House of horrors....... repairs

mrs_emergency

No not one where a murder was committed although there's still time!

Moved into our 'dream' house 3 months ago and now the timeframe for any issues has passed, we have had nothing but problems costing us a fortune.

The home report is done before sale in Scotland and all items were 1's (no work required, in good condition'. First issue is the roof, last week we had so many leaks in 4 different places. The flat part needs replaced and the roofer has said it's obvious botched repairs have been attempted so the previous owners were obviously aware. Currently looking at 2k plus... how long is a piece of string.

Second issue was the woodburner, it's completely broken, we weren't told so we had to replace it at 3k as it's the main heat source downstairs.

Now the boiler...... the wires were actually singed and burnt at the back which as a firefighter absolutely petrified me! Plus the electrical source to the boiler does not actually switch it off, I had to isloate it at the main fuse box! The heating engineer says its basically fecked and needs so many parts replaced. Again this was a 1 on the home report. Total cost so far 1500 but will go up.
What's the bloody point of a home report if they don't actually look at all the items properly. We obviously paid over the asking too.

Sorry, it's been a long 2 weeks of hell and I'm on my own as hubbie is away so I'm dealing with everything myself, I think I will just pour a massive glass of wine, I would have a bath but with no heating that's a no.

I know it will be an amazing house when it's finished.... won't it?
Just looking for advice from anyone that was in the same situation on how to keep sane! I know it's sold as seen but we declared all the wee problems or previous repairs we made on our last house. and fixed a couple before we sold. Spot the mugs!

Thanks for listening I just need a rant.

And breathe.....

silvercar

I thought Scottish rules gave the previous owner some liability to correct issues notified soon after purchase? 

mrs_emergency

silvercar said:

I thought Scottish rules gave the previous owner some liability to correct issues notified soon after purchase? 

Yes, 14 days and we are unfortunately ast it now! Typical!

macman

How can a woodburner be completely 'broken'?
Fitting an isolator to the boiler circuit would cost about £10 plus maybe £60 in labour?
The rules may be different in Scotland, but a in England, Home Buyers Report never covers electricals or plumbing, because a surveyor is not qualified in either trade: it's purely done as a visual inspection.

GDB2222

mrs_emergency said:

silvercar said:

I thought Scottish rules gave the previous owner some liability to correct issues notified soon after purchase? 

Yes, 14 days and we are unfortunately ast it now! Typical!

I thought that the surveyor has a duty of care to you, as the buyer, not just to the sellers who instructed him. If the surveyor missed lots of stuff, you might consider suing him. I don’t know about Scotland, but in England you would have a lot longer than 14 days to do that. 

pinkshoes

If you've paid for a home report (how much was it and how much detail did it go into??) then they need to take some responsibility for some of it.

The flat roof - if they commented on it and a roofer says it was obviously botched then you have a claim here as they should have seen the repair work and the owner would have known about this. I would try contacting the owner asking for paperwork detailing the repair to the roof.

How is the wood burner "completely broken"? I mean, it's a metal box with a chimney and door, so how is it broken? Or is this more like an Aga that is connected to the radiators to heat the ground floor?

The boiler - this should have been checked but presumably just to see it was running, which I assume it did. Had the boiler been serviced prior to purchase?

jak

Oh God, that sounds awful! I'm so sorry. x

koalakoala

It's the seller who pays for the home report.
You can however pay for a survey if you want before offering.
However I've been there and done that...
Lots of hidden things showed up, and the reno cost us twice what we expected.
Luckily we had the money, but it's not ideal.
Looks like not much you can do now

boxer234

It happened to me been in 4 months had issues with boiler breaking.  Not just breaking but the day it was 40 degrees it turned on and wouldn’t turn off.  My flat roof leaked.  Smaller repairs needed everywhere.   

I also had strange things such as alarms going off (smoke and carbon ) for no reason (checked by professional),  strange water pressure issues.  (Possible ghost ?)


it’s an old house I knew it would all need doing but hoped it would last a few years.  

Ive been a bit unsettled and struggled to settle in I also fell down the stairs the first week and really hurt myself.  I keep telling myself it will be beautiful when done but who knows when it will next screw me over financially!