Official UK Property Thread

[Raggs]

The real kicker is we had first refusal on a property that we turned down for this place. Now that property is signed up with an agent and waiting to be advertised with them. So we'll be exposed on that one to the same thing.

[inactionman]

UK property market is worse than a Banana Republic during coup season. It’s a national embarrassment and should be overhauled completely.

The system in Scotland is at least better than the one in England. Seller pays for the Home Report, no gazumping etc, although there is also the daft 'offers over' thing where you have to offer more than the value.

The main problem is that people are flipping bonkers about property.

It's a bit weird to someone used to the English system where a price is a stretch target for the seller, and it's more of a negotiation and iteration, but I was amazed how accurate our solicitor's predictions were for (i) the likely highest bid for a closed auction and (ii) what a seller would accept for private sale.

We missed a house in Colinton by pretty much exactly what our solicitor expected us to miss by (we were ambivalent on the house and went low), ended up buying a flat in Leith for 8% over valuation which is apparently exactly the right value for Edinburgh, we also sold for around 8% above valuation, and then bought a house in a private sale for pretty much bang on market value. It's a curious system but it seems that market value is pretty well established and predictable.

One issue I did have with the home report is that it's a bit 'bet hedging', we had loads of advisories on our flat and - lo and behold- they were exactly the same for our house. It was almost impossible to work out if these were things to worry about or were just bog-standard for homes of that age (all were Victorian). All quite non-committal. Not that the English surveys are much better- most are just bothered with market value to keep lenders happy - but you can ask them to focus on specific areas of concern after the viewing.

[inactionman]

The real kicker is we had first refusal on a property that we turned down for this place. Now that property is signed up with an agent and waiting to be advertised with them. So we'll be exposed on that one to the same thing.

Any chance you could give the seller a quick buzz and see if the original offer still holds? Might need to up a few K to cover agent's fee

I'd think most sellers would just rather get it done, and will take a keen and genuine decent bid than deal with flakey high bids and interminable viewings.

[Raggs]

The real kicker is we had first refusal on a property that we turned down for this place. Now that property is signed up with an agent and waiting to be advertised with them. So we'll be exposed on that one to the same thing.

Any chance you could give the seller a quick buzz and see if the original offer still holds? Might need to up a few K to cover agent's fee

I'd think most sellers would just rather get it done, and will take a keen and genuine decent bid than deal with flakey high bids and interminable viewings.

They've already said they'd rather wait and see what comes.

[Glaston]

Fucking fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

Just got a call from the estate agent to say we've been gazumped. Someone who'd had an offer turned down before (I guess the same time ours was accepted), has now put in an offer more than £10k over the asking price. Not sure we're in a position to compete, or if we want to try, just to get further down the line again and have them do the same thing to us.

Wife is going to be pissed. I'm pissed off too.

I'm hearing about this happening a lot raggs. In one case a client who'd arranged for me to do some work immediately after completion was gazumped under 2 days beforehand. You've got to factor in a) how much you want the place b) how competitive is the property market round your way and c) how much have you already sunk in in legal/survey fees. Best of luck.

A few of the more ethical agents around here (using the term loosely here) are moving towards sealed bids.

Oh, and globus, being outbid at auction is in no way the same as being gazumped.

I'm wondering if any given estate agent may be more honourable than others? I'd avoid Hoxtons etc like the plague, although beggars can't necessarily be choosers. Seeing as they're on commission of usually a percent or so, 10k difference is only £100 so surprised agents will run with it (noting the agent can take place off market and not communicate any further bids, in most cases they're complicit in gazumping).

Hmmm, Estate Agents and honourable in the same sentence . Very unlikely.

5 years ago
Friend put their mothers house on the market with a very upmarket estate agents.
Lots of views, few offers, all well under asking price.
One afternoon they went over to the house to tidy the garden and came across a couple wandering around outside.
Started chatting . It turned out they really loved the house and wanted to buy it at full asking price but had been told by the Estate Agent that it was already under offer.

[Hal Jordan]

Depends on the agent. I've dealt with estate agents for getting on two decades now as part of my job, and there are definite trends.

The shiny suit brigade, always making calls outside the office to cover up the fact they're looking to waltz off with half the clients (generally found in the meatgrinder big chains) are less than honourable.

However, a lot of local, independent agents are much more keen on actually getting the deal done for their clients rather than just focusing on the commission.

[inactionman]

I'm hearing about this happening a lot raggs. In one case a client who'd arranged for me to do some work immediately after completion was gazumped under 2 days beforehand. You've got to factor in a) how much you want the place b) how competitive is the property market round your way and c) how much have you already sunk in in legal/survey fees. Best of luck.

A few of the more ethical agents around here (using the term loosely here) are moving towards sealed bids.

Oh, and globus, being outbid at auction is in no way the same as being gazumped.

I'm wondering if any given estate agent may be more honourable than others? I'd avoid Hoxtons etc like the plague, although beggars can't necessarily be choosers. Seeing as they're on commission of usually a percent or so, 10k difference is only £100 so surprised agents will run with it (noting the agent can take place off market and not communicate any further bids, in most cases they're complicit in gazumping).

Hmmm, Estate Agents and honourable in the same sentence . Very unlikely.

5 years ago
Friend put their mothers house on the market with a very upmarket estate agents.
Lots of views, few offers, all well under asking price.
One afternoon they went over to the house to tidy the garden and came across a couple wandering around outside.
Started chatting . It turned out they really loved the house and wanted to buy it at full asking price but had been told by the Estate Agent that it was already under offer.

I'm not clear on what the agent gains from that? Or is it incompetence/indifference?

[fishfoodie]

I'm wondering if any given estate agent may be more honourable than others? I'd avoid Hoxtons etc like the plague, although beggars can't necessarily be choosers. Seeing as they're on commission of usually a percent or so, 10k difference is only £100 so surprised agents will run with it (noting the agent can take place off market and not communicate any further bids, in most cases they're complicit in gazumping).

Hmmm, Estate Agents and honourable in the same sentence . Very unlikely.

5 years ago
Friend put their mothers house on the market with a very upmarket estate agents.
Lots of views, few offers, all well under asking price.
One afternoon they went over to the house to tidy the garden and came across a couple wandering around outside.
Started chatting . It turned out they really loved the house and wanted to buy it at full asking price but had been told by the Estate Agent that it was already under offer.

I'm not clear on what the agent gains from that? Or is it incompetence/indifference?

Maybe lining up a cheap sale for a mate, & getting a few quid off the books for a reward.

[Raggs]

On the rollercoaster again now. Had an offer accepted last week. Hoping it'll be surveyed very soon. Also, just been told by the estate agents that they've had an offer accepted and it's chain free, so we're in a very short chain, which is nice.

[Raggs]

Survey just come back. Turns out he reckons the loft room (not an official conversion), has basically just ripped out (my wording) a load of the support trusses and not done anything to restrengthen the roof. Said it needs a structural engineer to check it to determine just what's been done, what would need to be fixed and give a price.

There's other issues (wear and tear on an older house) but that's a walk away issue for us basically. Unless they're willing to spend the cash on the structural engineer and it's not a large sum!

[Mr Bubble Gum]

Putting my gaff on the market in the New Year, but I think the 80’s mahogany style upvc windows are killing the kerb appeal. They seem pretty solid enough so I’m wondering whether forking out 8k to replace them is worth the expense/hassle. Thoughts welcome.

[Raggs]

Putting my gaff on the market in the New Year, but I think the 80’s mahogany style upvc windows are killing the kerb appeal. They seem pretty solid enough so I’m wondering whether forking out 8k to replace them is worth the expense/hassle. Thoughts welcome.

I wouldn't. If it's absolutely awful, do it. But I don't think the windows would kill it for me. So many places we walk into and get told it's a new kitchen/bathroom, which is all well and good, but it's not the kitchen/bathroom we chose, so it makes bugger all difference if it's 6 months old or 6 years old, we want something else etc.

[tc27]

Putting my gaff on the market in the New Year, but I think the 80’s mahogany style upvc windows are killing the kerb appeal. They seem pretty solid enough so I’m wondering whether forking out 8k to replace them is worth the expense/hassle. Thoughts welcome.

Put up some pictures..
Unless hideous better off spending a lot less on a new coat of inoffensive paint here and there

[Mr Bubble Gum]

Yeah, maybe I’ll just throw a new front door on or some shit

[yermum]

Robert Jenrick needs a good hard kick in the balls for the clusterfuck that is the EWS1 form debacle.
Due to "reasons" we have to use a specific lender (wifes job) they are not budging on needing an EWS1 form despite the building being under 18m and not clad.
The leaseholder is saying that they wont get one commissioned as its not needed due to government guidance.
RICS are saying that the government guidance is not relevant.

WTAF its incompetence made manifest by a clueless bunch of cunts in government.

[Raggs]

Survey just come back. Turns out he reckons the loft room (not an official conversion), has basically just ripped out (my wording) a load of the support trusses and not done anything to restrengthen the roof. Said it needs a structural engineer to check it to determine just what's been done, what would need to be fixed and give a price.

There's other issues (wear and tear on an older house) but that's a walk away issue for us basically. Unless they're willing to spend the cash on the structural engineer and it's not a large sum!

So they are getting an engineer in. And apparently a place just up the road, identical in design has done a full conversion. Of course that doesn't mean they've done it right, but it's encouraging.

[Sandstorm]

Survey just come back. Turns out he reckons the loft room (not an official conversion), has basically just ripped out (my wording) a load of the support trusses and not done anything to restrengthen the roof. Said it needs a structural engineer to check it to determine just what's been done, what would need to be fixed and give a price.

There's other issues (wear and tear on an older house) but that's a walk away issue for us basically. Unless they're willing to spend the cash on the structural engineer and it's not a large sum!

So they are getting an engineer in. And apparently a place just up the road, identical in design has done a full conversion. Of course that doesn't mean they've done it right, but it's encouraging.

Restructuring a roof will cost upwards of £10k (been there, done that on our previous Victorian terrace as few years ago). Get at least that off the price before you complete.

[Raggs]

Survey just come back. Turns out he reckons the loft room (not an official conversion), has basically just ripped out (my wording) a load of the support trusses and not done anything to restrengthen the roof. Said it needs a structural engineer to check it to determine just what's been done, what would need to be fixed and give a price.

There's other issues (wear and tear on an older house) but that's a walk away issue for us basically. Unless they're willing to spend the cash on the structural engineer and it's not a large sum!

So they are getting an engineer in. And apparently a place just up the road, identical in design has done a full conversion. Of course that doesn't mean they've done it right, but it's encouraging.

Restructuring a roof will cost upwards of £10k (been there, done that on our previous Victorian terrace as few years ago). Get at least that off the price before you complete.

We're not expecting it to be cheap, and we're definitely not going to be left with the bill (as such), we're already offering a very good price on this place. If it can be converted though, it's well worth it in my mind.

[Raggs]

Turns out the structural engineer said it's ok. So we were ready to pay a large amount for a place that may not have been quite worth it. Probably a month in from when they accepted. And they decided they weren't going to move anymore.

Arseholes.

Back to square one again.

[Tichtheid]

Turns out the structural engineer said it's ok. So we were ready to pay a large amount for a place that may not have been quite worth it. Probably a month in from when they accepted. And they decided they weren't going to move anymore.

Arseholes.

Back to square one again.

We were on the other end of that, we had accepted an offer and had done all the paperwork when 12 weeks after the offer they pulled out because their buyer was pissing them about.
We accepted another offer and the same thing happened, they pulled out after 13 weeks this time, so we decided to stay where we are. Between the two of them we lost six months worth of potential buyers.

The second lot came back with a reduced offer a couple of weeks later.

Buying and selling a house in England is a nightmare, when we came to this house we sold our flat in April and moved in here in mid-September.

In Scotland you enter into a binding contract when your offer is accepted and if you pull out you lose thousands (I think it's a percentage of the price), which seems to sharpen minds and keep the process moving along swiftly.

On the other hand there is the "offers over" system which means you don't really know what you are going to have to pay to "win" the bid.

[KingBlairhorn]

UK property market is worse than a Banana Republic during coup season. It’s a national embarrassment and should be overhauled completely.

The system in Scotland is at least better than the one in England. Seller pays for the Home Report, no gazumping etc, although there is also the daft 'offers over' thing where you have to offer more than the value.

The main problem is that people are flipping bonkers about property.

It's a bit weird to someone used to the English system where a price is a stretch target for the seller, and it's more of a negotiation and iteration, but I was amazed how accurate our solicitor's predictions were for (i) the likely highest bid for a closed auction and (ii) what a seller would accept for private sale.

We missed a house in Colinton by pretty much exactly what our solicitor expected us to miss by (we were ambivalent on the house and went low), ended up buying a flat in Leith for 8% over valuation which is apparently exactly the right value for Edinburgh, we also sold for around 8% above valuation, and then bought a house in a private sale for pretty much bang on market value. It's a curious system but it seems that market value is pretty well established and predictable.

One issue I did have with the home report is that it's a bit 'bet hedging', we had loads of advisories on our flat and - lo and behold- they were exactly the same for our house. It was almost impossible to work out if these were things to worry about or were just bog-standard for homes of that age (all were Victorian). All quite non-committal. Not that the English surveys are much better- most are just bothered with market value to keep lenders happy - but you can ask them to focus on specific areas of concern after the viewing.

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

[Raggs]

Had two offers in. Got calls back fromthe estate agents within 5 minutes of each other telling us both had been accepted. Called the first of back to say no thanks. So someone else will get a nice call.

Chain free, vacant. So i don't think the seller will be an issue, which means the mortgage will be the bit to go wrong i guess.

[Sandstorm]

Had two offers in. Got calls back fromthe estate agents within 5 minutes of each other telling us both had been accepted. Called the first of back to say no thanks. So someone else will get a nice call.

Chain free, vacant. So i don't think the seller will be an issue, which means the mortgage will be the bit to go wrong i guess.

Survey after that

[weegie01]

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

[Happyhooker]

House surveys are the biggest scam out there.

[robmatic]

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

Absolute chancers.

[Paddington Bear]

House surveys are the biggest scam out there.

Yes. Got mine back the other day and it includes such gems as:
'we did not investigate x as the door was too heavy to lift'
'prevailing winds come from the south west'
'there are gutters but you should walk past when it's raining to see if they work'

[dpedin]

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

There is a standard set of Edinburgh missives for residential properties which covers some/all of this? Unless stated otherwise in the contract these apply to every residential property transaction in Edinburgh? Is this what you are pursuing through the courts for damages? I know that when I bought my flat I had a bit of an issue because the seller, which was a private company didn't want to use these standard clauses as they were dealing with it as a commercial transaction. My solicitor who was also a mate, told them otherwise and that they had to apply and then advised me I had 5 (or 7 days?) to test all the appliances and fittings, boilers, etc to make sure they worked and if not then report back to my him so he could ensure the seller would be liable to pay for repair/replacement. Needless to say I forgot to test the waste disposal unit in the kitchen properly and ended up having to fix that myself ... lesson learnt.

[Happyhooker]

House surveys are the biggest scam out there.

Yes. Got mine back the other day and it includes such gems as:
'we did not investigate x as the door was too heavy to lift'
'prevailing winds come from the south west'
'there are gutters but you should walk past when it's raining to see if they work'

I was once fixing up a few things in a terraced house that was for sale. I was warned that a surveyor would be coming round that day.

The next day I was thanked as they'd had the surveyor's report through. I reckon it must have been the bloke in the car that parked opposite for under 10 minutes.

[Raggs]

Had two offers in. Got calls back fromthe estate agents within 5 minutes of each other telling us both had been accepted. Called the first of back to say no thanks. So someone else will get a nice call.

Chain free, vacant. So i don't think the seller will be an issue, which means the mortgage will be the bit to go wrong i guess.

Survey after that

Can't imagine there's much to go wrong with the survey to be honest.

[inactionman]

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

Blimey. I dread to think what the rest of the kit cost.

But sorry to hear about travails, shoddy workmen are one of the few things to really get my back up. It leaves such a bitter taste. Hope it gets worked out.

[Uncle fester]

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

Absolute chancers.

#prayforweegie01

[weegie01]

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

There is a standard set of Edinburgh missives for residential properties which covers some/all of this? Unless stated otherwise in the contract these apply to every residential property transaction in Edinburgh? Is this what you are pursuing through the courts for damages? I know that when I bought my flat I had a bit of an issue because the seller, which was a private company didn't want to use these standard clauses as they were dealing with it as a commercial transaction. My solicitor who was also a mate, told them otherwise and that they had to apply and then advised me I had 5 (or 7 days?) to test all the appliances and fittings, boilers, etc to make sure they worked and if not then report back to my him so he could ensure the seller would be liable to pay for repair/replacement. Needless to say I forgot to test the waste disposal unit in the kitchen properly and ended up having to fix that myself ... lesson learnt.

We did not check everything in the time we should have as tradesmen let us down. However, the likes of the wine fridge was spotted. Their lawyer first of all tried to claim it was not the vendors problem as we had bought the flat as seen. They then tried to argue we'd got the flat cheap as the had no interest at the original price and lowered the 'offers over' price, then lowered it again to a fixed price. Our lawyers pointed out that it was worth what someone was prepared to pay, and besides there was a clause in the contract where they said everything worked.

The vendor then tried to argue it was just used as a wine cabinet not a fridge so in their terms it worked. We had a specialist tradesman look at it, he said it needed replaced. The vendor refused to accept that. They sent their own person who 'fixed' it. It broke down again literally within an hour of him leaving. He came back and finally agreed it needed replaced. They basically said 'sue us' never expecting us to follow through. That as a mistake. We would have been OK if they had just replaced the fridge, now we are going after them for the extra lawyers fees, tradesmen's costs etc.

[Biffer]

Home reports are utter bollocks, I honestly can’t believe lenders secure against their value. I happened to sell a flat on a stair at the same time as a neighbour. Their home report for the externals of the building bore zero resemblance to ours. When we got our valuation it was lower than expectation by almost £15k. One phone call from the estate agent got it to our expectation. Total nonsense.

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

There is a standard set of Edinburgh missives for residential properties which covers some/all of this? Unless stated otherwise in the contract these apply to every residential property transaction in Edinburgh? Is this what you are pursuing through the courts for damages? I know that when I bought my flat I had a bit of an issue because the seller, which was a private company didn't want to use these standard clauses as they were dealing with it as a commercial transaction. My solicitor who was also a mate, told them otherwise and that they had to apply and then advised me I had 5 (or 7 days?) to test all the appliances and fittings, boilers, etc to make sure they worked and if not then report back to my him so he could ensure the seller would be liable to pay for repair/replacement. Needless to say I forgot to test the waste disposal unit in the kitchen properly and ended up having to fix that myself ... lesson learnt.

Yeah, need to be kicking your own solicitor's arse for not picking thus up. I know my solicitor has made a selling solicitor go back through five previous sales of a property to correct a problem in the title deeds. (that's for the planning bit, not the fridge)

[dpedin]

When we sold our house in Colinton we bought one of our sons a flat in the West End as we'd rather they get our money now when they need it rather than when we die.

The home report was OK but hedged with various caveats.

Once we'd bought the property (it had been converted from a hotel into flats) we discovered various breaches of the planning permission for the conversion. In addition, there was lots more to fix things like a new boiler had been not been connected to the thermostats, the conversion had been done by an Italian to Italian standards, which may be adequate but were not UK standards and a variety of other faults. Several thousands of pounds of work, but apparently all were outside the scope of the survey.

Plus we are now going to court with the seller stated in the sales contract that everything worked to the best of their knowledge. They were lying, and stupidly tried to tell out lawyers that their definition of 'work' for a near £2k wine fridge was that it did not keep the wine cold, but was just used as shelving.

There is a standard set of Edinburgh missives for residential properties which covers some/all of this? Unless stated otherwise in the contract these apply to every residential property transaction in Edinburgh? Is this what you are pursuing through the courts for damages? I know that when I bought my flat I had a bit of an issue because the seller, which was a private company didn't want to use these standard clauses as they were dealing with it as a commercial transaction. My solicitor who was also a mate, told them otherwise and that they had to apply and then advised me I had 5 (or 7 days?) to test all the appliances and fittings, boilers, etc to make sure they worked and if not then report back to my him so he could ensure the seller would be liable to pay for repair/replacement. Needless to say I forgot to test the waste disposal unit in the kitchen properly and ended up having to fix that myself ... lesson learnt.

We did not check everything in the time we should have as tradesmen let us down. However, the likes of the wine fridge was spotted. Their lawyer first of all tried to claim it was not the vendors problem as we had bought the flat as seen. They then tried to argue we'd got the flat cheap as the had no interest at the original price and lowered the 'offers over' price, then lowered it again to a fixed price. Our lawyers pointed out that it was worth what someone was prepared to pay, and besides there was a clause in the contract where they said everything worked.

The vendor then tried to argue it was just used as a wine cabinet not a fridge so in their terms it worked. We had a specialist tradesman look at it, he said it needed replaced. The vendor refused to accept that. They sent their own person who 'fixed' it. It broke down again literally within an hour of him leaving. He came back and finally agreed it needed replaced. They basically said 'sue us' never expecting us to follow through. That as a mistake. We would have been OK if they had just replaced the fridge, now we are going after them for the extra lawyers fees, tradesmen's costs etc.

Vendors lawyers sounds like a twat, he should know all the rules very well and should be advising his vendor accordingly. Embra is a small world, the lawyers all know each other and his name will now be shit amongst his legal brethren. Even now he should be advising they fold and avoid the inevitable large bill plus expenses. Assuming they standard clauses were adopted, and they are in almost 100% of residential transactions, they are fecked!

https://espc.com/espc-policies/edinburg ... rd-clauses

[fishfoodie]

House surveys are the biggest scam out there.

Yes. Got mine back the other day and it includes such gems as:
'we did not investigate x as the door was too heavy to lift'
'prevailing winds come from the south west'
'there are gutters but you should walk past when it's raining to see if they work'

Reminds me of when I bought my house; but from the other side.....

I wasn't a local; so didn't have any names for reliable engineers to do a survey; so I chatted with people in work, & one told me to ask another colleague, whose brother was the engineer who did his survey.

Not much later, I'm with the EA showing me around the house I am now living in, & mention how I'll want to get a survey done, & need to organize access for him; & the EA says, "no problem", & how there's nothing to see, etc, etc; & how surveys are a waste of money, & how some of them feel the need to find issues to justify their existence, & scare people into getting a survey done; when they should just believe whatever the EA tells them .... and then he mentions a particular PITA surveyor, who fits in this category ! .... guess who I'd just hired; he didn't name him, but he gave me enough details to make me sure

As it turned out, he didn't spot much more than I'd seen myself; but having a professionally written report, & knowing their EA's opinion of my surveyor; gave me some negotiating room to haggle for the repairs that he'd documented. It was probably a 20-25k reduction he'd given me; so well worth his fee !

[Globus]

Have a look at Clive Thornton. He was my boss when he indicated that mortgage surveys should be passed to applicants.

RIBA and RICS went ballistic when we had a meeting. Clive just went to the press and told them what AN was going to do.

I had to field a lot of phone calls and had an interview on Radio 4.

He went off to Robert Maxwell's mob. Now breeds bulls in Lincolnshire.

The Lady Ghislane was moored next to my mate's yacht in Monaco. Work out this one.

[Globus]

Have a look at Clive Thornton. He was my boss when he indicated that mortgage surveys should be passed to applicants.

RIBA and RICS went ballistic when we had a meeting. Clive just went to the press and told them what AN was going to do.

I had to field a lot of phone calls and had an interview on Radio 4.

He went off to Robert Maxwell's mob. Now breeds bulls in Lincolnshire.

The Lady Ghislane was moored next to my mate's yacht in Monaco.

For some reason uTube won't let me post a video. What's going on?

[SaintK]

Have a look at Clive Thornton. He was my boss when he indicated that mortgage surveys should be passed to applicants.

RIBA and RICS went ballistic when we had a meeting. Clive just went to the press and told them what AN was going to do.

I had to field a lot of phone calls and had an interview on Radio 4.

He went off to Robert Maxwell's mob. Now breeds bulls in Lincolnshire.

The Lady Ghislane was moored next to my mate's yacht in Monaco.

For some reason uTube won't let me post a video. What's going on?

Wibble!!!

[Globus]

Piffle.