hello! I’ve signed up to the forum just so I could share the dodgy stuff we found in our house on this brilliant thread
We got our first house, a terrace in a not-yet-gentrified area, two years ago. The vendors used to live there themselves, but then moved away and rented it out to a series of tenants. 

Upon moving in, we first had to deal with a load of post that had come through for various people who no longer lived here - we probably wrote “not at this address” on close to 100 envelopes (and we still get them occasionally now).
We had agreed that the sellers could leave all the furnishings, as some of them were useful, but we also had to get rid of a lot of rubbish furniture and old pots of paint from the shed.
Finally, when doing a deep clean to try and make the place feel like a home, we wiped the top of the high kitchen cupboards (there’s about a 10cm gap between them and the ceiling) and discovered it had been used to hide all sorts of things: notably a fake (?) passport with a picture of a thuggish-looking guy and no name printed on it where there should be one, which was covered in some suspicious white powder, and a couple of tightly rolled up foreign bank notes, which I understand one might use for snorting certain illegal white powders… There were also some half-finished packets of cigarettes and (somewhat ironically) a pack of nicorette. 
There’s a narrow crevice between our lean-to and the fence that separates us from the pavement, where we found lots of rubbish, as well as about five expired debit cards - presumably chucked there by a passerby after stealing people’s wallets?
A few months later, my mum offered to trim our tall overgrown garden hedge, which is also near the road, and out fell a machete (thankfully inside a protective case)! No idea how long it had been there for or why, but it looked in very good nick. At that point we decided to hand over all the stuff to the police, in case of interest.

rexmedorum

ChilliBob said:

Underfloor heating in the kitchen and a downstairs loo was a surprise, and to my son (age 4) a surprise was shed loads of footballs and basketballs in the garden, and a little play shed. Result! 

how did you not notice a downstairs toilet on the viewing?

oz0707

40 quid in a purse in the top section of a 1.5 oven when ripping out kitchen. Knew there would be money in it as soon as I seen a purse in there. Didn't play on my conscience as the estate of person who I bought off all went to charity. 

FarmGirl78

An upstairs window.

I'd lived in my house for 18 months, an end terraced built very close to a big detached. Was stood in my neighbours garden having a natter, and glanced up at my house seeing the side of my house from an angle I'd never seen before. Casually said to my Neighbour "Oh I've left that upstairs window open. I'll have to make sure I shut it so bugs don't get in" and then it dawned on me I didn't actually have an upstairs window in the side of my house. !!!!!!?! Sure I'd not gone mad I ran in to check. Yup, theres a window in my house on the outside, but not the inside. Its obviously been bricked up from the inside, and plastered over. No sign whatsoever of it on the landing. I just can't figure out what muppet would brick up a window WHILE IT WAS STILL OPEN.

Titus_Wadd

I love this thread!