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house not vacant when bought

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what..the? | 13:38 Tue 25th Jan 2011 | Law
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Ok so we bought the house last year the house was vacant it is the garage, shed and green house which are full the to rafters with rubbish, all of these outside buildings are double sized too so that's a lot of junk.

As it was a private sale through solicitors I did a lot of background organising like confirming the property and out building were empty the owners were old and their son was dealing with all the sale details and chatting to email via email. He confirmed via email that he had emptied the house himself and said his parents had been down to clear out the out buildings but he had not checked.

He had left the keys at the property to allow easy access when the house was sold but no keys were handy for the out buildings we waited a week for the keys in the post and then another 2-3 weeks due the bad weather and the garden being over grown we could not get through to the outbuilding for long grass. When we did we found they were full up with rubbish.

We then asked through the solicitors to remove rubbish their excuses;

1) why did it take so long for you to ask (delayed keys, bad weather, over grown)
2) we though you needed the items (old rusty tools, old snapped mops, and old tvs)
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I'm not convinced you have any right to demand the rubbish be removed.

Settlement day includes an inspection where you could back out of the purchase if the contract conditions were not met. Your acceptance of the condition of the property is implicit in the handover.

You should have been suspicious in the absence of the keys, demanded access to the outbuildings and refuse to close the contract until you could. It is amazing how missing stuff can be magically manifested in record time under such circumstances.

Once the failure to clean out the buildings was exposed you would have had the leverage to negotiate compensation.

Learn from your mistake and stop wasting your time and energy on this.
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cheers.....

When do I get 'your' bill Tony for your time? I will add it to the claim lol
Beso - do you live in the UK
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No he lives in Australia I beleive.....
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Vib - if it's as cheap as you say, I guess What will be ringing her local council
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the council collect for £15 for three items there are hundred or so items or more abandonded.....I have in the past asked the council to remove lots of 'smaller items' (the standard items are furniture, beds, sofas, washing machine etc. I asked them to move much smaller items but more in number they still charged me the £5 per item fee, I had no other option as I didn't drive but is cost me alot.

If the council was to remove the junk they will want the items outside the house just on the roadside for them to collect easily. All the items are I huge walk away up hill, it would take days or weeks to move it down to the roadside plus there is limited space, if it was there for too long I would get in trouble as it is an area of outstanding beauty.
Like bednobs, this happened to me when I moved in here - not in that volume but the house was littered with rubbish, pictures of Sam Fox, every loft space rammed full of junk, a Capri bonnet in the back garden. I left my vacating house so clean.... anyway I couldn't be bothered, I just got a local rubbish-collector man to come and get the lot, to get rid of it. Never crossed my mind to get the seller to pay for it, I just wanted shot of it so I could get on with living in it myself.
Small claims only accept that someone owes you money, they do not collect it for you. You might never be able to get it or have to employ a bailiff to get it for you. It is just not worth it. The council in Bristol will only collect three items at a time so you might as well hire a skip and chuck everything in which will cost you about £100 to £150 according to the size. Quick and easy.
Also bear in mind that there are constraints in what solicitors are instructed to do.

They were instructed to purchase the property and inherent in that there were certain things they will do like obtain information and confirmations so there is potentially a recourse if things go wrong.

They cannot, however, guarantee that people will abide by agreements/confirmations made. They don't inspect properties before completion and they have no control over people's actions.

Many solicitors will do some additional work to help as it seems they have tried to do, however, there has to be a limit, especially if the work was done for free in the first place and there is no fault on the part of the solicitor which led to the rubbish being left.

What happened with regards to the outbuilding keys being late? Not the 2 weeks of weather/overgrown garden which was your issue not gaining access, just them getting the keys in the first place so you were technically able to gain access (even if you didn't). When did it come up the outbuilding keys were not immediately available (before of after actual completion)? Was any issue taken up via the solicitors then?
Just thought of something else. If there are things made of metal (cooker, washing machine, stuff like that) the local scrap merchant will collect it free. He might even get it out of the sheds for you. Worth a try.
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thanks for the help here folks

Jenna - the news of no keys for the out buildings came on the second the sale went though, but as I had emails from me to him and visa versa where I had checked they had been emptied he said they would be.....who'd a thought it... he lied...
What

to get back on track - Have you sent letter advising seller of your intentions?

Starbuck's views are true - court judgement is only a statement that you are owed money but often the threat of court action will spur the person in the wrong to do the right thing
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no not yet I'm busy in the office so not got round to it yet, but in addition waiting to get an update from the solicitor before I jump in..
Starbucks second post of asking local scrap merchant (tinker) is also worth following up as you want is the situation sorted so that you can enjoy the ammenities that you have purchased
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well I'm not missing much as the house is being renovated and the garden i over grown I wont be able to move in until later summer. But I cannot let it all wait, I worry there is even less chance of getting them to pay or remove if I let it go on any longer not being sorted.

Thanks
OK perhaps solicitor will come through - I appeciate it is difficult to push them if they have done conveyacing for free - but if not, if they draft final letter for you giving the 7 days notice and you send it - it will contain all the right words but be sent from you

I don't see why you should be out of pocket because seller has renaged on the agreement that you set up
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thanks for all the continued support you have given me
shame there is not a pm facility on this site lol

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