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

One of the upsides of being a house renovator, is that every house you buy is full of surprises. Jobs you thought you would have to do that turn out to ne unnecessary nd jobs you hadn't expected.

Currently we are relieved to find that we do not have to take the roof off our 'new' home to install insulation. But, while we knew the CH boiler was defunct, we hadn't expected to need to replace the whole system because it is such a Heath Robinson jumble of randomly situated radiators on a system re using partly bigger pipes from 2 previous heating systems.

CariadAgain, no we did nothing, the wall had obviously been rebuilt some time ago. Nothing to do with the current neighbours.
Annoying but not the end of the world.
6ft of a narrow shed isn't worth falling out over.

Witzend

Nothing of that kind.
However the vendor was so pissed off with dh for striking a hard bargain - ‘You are not in an Arab marketplace now!’ - he was working in Oman at the time, and pls imagine her very sniffy German accent.

So although I’d allowed her to stay for 4 days after the official completion, since her new (bigger) house wasn’t ready - my solicitor had a fit! - and although she knew I’d be moving in on my own with a small baby, she took all the curtain rails down, and removed all the light bulbs.

Whew - she had got lucky with you allowing her 4 days free stay like that. I can imagine why your solicitor had a fit!!

I was on the other end of a solicitor having a hissy fit re my first house. It was sitting there empty for several weeks before I was allowed to move in and it was very frustrating to peer through into my empty house knowing I couldnt get into it. We'd even got as far as "exchange of contracts" as I recall - but they would not let me move in until it had all been completed - even though they knew I was going to have to waste a few weeks more rent staying put in a flat I was renting because of that and was single (so every penny mattered).

The way I got my deposit was rather long and convoluted - and hence it wasnt going to be in my bank account to hand over until literally the day fixed. So, if anything had gone wrong and there'd been a bit of "British inefficiency" and my solicitor saying "It's not been put there yet - so I can't hand it over yet" I had made mental notes that I could manage to get into the back yard and the kitchen window was single-glazed at the time and I was sure I could locate a brick or something somewhere to manage to get into my house anyway (as it wouldnt be my choice or fault if the deposit hadnt been there on the day it was due to be). I would have moved in anyway - rather than have my removal van full of goods sitting outside unable to do so and my mother duly sitting up in it enjoying herself at having flirted the removal men into giving her a lift with them.

Fortunately all went according to plan - albeit only because someone got sent on an errand from the solicitors to "kick up the appropriate backside of appropriate person" to get the money out of them on time - as it hadnt turned up in the post so to say. She went, administered kick up backside in appropriate direction and I was able to move in in the official normal way. Think she must have put on her best "bovver boots" to do said kicking to get that deposit in the relevant account in time...or she was as good at flirting as my mother was if she put her mind to it LOL.

Nothing of that kind.
However the vendor was so pissed off with dh for striking a hard bargain - ‘You are not in an Arab marketplace now!’ - he was working in Oman at the time, and pls imagine her very sniffy German accent.

So although I’d allowed her to stay for 4 days after the official completion, since her new (bigger) house wasn’t ready - my solicitor had a fit! - and although she knew I’d be moving in on my own with a small baby, she took all the curtain rails down, and removed all the light bulbs.

We were very lucky to get a brand new 3 bedroom house with gardens back and front and a garage across the street just 3 weeks after we got married ,a council house
We lived there for 8 years and then bought a flat near our work and the school for our almost 5 year old.
It was a great flat and we loved it but 18 months later we had the chance of a new detached house at a good price so we decided to move
Seems the previous owner of the flat had built upwards without the necessary paperwork.It should have been found by our solicitor but sadly not and when he was asked about it he shrugged his shoulders and said Sue me!
Being young and silly we didn’t but we did pay for the new owners bridging loan and compensation on top of.
We learned from it It was a lot of money we could ill afford .
We e had great neighbours in all 4 houses we,ve lived in in our 50 years together ,all within a radius of about 3 miles .

They didn't tell us that a landmine had dropped in the front garden an blown all the window out. It was only when I noticed that the handles on the front and back windows didn't match. When we moved to our present house we weren't told that a V2 had fallen in the back garden causing the roof to lift and there's a crack across the house. Fortunately we had a full building survey done and the surveyor said it hadn't moved in 40 years so it should be good for at least another 40. We did have the roof replaced.

Not sure that a vendor is obliged to tell you anything. It's up to you to have a survey and ask questions via a solicitor. That's in England. I believe it's different in Scotland. You might berate me for saying this but I would not disclose a problem if trying to sell.

NotSpaghetti

That the victorian brick shed at the bottom of the garden (half in our garden and half in next doors) had been "claimed" largely by next door. They had moved the internal wall to take over half of our half so ours is very small inside.

We had just popped our head in, seen lots of tools etc but no room for bikes!

Dying to know if you decided on a bit of extra DIY......ie taking down that joint internal wall and rebuilding it back where it should be....

Yep....I've duly done some strategic changing - where it's clear a neighbour has definitely nicked some of "mine" (ie in the garden).

Yep....I've also dis-attached something that got illicitly attached to my new garden wall. The neighbour concerned had lied to me and said their fence would be just beside my wall - so when I found it fixed to my wall (and having seen very clearly they're bodgers already and this is a windy area) = cue for I removed their fence from being fixed to my wall. I did not want their bodgy fence to damage my wall. They didn't dare re-attach it....

I don't think there was any deliberate attempt on the part of the vendors to withhold information, we viewed the house a couple of times, at the height of Covid, not a good time to be buying or selling. Because of the circumstances there was a reticence about touching door handles and all that over caution foisted upon us at the time. So as we went along the landing, a floor to ceiling door was pointed out as "the airing cupboard" oh nice and big! was my assumption not bothering to open it. Then when we moved in, opening it for the first time only to find a huge water tank and not a lot of space for anything else, I can get a few things in, but unlike where we left,
behind a door half the size there was twice the room.

Because one of the bedrooms had an ensuite bathroom and a little kitchenette attached our house attracted two council taxes as it counted as two properties! After eighteen months we removed all the kitchen fittings and made it into a store room. It was then regarded as one property!

That the victorian brick shed at the bottom of the garden (half in our garden and half in next doors) had been "claimed" largely by next door. They had moved the internal wall to take over half of our half so ours is very small inside.

We had just popped our head in, seen lots of tools etc but no room for bikes!

Astitchintime

That the boiler was regularly serviced……..the vendor had obtained a gas certificate and signed it HERSELF as the inspecting gas engineer!
That the electrical wiring was perfect……..and absolute lie as it kept tripping for some odd reason, we had a total rewire within weeks!
That they had no pets……..they had 5 cats who had marked territory in each corner of the lounge - I didn’t wonder why there was so many air fresheners dotted about when we viewed!
Wish I had never set eyes on this place or met the lying excuse for a human being!

I always groan when I spot air fresheners anywhere in the photos of a house for sale - you just come to know there's a reason for that.

My own vendor (of current house) had all windows wide open both times I came viewing the house and I just assumed it was a personal choice thing. Duh! Until the day I moved in (windows shut for weeks by then) and the house reeked to high heaven of stale cigarette smoke (ie because his mother had obviously been a chain smoker).

I don't recall expecting to have to replaster the house before I could redecorate it - but that's what I had to do and so there was even more hassle and expense than I'd expected - as I'd soon gathered that one just can't ever get the smell of fag smoke out of the walls literally - unless one replasters those walls before painting them. Fag smoke defo gets into absolutely everything - and absolutely everything had to go (I'd expected to decorate and new floor coverings and curtains throughout - but got those curtains sooner than I expected to in the event).

There's also the aspect of knowing something has got to be done - but it needs doing sooner than expected. I'd seen the house had a great long wooden fence on one boundary and mentally noted it as "To do sometime - replace that fence with a wall instead". I wasn't used to the winds we have here - and they brought some of it down that first winter. Cue for I had to get someone in to remove the rest of the fence and put that wall up pronto (and I'm from the West Country - and that meant my taste dictated "Walls are red brick or stone - red brick it is then". Whereas if my tastes had been West Wales (where I am now) it would have been a sight cheaper to do a concrete block wall. But no - West Country me knew exactly how I'd react to looking at that ("Yuk...ugly...ugly...hate it") - so brick it had to be (you don't want to know how much a long 6' tall brick wall costs....eek!) and I was still in the "pension gap" between my retirement age of 60 and my "Revised State Pension Age" of around 63 - as I'd retired at 60 as per plan anyway. That did not do my savings any favours having to pay for that, and what I'd planned on and subsidising my low job pension until that Revised SPA. Every last bit of my savings vanished between subsidising my income and renovating the house and I had to take out a loan when I couldnt stand the kitchen any longer (yep.....very typical in poor use of space that so many people do) - and I still needed a lot more for renovation work.

From which - another point I've noticed happening is a woman who bought a house and she and her husband moved in to live there and I learnt at secondhand that if a house has been gutted after they had lived there and is done in very currently fashionable style = it needs inspecting carefully. Reason being they've bought it deliberately as a way of making income for themselves - bought cheap, done up cheap and as easily as they can manage themselves = they've deliberately bought it to "flip" (ie live in for a while and make a deliberate profit from it). I'm watching the result now it's been sold to someone else - new central heating not working, a bathroom not working, a fence coming further apart each time we get a strong wind here. It looked nice and modern on the surface - but certainly a lot of it was clearly "surface level work" and not done properly.

Where I am now too it's an area of the country where some of the builders are prone to buying a cheap wreck of a house that doesn't even function properly and do it up basically and flog on for a profit. I can tell by now - because there's gaps on kitchen walls where they could/should have put more wall cupboards and they didn't and so the new buyer is going to think "Why are 2 or 3 of the wall cupboards missing? They didn't buy them in the first place" and struggle to find matching ones. The other giveaway is counting the number of powerpoints in a room and, if there's only one or two on the one hand that's a giveaway the house hasn't been rewired and you're in for having to redecorate it all over again (after you've done that missing rewiring). Also modern era power points are put that bit higher up the wall - and so, if the powerpoints are down near the top of the skirting board = it hasnt been rewired yet.

That the boiler was regularly serviced……..the vendor had obtained a gas certificate and signed it HERSELF as the inspecting gas engineer!
That the electrical wiring was perfect……..and absolute lie as it kept tripping for some odd reason, we had a total rewire within weeks!
That they had no pets……..they had 5 cats who had marked territory in each corner of the lounge - I didn’t wonder why there was so many air fresheners dotted about when we viewed!
Wish I had never set eyes on this place or met the lying excuse for a human being!

It was many years ago - our first house, end of terrace Victorian,
Back in the early 60's no central htg to worry about, but we did note an electric power point in every room, two in main bedroom, etc. etc. Day after wedding we got back late to discover none of downstairs light worked, evidently my Dad had (helpfully) put up a shade on one light and this had blown the lot. Had to get electrician in following day. This led to complete check on electrics on house and to discover that just two of those power points actually came of power circuit. All the remainder, DIY carried out and off lighting circuit.

Had to have whole house rewired and I can still remember that electrician, showing us various bits of wires which had been there, which could have led to a serious fire any time. Fortunate, in a way, for us that we had it rewired immediately, but devastating to our finances.

The 'multi-boiler' in the bathroom above the kitchenette, gave the hot water for both rooms. It had been turned off and when we got gas engineers in the start it up (was October), they refused and condemned it!!!

Second day there, hubbies foot went through hall-way floor - turned out whole ground floor had serious wet rot and needed treatment.

We were in our v. early twenties, came both from council flats, no-one to advice us -first step into owning our own home. Steep and expensive learning curve for us.

In the decades since, have always tried to play fair when selling a property and have never had anything really bad when moving into new one.

strangely enough, the worst of subsequent moves was from that house, seven years later, to a new build. Raft of problems, most doable, but main one was that builders had installed c.htg by warm air which entered each room via a grill high up in the wall. Warm air rarely managed to get lower down, house was always cold. One of seven houses we all joined together eventually to try to get this changed with agents, but not successful. Due to twins arriving we had to move out within four years, for a larger house, but visited those neighbours as they were friends for several years, and all those house eventually had to have normal gas c.htg via radiators installed.

One house was grubby, ok we can clean, then we got to the airing cupboard. Every slat making up the shelves was covered in black grease. Why or how we never did find out.

A family member bought a house with a raised pond in the garden. It had been filled with gravel on top. Eventually they wanted to flatten it. Off came the gravel. Underneath they found several black bags of rotting rubbing, a microwave, a cycle, plastic containers, shoes, old clothes, duvets and the occasional cushion. It was fascinating in its way if somewhat smelly. The brick surround was demolished and re-purposed, a skip dealt with the rest. The house had been very grubby bordering filthy, it sort of all went together.

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.

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. 🤦🏼‍♀️

CariadAgain , thank you for your very informative response.

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!

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 😩

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?

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".

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.

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.

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!