Condition of Property on Completion

Almost123

Hi all, apologies if this has already been covered before, but i couldn't find any such thread.

Long story short, we have been going through a house purchase since April and finally the solicitor has confirmed a completion date in 3 weeks time.

When we viewed the house last in April and again in May, the outside was well maintained in terms of all the hedgerows, trees, grass etc. As the house is only a few streets away from us now, in the excitement of finally receiving a completion date, we decided to walk past the house during our after dinner walk. It was pretty evident that the vendors are still living there as their cars were all there (which is fine obviously) but they have not maintained any of the outside. Maybe they are not living there anymore, who knows! The hedgerows are very badly overgrown , grass was at least a foot high, and foot high weeds all over the driveway. It can only be described as derelict looking.  

Now the vendor's may obviously get everything trimmed and sorted before completion, but i was wondering if it was worth asking the solicitors to give them a hint to at least maintain the upkeep of the gardens and outside up to completion? Im just not looking forward to going there on completion to an absolute mess. 

or is this how it goes with house purchases?

Thanks

user1977

You can try negotiating it if you like, but surely we're not talking about more than a weekend's worth of gardening?

TBG01

It's not the Solicitors responsibility. 

Have a word with the estate agent or a word yourself.

Slithery

Have you exchanged contracts yet?
When you complete the property should be in the same condition that it was when you exchanged.

SavingPennies_2

They probably have it like that all the time and just tidied it for the photos/ viewings. Well I know I did when I sold my house, then it was winter by the time the sale went through so everything was dead by then anyway lol. Tbh, if it's a bit of hedge trimming and gas cutting I wouldn't bother making a fuss. Surely you'll want to do all that stuff again yourself anyway when you move in.

canaldumidi

Legally they should leave the property at Completion in the samecondition as it was in at Exchange of Contracts, not when you initially or last viewed. For this reason, it can be wise to do a viewing just before Exchange.

If things have deteriorted, got damaged you could in theory renegotiate the price orinsist remedial work is done, but frankly .... overgrown garden? Put £50 aside and get a gardener in, or DIY once you own.

It's normal for people to spruce up their home for marketing. Once a sale is achieved enthusiasm for maintenance wanes.....!

Flugelhorn

mature gardens can get like that very quickly - maybe they are busy doing other things and gardening is not high priority - I would be more concerned to do a pre-exchange viewing of the inside in case there are more significant problems there - the garden can get sorted in a fairly short time

Almost123

Thank you so much for the reply’s everyone.

So just to clarify we are keen gardeners, so not bothered about getting our hands dirty to sort it all out. We have always had large gardens which we maintained ourselves and have all the ladders and tools needed. Reflecting back I think I was annoyed at the idea of seeing the house all nice and pristine and then seeing it again in a very unloved state. And when I’m paying over £650k for it I expect it to be at least maintained to a reasonable standard.

Anyway, spoke to solicitor about it, who then requested that the house, gardens, grounds inc repairs/maintenance are kept up to date until completion and they have agreed and even provided times and dates when various cleaners and gardeners have been booked. 

Turns out the vendors are moving abroad and have been very busy with sorting their move out. 

So happy about that

Thanks all 

bbat

Just a thought but an increasing number of people leave their gardens more wild these days for wildlife. 'No more may' and beyond. So if may well be deliberate rather than lack of care. Understandable to be tidied up for photos and viewings. 

badger09

bbat said:

Just a thought but an increasing number of people leave their gardens more wild these days for wildlife. 'No more may' and beyond. So if may well be deliberate rather than lack of care. Understandable to be tidied up for photos and viewings. 

No mow May?