Doing works on a house you are buying before completion?

icicat

Hi all,

I need some advice on a bit of a tricky situation. We are buying a house that needs some renovation. It has damp in the walls and has dogs living in it. My partner is extremely allergic to damp smell and dogs, to a point where se can have a bad asthma attack if she stays in there too long. She is also allergic to dust, paint any strong chemical smells so ideally she wouldn't be in the house whilst major works are being done.

I have suggested we try and rent, though we can't really afford to alongside the house payments and ideally want to be doing works for a month before moving in and you cant really rent short term where we live.

She is suggesting to the seller if we can start the renovation works after all parties including our buyer have signed contracts and we get the work done before completion (the house is rented on airbnb so the seller does not occupy it) so upon completion we move in and it's live-able. So we would have to agree with all parties that completion is exactly one month after the contracts have been signed.

Now to me this isn't ideal and I am concerned that the works will not be done in such time, or something happens and our buyer pulls out and we have basically paid to renovate someone else's house. I don't like it, but not really seeing an alternative.

Does this sound plausible? Once contracts are signed how legally bindable is someone committed to going through to completion? Personally I would prefer to do any works after everything is done. It's very stressful.

MattMattMattUK

icicat said:

Hi all,

I need some advice on a bit of a tricky situation. We are buying a house that needs some renovation. It has damp in the walls and has dogs living in it. My partner is extremely allergic to damp smell and dogs, to a point where se can have a bad asthma attack if she stays in there too long. She is also allergic to dust, paint any strong chemical smells so ideally she wouldn't be in the house whilst major works are being done.

I have suggested we try and rent, though we can't really afford to alongside the house payments and ideally want to be doing works for a month before moving in and you cant really rent short term where we live.

She is suggesting to the seller if we can start the renovation works after all parties including our buyer have signed contracts and we get the work done before completion (the house is rented on airbnb so the seller does not occupy it) so upon completion we move in and it's live-able. So we would have to agree with all parties that completion is exactly one month after the contracts have been signed.

Now to me this isn't ideal and I am concerned that the works will not be done in such time, or something happens and our buyer pulls out and we have basically paid to renovate someone else's house. I don't like it, but not really seeing an alternative.

Does this sound plausible? Once contracts are signed how legally bindable is someone committed to going through to completion? Personally I would prefer to do any works after everything is done. It's very stressful.

Not really, no. If you really want to consider this then talk to your solicitor, but I suspect the response will be that this is an awful idea.

AskAsk

Daft idea.  The owner of the property will not want you to mess with their property before completion as it isn't yours and so giving your builders and you full access to it will be a security breach.

You can only get everything lined up ready so the work can start immediately the day after you collect the keys.

Albermarle

She is suggesting to the seller if we can start the renovation works after all parties including our buyer have signed  exchanged contracts

See important amendment above.

I did this before moving into this house many years ago. It was empty. However I only did a bit of work in the kitchen as there had been a leak and some soggy flooring.

FreeBear

Sod's law says that once you start work, other issues will rear their ugly head. This inevitably leads to renovations taking much longer than expected. Or you may get some less than enthusiastic trades that drag their feet getting the job done.

And if you have damp in the walls, please don't have chemical DPC and/or waterproof render/plaster slapped on the walls - You are wasting money in covering up the damp. Much better to fix the root cause and let the walls dry out naturally. If you want a quick paint job on a damp wall, use a lime wash - It will allow the wall to dry out, and doesn't contain any nasty chemicals (VOCs). Just lime (calcium carbonate), water, and a pigment.

propertyrental

Some time ago I bought an (empty) BTL. Tenants had caused some damage and LL was fed up with letting so hence sold.

But he was friendly and helpful. We agreed a 1 month gap between Exchange of Contracts and Completion and he allowed me daily access (no overnights) to do work. Collected/returned keys daily from EA.

I re-painted the entire house, replaced the kicked-in kitchen door and had quotes for new double glazing. Oh and got new carpets laid.

So by Completion I was able to advertise for tenants straight away.

All totally dependent on your seller - most will say no, or their solicitors will advise them to say no.

But  no harm asking.

Bookworm105

you may mean the same, but correct wording is exchange, not (merely) sign.

once you exchange contracts then both parties are legally committed to completing the transaction. If one side fails to complete then the other can sue them for compensation 

your question would be what happens if you include costs of the works in your compensation claim?
ask your solicitor 

as it is an air BnB, is the vendor still letting it between exchange and completion?
They may not allow you to perform works in that period, have you asked them?

Sapindus

icicat said:

Hi all,

My partner is extremely allergic to damp smell and dogs, to a point where se can have a bad asthma attack if she stays in there too long. She is also allergic to dust, paint any strong chemical smells so ideally she wouldn't be in the house whilst major works are being done.

I have suggested we try and rent, though we can't really afford to alongside the house payments and ideally want to be doing works for a month before moving in and you cant really rent short term where we live.

How about you yourself move in and she finds an AirB&B at least to just sleep in? 

SDLT_Geek

OP also needs to watch out for taking possession after exchange of contracts amounting to “ substantial performance” for the purpose of stamp duty land tax.  That can mean SDLT becoming due early.

Soot2006

Seller might be planning to rent it until a few days before completion.  Not likely that every single guest has dogs so hopefully that wouldn't be as bad. Perhaps when you viewed it was a particularly wet week with guest-dogs. Wet dog and damp can really smell bad but often clearly up really quickly with a few sunny days, open windows, and a deep clean.

Tiglet2

There is far more legal risk to the seller than the buyer in agreeing to your proposal and for that reason, it would be unlikely that they or your seller will agree to your terms.

The seller's solicitor is likely to advise that the seller is under no legal obligation to allow a buyer access to the property in between exchange and completion.  This is not a normal procedure.

By allowing the buyer access to the property there is a risk that they will make alterations to the property which would affect the value of the same, or leave work half completed.  There is also the risk of the buyer taking possession of the property prior to the agreed completion date and then refusing to complete upon the contracts.

The seller's solicitor would insist on the buyer entering into an Access Undertaking which is a solemn legal promise, which can then be utilised with the courts in regards to taking action against the buyer, but this of course does not stop the physical action being undertaken if the buyer so wishes to do so.

The seller's solicitor would recommend the seller replies as follows:  To state to the buyer that if they wish these works to be actioned, they should be carried out following completion.

The solicitor would request the seller confirm in writing whether they are agreeable to the buyers request or whether they wish to follow the advice above. 

The seller ultimately would take all the risk, should they decide to go ahead and ignore their solicitor's advice.