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What's the worse thing you have found when buying a property and the worse thing you have covered up
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Our current home was full of minor issues, mostly relating to water. The dining room floor was soaking wet where the patio door was leaking. The seals weren't available anymore so we had to replace the whole door. We had a chap round to clear the gutters, got him to clean the windows, this revealed the dining room ceiling leaked around where the external soil pipe from the bathroom passed through it (single storey extension). There were problems with both toilets leaking, the kitchen tap was ceased solid so you couldn't rotate it, so that had to be replaced. The cold tap on the basin in the downstairs loo was dripping. The perils of buying a probate property in a hard water area that had been empty for at least 18 months.There was surface mounted wiring everywhere - 3 doorbells that didn't work, speaker cable running from the lounge to an upstairs bedroom, loads of co-ax but we couldn't find any socket where we could get a tv signal.Biggest thing that didn't work was the solar hot water, it was so ancient the pipework on the roof had disintegrated and the metal panel behind had moss growing in it. We had to pay £500 to get it removed, which was the same as it had cost to put in 40 years earlier.Make £2025 in 2025
Prolific £229.82, Octopoints £4.27, Topcashback £290.85, Tesco Clubcard challenges £60, Misc Sales £321, Airtime £10.
Total £915.94/£2025 45.2%
Make £2024 in 2024
Prolific £907.37, Chase Intt £59.97, Chase roundup int £3.55, Chase CB £122.88, Roadkill £1.30, Octopus referral reward £50, Octopoints £70.46, Topcashback £112.03, Shopmium referral £3, Iceland bonus £4, Ipsos survey £20, Misc Sales £55.44Total £1410/£2024 70%Make £2023 in 2023 Total: £2606.33/£2023 128.8%0 -
s1ipmatt said:My parents bought a house in mid 80s and the bath tub was white in colour but had a big thick black ring going all around the inside. My parents tried everything to get rid of it but would not move. They found out from the neighbors that the person my parents bought the house off had inherited it from from a family member, who had died in the bath tub and was there for over a week before anyone had noticed she was missing. The black ring was from the water line.
Too soon after our recent move for me to be venturing any view of anything which “may” have been covered up, however, on moving in to that property, we discovered that the vendor had not bothered to tell us that the thermostat on the immersion heater had failed. We “discovered” this when we were woken up by the cat we had at the time to discover the flat full of steam, and not only the immersion cylinder, but also the COLD water tank both hot to the point of bubbling… to this day we still feel incredibly thankful that the cat was alarmed enough to wake up - the consequences otherwise could have been horrific. He also didn’t bother telling us that the shower was faulty either - poor MrEH discovered that on our first morning there when he suddenly discovered himself under a stream of scalding water…
if you are starting to think that the vendor of that flat was a bit of a git, you wouldn’t be wrong!🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
While getting the gas safety certificate for the house we were selling, the fitter noticed that the open flame gas fire in the lounge didn't meet current safety standards. He capped it off and we kept schtum. Felt a bit guilty when the vendor of our new house said the electric fire in the lounge there was faulty, and knocked £500 off the purchase price. Especially as it was hideous and we were binning it anyway!1
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EssexHebridean said: We have a winner! 😆
Her courage will change the world.
Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.5 -
FreeBear said:EssexHebridean said: We have a winner! 😆🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
I've mentioned this previously (and was accused by a now defunct poster of quoting an urban myth and pretending it really happened) but some years ago a close friend of ours discovered the adult son of the previous occupant of the house he'd just bought was still in situ. Poor man, who had some fairly significant mental health issues as it turned out, was bunking down in the attic. Friend initially thought he had rats. There was quite a complicated back story but friend managed to find the poor man the help he needed. Made a good story however (and yes- it really did happen....
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It's not long since we had a very similar thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6472648/what-s-the-strangest-or-most-expensive-item-you-ve-found-or-left-in-a-property/p10 -
FreeBear said:EssexHebridean said: We have a winner! 😆
Probably my favourite thing from MSE over the many years. Could do with a few giggles.
And yes, it may look as if I'm a newbie but I have been on MSE for many more years than I care to mention, but changed my name so that I didn't get stalked by my nosy ex!2 -
About 6 months after I'd moved into my first home, I started needing to repressurise the boiler to get any hot water. Several visits from British Gas homecare later, they were insistent there was no leak, even if it was the only logical answer for me needing to climb into the loft on a daily basis for hot water.
A week before Christmas, I returned home from work to find my entire living room ceiling had collapsed, damaging two sofas and ruining the laminate flooring that was running the entire length of the house. The culprit was a screw the previous owners had used to secure a floorboard hitting a pipe, being patched up and taking a long time to corrode.
The plus side of it all was that I hadn't decorated the living room or adjacent hallway, so the insurance company paid out for decorating I was going to do anyway, and for two new sofas, even though I was able to savage one of the damaged ones3 -
NornIronRose said:FreeBear said:EssexHebridean said: We have a winner! 😆
Probably my favourite thing from MSE over the many years. Could do with a few giggles.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may5
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