Bought house with no doors- going court now

computerbar

Hi all
I went to see the house and everything was OK.
when I got the keys from the estate agent and entered the house, there inside doors were all missing.
I have called the estate agent who informed the vendor who told me he will reimburse me if I replace the doors myself which cost £628.
now it has been 4 months and the vendors is ignoring my calls and my solicitor letters any way at the end he only offered me £250 which I have rejected.
I have filed a claim online for £628 but the vendors wants to defend it for Part of claim.

Could you please advise me if I am on right track
.
1- first of all I think I have been cheated in a first place that I was not given the house in state that I was agreed to buy in a first place i.e. the doors were there when I seen the house and when I have paid for the house and got the keys the house was not in state I was agreed to buy hence breach of agreement.

2- the vendor was agreed to pay for the doors and then refused to pay the full amount. another breach of agreement (verbal)


does the option 1 theory applies here??
which option I should stress on the most.
regards

teabelly

You should have got the agreement in writing ideally as verbal agreements after the event are harder to enforce. How many doors were missing? Did the £650 include new doors with fitting? Could you have replaced the doors for a more reasonable cost?

What did the fixtures and fittings form say? Was there any mention of the vendor taking the doors with them?

The straight forward part is that you expect fixtures to be there when you take possession unless explicitly mentioned on the fixtures forms that they will be taken. If they are not there than you can insist they are replaced at the vendors' expense on a like for like replacement. If they were all hanging off their hinges then the vendor may argue you would have had to replace them anyway. Did they take the doors off to ease the move and have put them somewhere else eg garage? If they are still around then only the cost of re-hanging is claimable and £650 to hang a few doors seems a bit expensive.

Were there any deals to avoid stamp duty by including fixtures/fittings as 'extras' that the vendor has changed their mind about?

Doozergirl

Did that verbal agreement come via the EA? That should be plenty good enough as a promise.

Rick62

It's outragous taking the doors, theft basically. I think your first argument is compelling and if was the judge I would take about a minute to award you the £650 and then ask you how much more you wanted for your wasted time etc.

takoo

Very sorry to hear of your predicament. Please do not think my post is a reflection on you personally.

On the day of completion I would recommend anyone who is about to complete the purchase of a house or flat to try to do a vacant posssession search - seeeing it yourself or perhaps having someone look at it on your behalf.

In forty years on the two house purchases made, I was at the premises to inspect them on the morning of completion day (before 12 o'clock) - to ensure that I was completing on what I had agreed to buy. I was satisfied on both occasions and instructed my solicitor to go ahead with the completions at noon.

Of course if things are wrong you need to decide to go ahead or delay!

Hope you outcome is satisfactory

Takoo

computerbar

thanks guys, now I feel that the judge would think twice too to make a decision.

1- in the FF statement there was no mention of doors "not included" in the sale.
2- when I informed the vendor he said it must have been a theft but did not inform the police.
3- there were 7 doors missing, I had few qoutes from local handymen for over £700 finally bought doors (reasonable one) myself from WICKES and paid handyman to fix it for me altogather cast was £628.

kazwookie

What type of doors went missing?

With the stress of moving, taking doors with me would be the last thing on my mind, and how do you know they are going to fit the new place.

Catblue

I think your cost of £628 to replace the doors is perfectly reasonable. Hard to see how you could get it done any cheaper, really - taking into account how much handles/fittings/labour, etc cost.

Make sure you have itemised receipts for everything.

Did the vendor initially tell the EA that he would reimburse your costs? If so, get a written statement from the EA.

If not, then I would still go ahead with the claim - out of principle more than anything. Let the vendor try to defend part of the claim. Dreadful behaviour from him - he really deserves to be sued.

clutton_2

claim the £628, claim your court costs/fees, claim for some extra heating until your doors were re-fitted - did you have to buy child-gate to keep children in a room until new door fitted - if so claim for that, did you lose any pay having to take time off work to deal with this - claim for that. - petrol to go and find new doors - claim for that.

Write him a letter saying if he does not pay £628 within 7 days you will issue proceedings.

Do a spreadsheet list of your costs and respectfully submit it to the small claims court.

make it a very simple and straightforward claim - dont get into lots of details

i agreed to buy a house with doors
when i got there - no doors
here is the cost of fitting new doors and the consequential losses i incurred

good luck

Rick62

Doors are clearly fittings, not contents. Clutton is spot on. If you have to go to court make sure you get a lot more than just the £628 cost.

tattycath

My nephew and his GF split up last year. They had their own house. He moved back in with his parents and she stayed in the house until it was sold. When the buyer went to the house after purchase etc they discovered the doors missing. The ex GF had taken them back to her parents house to cause hassle (I'm pleased they split up!!!) Nephew got involved rang solicitor and the doors were returned to the house. Barmy or what!!!