Sellers legal responsibilities when selling house?

Hoenir

[Deleted User] said:

I asked my solicitor 3 times not to check the boiler service and they never got back.

Onus is on the buyer to satisfy themselves i.e. pay for an independent inspection. A small sum in the bigger scheme of buying a property. 

saajan_12

[Deleted User] said:

pinkshoes said:

A full survey will look for structural defects inside and out.

Did you check the property just before exchange? Was the radiator leak there? If not, and it therefore occurred after exchange then it's your issue. £200 isn't so bad or claim on the insurance. 

They shouldn't leave bare wires. That's dangerous. A basic ceiling rose and fitting should be left. Get an electrician in to make this safe and you can bill them for this work.

Lights not working - that was up to you to check at the point of exchange.

Showers not working - again, that was up to you to check that they worked! It's sensible to check taps and showers on a second viewing, and even toilets flushing. 

Holes in ceiling - if they weren't there at the point of exchange then the property should not be left with defects, so you could bill them for getting this repaired.

Filth? There's no law about having to clean the property. It's a case of pride. We left ours immaculate and got a thank you note from the buyer as they were thrilled how sparkling it was. Filth doesn't build up between exchange and completion, so if it was there at exchange, it's not surprising that it's still there.

Proof of boiler services are something to ask for before exchange. Again, testing the boiler before exchanging would be sensible.

Seems sensible now but I didn't know people even did this.....

I asked my solicitor 3 times not to check the boiler service and they never got back.

But then that would be on you to refuse to exchange until either the proof of service is received or commission your own survey / service of the boiler. 

The point of exchange is to say that you're happy with everything provided to date and agree to purchase. 

FlorayG

[Deleted User] said:

pinkshoes said:

A full survey will look for structural defects inside and out.

Did you check the property just before exchange? Was the radiator leak there? If not, and it therefore occurred after exchange then it's your issue. £200 isn't so bad or claim on the insurance. 

They shouldn't leave bare wires. That's dangerous. A basic ceiling rose and fitting should be left. Get an electrician in to make this safe and you can bill them for this work.

Lights not working - that was up to you to check at the point of exchange.

Showers not working - again, that was up to you to check that they worked! It's sensible to check taps and showers on a second viewing, and even toilets flushing. 

Holes in ceiling - if they weren't there at the point of exchange then the property should not be left with defects, so you could bill them for getting this repaired.

Filth? There's no law about having to clean the property. It's a case of pride. We left ours immaculate and got a thank you note from the buyer as they were thrilled how sparkling it was. Filth doesn't build up between exchange and completion, so if it was there at exchange, it's not surprising that it's still there.

Proof of boiler services are something to ask for before exchange. Again, testing the boiler before exchanging would be sensible.

I asked my solicitor 3 times not to check the boiler service and they never got back.

This actually would not have helped you. My house was a rental before I bought it so I know the boiler was serviced and safety checked every year. The first service I had on it the engineer said "It's leaking, but I've done the service and it's safe; it hasn't got much life left in it though"

Flugelhorn

FlorayG said:

[Deleted User] said:

pinkshoes said:

A full survey will look for structural defects inside and out.

Did you check the property just before exchange? Was the radiator leak there? If not, and it therefore occurred after exchange then it's your issue. £200 isn't so bad or claim on the insurance. 

They shouldn't leave bare wires. That's dangerous. A basic ceiling rose and fitting should be left. Get an electrician in to make this safe and you can bill them for this work.

Lights not working - that was up to you to check at the point of exchange.

Showers not working - again, that was up to you to check that they worked! It's sensible to check taps and showers on a second viewing, and even toilets flushing. 

Holes in ceiling - if they weren't there at the point of exchange then the property should not be left with defects, so you could bill them for getting this repaired.

Filth? There's no law about having to clean the property. It's a case of pride. We left ours immaculate and got a thank you note from the buyer as they were thrilled how sparkling it was. Filth doesn't build up between exchange and completion, so if it was there at exchange, it's not surprising that it's still there.

Proof of boiler services are something to ask for before exchange. Again, testing the boiler before exchanging would be sensible.

I asked my solicitor 3 times not to check the boiler service and they never got back.

This actually would not have helped you. My house was a rental before I bought it so I know the boiler was serviced and safety checked every year. The first service I had on it the engineer said "It's leaking, but I've done the service and it's safe; it hasn't got much life left in it though"

agree - we bought a house with a floor standing gas boiler  - all the chits from a big organisation who had a contract to look after it - we didn't take out the contract but  got them back for the first service and they announced it needed replacing and they would no longer cover it as it was. 

got a new chap in, boiler was fine - we were there 12 years, no problems - passed on all the chits to the new owner 

Flugelhorn

[Deleted User] said:

Seems sensible now but I didn't know people even did this.....

We discovered the "pre exchange viewing" a  few purchases back - I asked the agent if it was OK and they were fine about it - seemed to be a "thing" ... of course the furniture was still in place so didn't uncover a couple of nasty surprises but they were sortable 

Newbie_John

All the costs seem under £1000. 

I guess you could complain if you found a massive crack in a wall that was hidden and would cost you £50k!

We all find issue after moving, some hidden on purpose, some ignored, some they didn't know. Life.

Wyndham

Just wanted to say that I'm glad you are in - after your previous thread I've been on tenterhooks wondering if you were sleeping in the removal van

More seriously, there are always some issues with any house. I'm sorry you've had this experience, but I think in your shoes I'd just fix them and move on - it doesn't sound like anything really major.

fourmarks

Wow, 900 threads!  Is this an MSE Forum record?