What did the vendor of your house NOT tell you (that they should have) when you came viewing?

As an aside Re carbon monoxide. Many years ago we ( my boyfriend at the time) were staying on his boat, a friend was also staying.
As it was a bitterly cold night we left a Tilly bowl fire heater on.
The fire run out of fuel so the flame went out but as it was still pumped up it was emitted fumes.
If it hadn’t been for a friend on the boat next door wondering why we were late up came knocking finding us unconscious.
Long story short the Dr advised to Allways have a monitor in your bedroom. Reason being most people who die by carbon monoxide poisoning are asleep before they are aware.

The garage roof had a hole in it! Garages are in a separate block and I didn't think to ask to look inside

That the central heating was controlled by Nest, which she took with her when she left. Took us and a central heating engineer a few days to work out why no heating.

Yep....I've read more than one place that the first thing that carbon monoxide does is send someone to sleep...

This was confirmed by the fact that I'd joined a man I'd been chatting with at his table at a hotel for breakfast - and that was the sort of job he did and he was not unused to being there at the aftermath of "carbon dioxide incidents" and confirmed they do indeed happen as accidents sometimes....

In our madhouse the kitchen ceiling vowed slightly so we had someone in to fix it. Our daughter was off school I'll and she suddenly heard a massive noise and a lot of swearing! When he started to remove the ceiling he'd been covered in rubble, when the extension was done instead of clearing rubble it was left in the cavity between the kitchen ceiling and daughter's bedroom above, probably why it was bowing, he removed 4 big sackloads of stuff.

As a corollary, have you ever done anything to vendors? Our last sale he was so difficult during the sale that we put all the keys, and a few extras, in a bag on the kitchen worktop as we left, I also removed every instruction manual for various things. Pretty know but very satisfactory!

Madhouse should have been last house!

Our house move was delayed by a month due to the vendor having a still birth.

We moved in with 2 small children and asked a gas engineer friend to check why there was a black smut around the gas fire in the sitting room. He checked and immediately condemned the fire as it was leaking carbon monoxide and the boiler was in a similar state..

I often wondered if the baby loss was due to not having the system serviced.

That wild boar would occasionally come running across the property and start tearing up the lawns!

Wasn't told that the roof of the block the flat I was buying in had a £1 million roof repair pending!

LadyBridgerton

As a corollary, have you ever done anything to vendors? Our last sale he was so difficult during the sale that we put all the keys, and a few extras, in a bag on the kitchen worktop as we left, I also removed every instruction manual for various things. Pretty know but very satisfactory!

My buyer must have had to spend a noticeable amount of time going through an absolute pile of keys I left - as I left every darn one I had and that was rather a lot (ie as I'd had in lodgers for years to start with - and so there'd been quite a bit of lock-changing done over the years). Well - better that they had every conceivable key it might have been than any missing......

I left one pile of paperwork there - every legal bit of paper I'd had re the house (again - at least they'd have whatever bit of paper it was that they needed).

Turned up at current house to find a huge file of every bit of legal paperwork ever - and that was my first hint that the neighbours would kick off about my ownership of my own garden! I got the hint that such a huge pile of paperwork must have been kept for a reason and it probably meant the neighbours were Trouble - else I wouldnt have been left with such clear proof (for most of my garden certainly) that it is "mine - so hands off". Moral of that tale being - ask to be told as much as possible about previous owners (in case you find they were all widows and mainly from the local area - where men are often deemed to "come first" by many still). But you are an always single person (sex irrelevant - as you've had decades being treated as a person - rather than a "woman"). Instant thing of "modern person" v. "their expectations you'll act like a subservient woman" = head-on clash. They finally realised I'm a 21st century "person" and not a "1950s woman" iyswim. But it took some doing to get them to stop treating me as a "woman".

Think the "trouble" when it started boiled down to two of the neighbouring households regarding themselves as a "power in the local community" and me as an outsider and so therefore they were right (in their opinion) because of being in that position of being "local"/knowing lots of people etc. That was not funny having them running round telling a pack of lies about me/trying to turn people against me because they couldnt "have their own way" any longer about my garden.

One of those households wouldnt have been too pleased that locals who don't like them proceeded to tell me all their bad points (like being alcoholics for instance) and their modern-day paperwork showed up that, though they had been there for donkeys years etc etc - it was very clear what the state of their finances was (and yep...it's things that were their fault for obvious bad money management).

Nothing. We never met the vendor and barely saw the house, despite 3 viewings, it was so full of stuff, everywhere, suggesting the vendor teetered on the edge between compulsive shopping and hoarding. We were very worried that the house might not be fully cleared, but it was. However this just revealed how filthy it was. I doubt that paintwork had been washed or the windows cleaned in decades

But then, when we quite deliberately and knowingly bought a rundown and outdated house in order to do it up, what could we have expected?

I never met my vendor and had only seen the house once. I knew it had been empty a long time.
Two falling-down sheds were full of rubbish and so was the cupboard under the stairs, where the floor was the rotten consistency of sponge cake.
When I had it rewired it was described as a DIY job and the asbestos roof over the bathroom (5’ square) leaked into the bath.
The estate agent described it as ‘characterful’ where ‘derelict ‘ would have been better.

That bricks and sand had been falling down the chimney! It needed completely relined.

Reading all these horror stories, I am wondering….
Is there no legal comeback against vendors who lie or omit to disclose problem neighbours or boundary disputes?
Have solicitors not done due diligence before the sale goes through?
Have buyers failed to get surveys done?

That the boiler didn’t work properly. The only way to get hot water was to put the heating on in mid July! Cost us £4000 to renew!

LadyBridgerton

In our madhouse the kitchen ceiling vowed slightly so we had someone in to fix it. Our daughter was off school I'll and she suddenly heard a massive noise and a lot of swearing! When he started to remove the ceiling he'd been covered in rubble, when the extension was done instead of clearing rubble it was left in the cavity between the kitchen ceiling and daughter's bedroom above, probably why it was bowing, he removed 4 big sackloads of stuff.

That's got me wondering a bit on the how-to.

I've witnessed two ceilings come down in my time. Way back when I lived in Grotty Bedsitland one of the houses was pretty old and I wondered what the loud noise underneath the floor of my bedsit was one time - until everyone descended on the room underneath mine - to see if the occupant was okay. A large chunk of plaster had come down - and it was fortunate that she'd just moved to the other side of the room just beforehand - as it would have come down straight on top of her.

The other time was a centuries old farmhouse belonging to a then friend of mine and we were both standing in the drawing room of the place and I started yelling at her to move NOW (ie towards me) and had to yell at her several times before the message finally got through into her head that she must move towards me NOW. She finally stopped looking at me blankly and moved towards me - seconds before huge chunks of plaster came down from that ceiling just above where she'd been standing. Cue exasperation on my part she didn't just trust me in the first place for the fact I must have had some reason for yelling at her to move towards me - even if I couldnt have told her so if she'd asked...and just knew she had to come towards me - as I'd be safe and she wouldnt have.

They did not tell us ...
... that a radiator in the bedroom had been removed but the pipework not sealed off ... as soon as we switched the central heating on water pumped through the living room ceiling.
... that there was a floor safe containing £1000s of jewelery that they would roll up the next day to retrieve.
... that the flood defences relied on getting the cooperation of the neighbour keeping his yard drain clear.

Cabbie21

Reading all these horror stories, I am wondering….
Is there no legal comeback against vendors who lie or omit to disclose problem neighbours or boundary disputes?
Have solicitors not done due diligence before the sale goes through?
Have buyers failed to get surveys done?

I think the answer is "In theory there is - in practice could be rather harder". Those legal forms are getting steadily more precise that the seller has to fill in. They've got rather more complex since the vendor of my house had to fill in one when he sold it to me 12 years back - so I think it's getting harder for vendors to tell a pack of lies than it was. I think there's still a lot of scope for saying "not known" or whatever the phrase is, ie "Do you have Japanese Knotweed?" and they lie and say "not known". I theenk (don't quote me on that) that the onus is still rather on the buyer to prove the vendor lied.

I picked up the "vendor is a lying little *" vibes from him when I was shown my house by him and so I was watching him warily - but his tactic he used was to "get in there first" with mentioning something, eg "We let Next Door park in our front garden. We've given her permission". That was a particularly tricky way to put things - because, as an English person when I say "we" that is precisely what I mean (ie myself and someone VERY close to me - eg a husband or close relative) - but, even though he was English too, he'd been living here for years and could maybe have got away with "I used "we" the way a lot of Welsh people do - ie more of a community/group type way - rather than those VERY VERY close to me". Him saying "That wall was put there by last owner (his mother)" didnt have the bit in brackets after it of "She darn well had to do so - because Her Next Door was intent on trying to make out some of the side garden was really hers". The Welsh community "we" also got used when I asked who owned a bit of garden - and anticipating I'd interpret it as the English "we" (ie "my mother and I") - as I duly did and thought "Ah right - owned by his mother/the last owner then. It will be mine". It is mine - but that didnt stop Her Next Door kicking up about it - as she'd been squatting on a bit of it.

Careful phrasing by vendor is definitely one trick. Crooked vendors probably have a lot of others - I imagine "Ooh....SO sorry....but I've only got 10 minutes to spare to show you the house....as I've got to do x/y/z in a minute" might be another one they'd use. Putting a hefty bit of furniture in front of a damp patch on a wall. Another bit of furniture just over a bit of floor that needs work. There's a battery of techniques a crooked vendor can use.

I certainly had a (mid-level) survey done myself. Re solicitors - solicitors in some parts of the country (ie where I'm from) are not going to be familiar with regular "tricks played" in other parts of the country that operate rather differently. If one is from an area where you've never even heard of neighbours stealing/trespassing in someone else's garden = you're not looking out for it - whereas someone else from that same area probably would be keeping their eyes open for it - because they've been told about it happening to various people they know.

Japanese Knotweed - the thought would literally not cross my mind back where I'm from - as in 40 years there I'd literally never come across it/heard of anyone having it. Where I am now - you have to ask - because I've seen it noticeably often here and, whenever I've told the person and expected "great shock/thanks/urgency to deal with it" as the appropriate reaction they've just reacted with "shrugs....shrugs...."oh yeah I knew......" shrugs" and I've been gobsmacked at it not being taken seriously and dealt with yesterday so to say.

It begins to look like there's a market for a book on "tricks vendors play" - with sub-sections of "These are more prevalent in x part of the country" and "Those are more prevalent in y part of the country".

Sarnia

The vendors had a long-standing feud with the neighbour on one side. The roots from their bedraggled but extremely tall pine tree which was right against the boundary fence had lifted the bricks on his drive. They kept saying they would repair his driveway and never did. We later found out that when he had been on a month's holiday the vendors had faithfully promised to relay his drive when in reality they were moving out and we were moving in. We sorted it amicably by paying £1000 to remove the tree and roots and he agreed to foot the bill for his drive. The vendors did not mention this on the paperwork which asks if there are any disputes with the neighbours. Very annoying!

Can you sue for something like this?

LadyBridgerton

In our madhouse the kitchen ceiling vowed slightly so we had someone in to fix it. Our daughter was off school I'll and she suddenly heard a massive noise and a lot of swearing! When he started to remove the ceiling he'd been covered in rubble, when the extension was done instead of clearing rubble it was left in the cavity between the kitchen ceiling and daughter's bedroom above, probably why it was bowing, he removed 4 big sackloads of stuff.

Builders are blinking murder for this 😩

That none of the electrics worked in the livingroom . The dishwasher wasn't plumbed it properly. The outside drains were a shambles and it took thousands for us to put them right. There was glass and rubbish buried in the garden . The boiler had never been serviced . I could go on and on.

On moving day he left 3 hours late, holding up our removals company and when we finally got into the house there was literally rubbish all over the living room floor and the whole house was disgustingly filthy . When I finished scrubbing the cupboards in two rooms the wood was a different colour! We love it now, we've nearly finished renovating and the 1.6 acre garden is heaven.
However when we first moved in it was our worst nightmare!

CariadAgain , thank you for your very informative response.

Cabbie21
We had a surveyor 3 properties back in time who pointed out that the boiler in the bathroom didn’t have a flue. We informed him that that was because it was electric. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Cabbie21

CariadAgain , thank you for your very informative response.

You've got me thinking on and wondering if it's a good idea to head down a "locals" type pub or something if moving to a different area and see if you can start up chatting as to "the way things are here - I want to fit in after all" and see if they come up with stuff you hadn't been on the lookout for.

When I came on holiday here checking out the area - I told everyone applicable that I came across that I was checking for a suitable house to buy for me. There was some element of it being informative - as I did giggle and smile a bit at some of the helpful comments back. One woman's one was "You do NOT want to choose a house in so-and-so estate. My husband is a policeman and he's forever being called up there. That's not for you". She then proceeded to tell me the area she suggested for me - and she'd have been right if I'd had a husband to help pay for it (ie a newly-built/still being built executive type estate - a bit luxury and rather convenient). She was spot on - but I'd have told her I was single if I'd realised the prices they charge for those houses (ie affordable with a husband - but not affordable for many single people). I took it as a compliment - when she said what she regarded as suitable for me - but I couldnt afford it.

It would have saved so much hassle if I'd been able to afford the estate I'd been told was "obviously mine" - as they were all so new...oh well. Well - presumably - as new houses could have been built by a bodger builder.