Sold my house -Nightmare of a purchaser
Discussion
To the OP ... she's probably like this with everything in her life, hence she's single and probably very bitter. I would have left some curtains in for her ... complete with prawns sewn into the hems. Would've taken her an age to work out just where that fishy smell was coming from ...;)
Vron said:
The light fittings will have been mentioned in the fixtures and fittings form. I would ignore her. Her solictor won't care as she will be paying for him to write to you even though he will know there is no chance of any redress.
I bought a house a few years ago and it stated in the contract that the sellers would leave the (large) koi carp in the pond but take their light fittings (they wanted £200 for them and they were old lady 1960's brass things with plastic fake candle holders for the bulbs that were yellow and rotted)
On completion all the fish had gone and all the light fittings (tat) were left.
Some people are just plain dishonest.
You are not wrong, we bought a BTL place a couple of years back. We wanted it empty, but the vendors wanted to sell us stuff. They even offered it for knock down prices on the completion day.I bought a house a few years ago and it stated in the contract that the sellers would leave the (large) koi carp in the pond but take their light fittings (they wanted £200 for them and they were old lady 1960's brass things with plastic fake candle holders for the bulbs that were yellow and rotted)
On completion all the fish had gone and all the light fittings (tat) were left.
Some people are just plain dishonest.
When we get the keys most of the stuff is still there, and is either tat or buggered. The oven they were trying to sell us was broken, and would have cost us over £150 to fix.
I had trouble with the seller of my property... I wanted the internals... Told to sod off and then they dumped then in a skip outside the property by which time they were drenched on moving day.
However they did want money, £500 to be exact for this exact model cooker:
http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/product/SUK61PX8...
Except mine was at least 5 years old at the time and some how managed to get a burn mark on the stainless steel... After I saw the condition I just told him to take it with him as he refused the rest of the stuff... then it came back he wanted £250 for it, which point he was told to either take the oven leaving a certificate that someone official had removed it or leave it behind but I wasnt paying for it.
Net result I have a slightly damaged cooker that has lasted a good few years.
But not before leaving f
king holes in 2 of the partitioning walls, the most fking ugly metal shelves that weighed about 20kg still in the one bedroom, all nails for pictures had been with claw hammers leaving marks on all walls and finally the hanging frames still nailed into the walls where the mirrors did exist (now smashed in the skip).
However they did want money, £500 to be exact for this exact model cooker:
http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/product/SUK61PX8...
Except mine was at least 5 years old at the time and some how managed to get a burn mark on the stainless steel... After I saw the condition I just told him to take it with him as he refused the rest of the stuff... then it came back he wanted £250 for it, which point he was told to either take the oven leaving a certificate that someone official had removed it or leave it behind but I wasnt paying for it.
Net result I have a slightly damaged cooker that has lasted a good few years.
But not before leaving f
king holes in 2 of the partitioning walls, the most fking ugly metal shelves that weighed about 20kg still in the one bedroom, all nails for pictures had been with claw hammers leaving marks on all walls and finally the hanging frames still nailed into the walls where the mirrors did exist (now smashed in the skip).When viewing my current house we decided the lady selling was a slight fruitcake. She had already bought another (local) property and we had expressed at time of offer our wish of a quick completion. The house was spartan at best, no carpets and hadn't seen a paintbrush in the 20 years since it was built! She set completion two weeks later than needed to get carpets fitted in her new place. On the week of completion it snowed giving her a further excuse for delay as she couldn't move any furniture to her new place. When we finally completed a week later than the set date we went straight round. We accounted for every bit of furniture that had been in the house was either in the skip on the front lawn, or still in the property. One phone call to our solicitor and it was decided that this didn't constitute vacant possesion, her money was held until a second skip had been delivered and filled by her husband and son.
We should have known when we viewed that she'd be trouble, she went to turn the volume on the TV down, the remote was wrapped in cling film but she still wouldn't touch it, she put a magazine over it and pushed the button through the magazine!
We should have known when we viewed that she'd be trouble, she went to turn the volume on the TV down, the remote was wrapped in cling film but she still wouldn't touch it, she put a magazine over it and pushed the button through the magazine!
We looked at a house a bit like that in Little Thetford near Ely.
It was a nice house - no doubt about it - a 4 bedroom with a nice big garden.
So first we discovered that one bedroom had been converted (with extra stud walling) to a dressing room (no room for a bed now), but the real killer was that she was going to take all of the light fittings, all of the carpets, curtains etc. I.e. completely strip the place.
She went on at such length about all the things she was going to take we felt there wouldn't really be much left. So we gave that one a miss. That house was on the market for months, and we watched the price fall and fall, IIRC it took nearly a year to sell. And that was in the boom times - about 1999-2001, we guessed other buyers had been equally impressed
It was a nice house - no doubt about it - a 4 bedroom with a nice big garden.
So first we discovered that one bedroom had been converted (with extra stud walling) to a dressing room (no room for a bed now), but the real killer was that she was going to take all of the light fittings, all of the carpets, curtains etc. I.e. completely strip the place.
She went on at such length about all the things she was going to take we felt there wouldn't really be much left. So we gave that one a miss. That house was on the market for months, and we watched the price fall and fall, IIRC it took nearly a year to sell. And that was in the boom times - about 1999-2001, we guessed other buyers had been equally impressed
I had one when I bought a house a few years ago. Was priced at £270k and I could not afford stamp duty over £250k, so I offered a £1 below at £249,999.
They accepted - and then the fun began. They wanted money for carpets, for light fittings, for appliances, curtains etc. I just wanted the carpets, as could not really afford to replace them all in a 4 bed detached house. I think they wanted £500 for them, so I agreed. I was also quite interested in the slimline dishwasher, as a full size one would not fit in the fitted kitchen, and I did not have one. They wanted £300 for the dishwasher that Currys/Dixons were selling for £250. So I told them to leave it. This really got her goat!
So on the day we moved in - bare bulbs were left everywhere, and the dishwasher had gone. Carpets were left as agreed - no problem.
I ran the tap to get a glass of water, and realized the cupboard was leaking. The bh had taken all of the drainage pipework away from under the sink. I was about to call my solicitor (my Mum!), however I then noticed she had also left (by mistake) a fairly new patio heater in the garden. When she called I denied seeing it, and would not give access back to the property to check.
Also I sold the house for 50k more just over a year after.......
They accepted - and then the fun began. They wanted money for carpets, for light fittings, for appliances, curtains etc. I just wanted the carpets, as could not really afford to replace them all in a 4 bed detached house. I think they wanted £500 for them, so I agreed. I was also quite interested in the slimline dishwasher, as a full size one would not fit in the fitted kitchen, and I did not have one. They wanted £300 for the dishwasher that Currys/Dixons were selling for £250. So I told them to leave it. This really got her goat!
So on the day we moved in - bare bulbs were left everywhere, and the dishwasher had gone. Carpets were left as agreed - no problem.
I ran the tap to get a glass of water, and realized the cupboard was leaking. The b
h had taken all of the drainage pipework away from under the sink. I was about to call my solicitor (my Mum!), however I then noticed she had also left (by mistake) a fairly new patio heater in the garden. When she called I denied seeing it, and would not give access back to the property to check.Also I sold the house for 50k more just over a year after.......
I don't get the selling carpets to the next buyer. To me its like trying to sell somone the wallpaper. They are part of the house as far as I'm concerned.
My boss told be that she agreed to pay for the carpets in her first house, then found that it had been originally been fitted around the sellers furniture
My boss told be that she agreed to pay for the carpets in her first house, then found that it had been originally been fitted around the sellers furniture
I can't help but wonder if all these buyers who have had st treatment from vendors have brought it on upon themselves.
After all, all the PH vendors' acts of deviousness have been done, in their own admission, because of tttish buyers. So presumably it's fair enough to flip the scenario and draw one's own conclusion from that?
t treatment from vendors have brought it on upon themselves.After all, all the PH vendors' acts of deviousness have been done, in their own admission, because of t
ttish buyers. So presumably it's fair enough to flip the scenario and draw one's own conclusion from that?I recall moving when I was a kid. Not only had the light bulbs gone, so had the fittings.
One mad dad. As it happened the house we had moved into was a 'lessor' part exchange that my parents had accpeted, as we had time while a house was being built.
This meant that my dad knew where to find them... He returend with said light fittings and bulbs...
One mad dad. As it happened the house we had moved into was a 'lessor' part exchange that my parents had accpeted, as we had time while a house was being built.
This meant that my dad knew where to find them... He returend with said light fittings and bulbs...
Skips - One of the few things that tends to turn up regularly.
If you are selling and intending to leave a skip there to be collected on the day of completion or a day or two later for Christ’s sake check it out with the Buyer and, once they are happy, get your solicitor to write to theirs confirming that it will be left there, collected on X day and that this has been agreed between the parties. Anything else get it removed prior to completion or otherwise, as the OP found, the Buyer can claim that they have not got Vacant Possession of the Property.
I’ve had a few interesting Clients but have to say that 99% of the people I work for are sensible and don’t seem to take the micky. Often you can hear something coming out of the other side’s solicitor that you know full well they are just trotting out what the Client has told them they want trotted out with no attempt to advise their Client on the case in point.
You are paying your Solicitor to do the deal and also to advise you. If I have a Client who asks for something stupid I ask them about it and discuss it with them. In some cases the Client realises that they are being a Muppet, in others they realise that what they have just suggested is not the right way to get the end result they want and that there is a better route and in some they are just plain old set on their path and all you can do is act on the instructions, although at least you know that you have done your job.
If you are selling and intending to leave a skip there to be collected on the day of completion or a day or two later for Christ’s sake check it out with the Buyer and, once they are happy, get your solicitor to write to theirs confirming that it will be left there, collected on X day and that this has been agreed between the parties. Anything else get it removed prior to completion or otherwise, as the OP found, the Buyer can claim that they have not got Vacant Possession of the Property.
I’ve had a few interesting Clients but have to say that 99% of the people I work for are sensible and don’t seem to take the micky. Often you can hear something coming out of the other side’s solicitor that you know full well they are just trotting out what the Client has told them they want trotted out with no attempt to advise their Client on the case in point.
You are paying your Solicitor to do the deal and also to advise you. If I have a Client who asks for something stupid I ask them about it and discuss it with them. In some cases the Client realises that they are being a Muppet, in others they realise that what they have just suggested is not the right way to get the end result they want and that there is a better route and in some they are just plain old set on their path and all you can do is act on the instructions, although at least you know that you have done your job.
jenpot said:
Maybe it's my age, but I wouldn't want any carpets, never mind someone else's cast offs. We've one in the bedroom that we've never got round to replacing (the wooden flooring is still in the garage, 4 years later) but a house full of them would give me the creeps.
It is down to personal taste. We changed the carpets at our house, but then again they could have walked out on their own if we had shouted at them loud enough!House before there was nothing wrong with the carpets and the sellers were 'tidy' people who hooverd and cleaned and things like that so it wasn't really an issue.
jenpot said:
Maybe it's my age, but I wouldn't want any carpets, never mind someone else's cast offs. We've one in the bedroom that we've never got round to replacing (the wooden flooring is still in the garage, 4 years later) but a house full of them would give me the creeps.
It depends if they are a) in reasonable condition and b) you can afford to have a whole new load of flooring put in.In the house with the joke woman that I (and countless others) rejected she was going to take out every single one. I just had this strange thought in my mind of why bother taking your own cast-offs?
You imagine tearing up every carpet in the house, plus underlay, rolling it up, stashing it in the van (assuming there is space) and then arriving with them at the other end. Then think of the idiot with about 6 rolls of carpet and underlay - not a carpet fitter in sight, all the wear marks etc in the wrong places - at their new home. They'll all just go in the garage to rot and be homes for spiders and earwigs.
So all a threat/statement to take the carpets tells you is that the seller is a) mental and b) trouble. I mean seriously - would you bother? With rugs yes - fitted carpets - they're mental, all the fitted carpets, they're unhinged and it's a sign to run.
When we moved to Southport in ’74, many moons ago, I was 9, my dad took out a bridging loan for 2 weeks to allow us to have 2 weeks between moving out and moving in, so we could nip over and wash/clean/paint, carpets fitted, as appropriate. We arrived as a family en masse on the Saturday morning AFTER signing and keys handover on Friday, to find the dozy couple, not only still living in it, but NOTHING packed either.
It was the one and only time in my, my sister’s or my mum’s life we saw Dad go nuclear. Serious bad language time. My dad immediately went back home, and dragged our solicitor (luckily a family friend) away from World of Sport and bought him over, to inform them of their obligations etc…
Dad turned up on the Wednesday, when they said they would be out, with a few friends with cricket bats. I am under no illusion he would have used them.
On the other side, an ex-boss of mine was gazumped 45 minutes prior to contract signing time, 11:15. He wasn’t happy either….
It was the one and only time in my, my sister’s or my mum’s life we saw Dad go nuclear. Serious bad language time. My dad immediately went back home, and dragged our solicitor (luckily a family friend) away from World of Sport and bought him over, to inform them of their obligations etc…
Dad turned up on the Wednesday, when they said they would be out, with a few friends with cricket bats. I am under no illusion he would have used them.
On the other side, an ex-boss of mine was gazumped 45 minutes prior to contract signing time, 11:15. He wasn’t happy either….
Slightly OT but I think you'll like it-
When we moved down to the coast we intially had a rental while our London home sold. Spent ages looking and eventually settled on a nice bungalow, 3days before moving (all packed etc) she (the single women landlord) decided she'd rather sell it- "Would we like to buy it for £230K?" (it was supposed to be a £750/month rental!) and no, we can't rent it anymore.
Suffice to say we couldn't buy, thats why we where planning to rent afterall! So we went down the next day for the letting agent to show us some more houses. When we arrived the letting agent was trying not to laugh and very apologetic for his manner given our predicement.
He explained that she'd been in the day before and was upset we didn't want to buy her bungalow having been booted out at the last minute- so outraged in fact that she'd stormed out of the agency and straight across the road.... into the path of a minicab, she was knocked down and hospitalised! The agent was very impressed and thought Karma was awfully speedy these days.
Ironically she later sold the place for a considerable loss due to the recession and thanks to the same recession we manged to sell our London flat for over the asking price and bought a far nicer 3bed semi down here than we could possibly have afforded at the time :-)
When we moved down to the coast we intially had a rental while our London home sold. Spent ages looking and eventually settled on a nice bungalow, 3days before moving (all packed etc) she (the single women landlord) decided she'd rather sell it- "Would we like to buy it for £230K?" (it was supposed to be a £750/month rental!) and no, we can't rent it anymore.
Suffice to say we couldn't buy, thats why we where planning to rent afterall! So we went down the next day for the letting agent to show us some more houses. When we arrived the letting agent was trying not to laugh and very apologetic for his manner given our predicement.
He explained that she'd been in the day before and was upset we didn't want to buy her bungalow having been booted out at the last minute- so outraged in fact that she'd stormed out of the agency and straight across the road.... into the path of a minicab, she was knocked down and hospitalised! The agent was very impressed and thought Karma was awfully speedy these days.
Ironically she later sold the place for a considerable loss due to the recession and thanks to the same recession we manged to sell our London flat for over the asking price and bought a far nicer 3bed semi down here than we could possibly have afforded at the time :-)
My guess is that the carpet negotiation goes back to the days before fully fitted "wall to wall" carpeting was available in most houses. Typically, the room had a carpet with some space around the edge showing original tiles or lino. This made it easy to roll up and take to your new home and unroll again.
Today's negotiation simply hasn't caught up with today's popular style of floor coverings.
When I bought my first house (times were hard) we got the carpets included in the purchase. Before moving anything into the house, the carpets were all lifted and removed, the floors cleaned underneath them, carpets relaid and cleaned with an industrial carpet cleaner I had hired. Bit by bit we replaced them as we could afford to decorate each room.
The current house I live in was the only other I bought with floor coverings. The place was 5 years old, and was a UK holiday home for a guy that ran a bank in the middle east. The file of receipts showed that he had paid around £20,000 to carpet a 4 bedroom / 5 reception room / 4 bathroom house, and they looked like they had never been walked on. So we reduced the house below the applicable stamp duty threshold, and bought them and various sheds, automatic garage doors, irrigation systems, exotic, auto dialling burglar alarms (encrypted monitoring commercial duty with opening / vibration sensors and panic buttons all over the place) etc to get the deal aligned with what he wanted, rather than pay an extra 2% stamp duty! The deal stacked up so that the tax men were ok.
When we moved in, everything was here in case the tax man wanted to take a look. The end of that day, a lot of it was at the recycling centre.
After one mega Christmas and New Year party involving lots of people falling down drunk, we replaced the carpets. Red wine does not look good on very light carpets
. Needless to say that it did not cost us anywhere near £20k.
Today's negotiation simply hasn't caught up with today's popular style of floor coverings.
When I bought my first house (times were hard) we got the carpets included in the purchase. Before moving anything into the house, the carpets were all lifted and removed, the floors cleaned underneath them, carpets relaid and cleaned with an industrial carpet cleaner I had hired. Bit by bit we replaced them as we could afford to decorate each room.
The current house I live in was the only other I bought with floor coverings. The place was 5 years old, and was a UK holiday home for a guy that ran a bank in the middle east. The file of receipts showed that he had paid around £20,000 to carpet a 4 bedroom / 5 reception room / 4 bathroom house, and they looked like they had never been walked on. So we reduced the house below the applicable stamp duty threshold, and bought them and various sheds, automatic garage doors, irrigation systems, exotic, auto dialling burglar alarms (encrypted monitoring commercial duty with opening / vibration sensors and panic buttons all over the place) etc to get the deal aligned with what he wanted, rather than pay an extra 2% stamp duty! The deal stacked up so that the tax men were ok.
When we moved in, everything was here in case the tax man wanted to take a look. The end of that day, a lot of it was at the recycling centre.
After one mega Christmas and New Year party involving lots of people falling down drunk, we replaced the carpets. Red wine does not look good on very light carpets
. Needless to say that it did not cost us anywhere near £20k.They couldn't have taken the hideous carpet from our first flat before we moved in. It went straight under the stud wall which had replaced the bridal doors when it had been converted - as I discovered when I took it up to sand the floors. We left a card and a bottle of fizz in the fridge when we sold - one happy buyer for a few £ outlay.
nomisesor said:
They couldn't have taken the hideous carpet from our first flat before we moved in. It went straight under the stud wall which had replaced the bridal doors when it had been converted - as I discovered when I took it up to sand the floors. We left a card and a bottle of fizz in the fridge when we sold - one happy buyer for a few £ outlay.
We got a lovely card and a bottle of (terrible) wine (but the thought was there!) when we moved in. She knew it was our first house, newly married couple etc. Old widow left a card saying "three generations of my family have lived and grown up in this house. We hope you love it as much as we did. Please look after it." etc. brought a lump to my throat that did.In buying my house last year I had the seller from hell. Without going into details everything was difficult and ended in brinkmanship.
My solicitor finally told me the keys would be available at the agents in 15mins, so I went round to collect them. Needless to say they weren't there. Agent asked if I wanted to hang around & wait for him to bring the keys in. I said I'll go for a walk down the street & come back shortly. As I turned to leave the seller walked in with the keys. I ignored him & his wife, brushed past them & walked out.
Came back 15 mins later. I apologised to the agent & said "I had to leave or else I might have thumped him"... I then heard a voice behind me say "No you wouldn't, because I'd have been in the queue ahead of you." The voice then introduced himself as the owner of the agents and explained all the grief they had had with the guy in the 18 months they'd been trying to sell his house. The old git had lost one sale arguing over £500 and pulling out in a fit of pique. In the end that had cost him £20k which was the amount I paid less than his lost sale.
The agent summed it up very nicely though. "Ignore all the grief you've had, just remember you now have a great house & he doesn't!"
My solicitor finally told me the keys would be available at the agents in 15mins, so I went round to collect them. Needless to say they weren't there. Agent asked if I wanted to hang around & wait for him to bring the keys in. I said I'll go for a walk down the street & come back shortly. As I turned to leave the seller walked in with the keys. I ignored him & his wife, brushed past them & walked out.
Came back 15 mins later. I apologised to the agent & said "I had to leave or else I might have thumped him"... I then heard a voice behind me say "No you wouldn't, because I'd have been in the queue ahead of you." The voice then introduced himself as the owner of the agents and explained all the grief they had had with the guy in the 18 months they'd been trying to sell his house. The old git had lost one sale arguing over £500 and pulling out in a fit of pique. In the end that had cost him £20k which was the amount I paid less than his lost sale.
The agent summed it up very nicely though. "Ignore all the grief you've had, just remember you now have a great house & he doesn't!"
Edited by GT03ROB on Tuesday 13th September 18:24
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