Overhanging Gutter

di11on

Hi folks,

We're sale agreed on our house and the issue of an overhanging gutter on our conservatory has arisen.

We bought the house 13 years ago with the conservatory already built and there has been no mention of this until now.

What are my options? The neighbour concerned travels a lot and might not be contactable for months and I have a real fear this will scupper the sale.

Can I just remove them if need be?

Is it a real issue? What about the 7-year rule?

Edit: By the way - I obviously have a solicitor engaged but I'm posting here to see if anyone has additional insight and/or out of the box suggestions. E.g. I was thinking if I just take it down - no gutter, no problem. The new owner is then free to do as he wishes and could put it back up?

Steve

Who is raising the issue? Neighbor or buyer?

Have you signed contracts yet?

di11on

Thanks for the reply. No contracts signed yet.

As I understand it, it was raised initially by the buyer's surveyor. The buyer's solicitor then felt obliged to inform the buyer's lender and it is now in the buyer's lender's court.

I think my neighbour would be reasonable about it if it comes to it but he may be out of the country for months. I'm not in the country either which complicates things further!

It really seems to me to be something that's just been blown out of all proportions - it seems to be only a matter of a couple of inches at most.

Steve

You need to wait and see. The surveyor would be remiss not to point it out - it's what the buyer is paying them to do - and unfortunately for you it got passed up the chain as an issue.

It's also possible the buyer has cold feet and is looking for an excuse to withdraw.

Stay on it and keep pushing for an answer.

di11on

Thanks Steve - I suppose I will just have to wait and see!

TopTec

Can you not just re-route the guttering?... not a big job TBH.

TT

di11on

TopTec wrote: »

Can you not just re-route the guttering?... not a big job TBH.

TT

Thanks for the reply.

I have another thread where I've asked for construction solutions - could you please take a look and see if you think it could easily be rerouted?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=98976261#post98976261

di11on

Isn't there a time limit, after which it's not possible to object to something?

We bought the house 13 years ago with the conservatory in place - so the allegedly overhanging gutter has been there for at least that long.

Is there a time limit after which acceptance can be implied?

Thanks in advance

MarkAnthony

You have to understand that there is a difference between being stopped from objecting to something and it being correct. You're in the former camp, it doesn't extinguish the issue, it just prevents the neighbour pursuing their complaint.

Everyone is different. I personally bought a house with issues with title that I'll eventually get round to fixing. My brother-in-law was a right nervous nelly and ended up pulling out of a couple of sales over issues; neither is the right nor wrong approach.

di11on

Thanks MA...

I think the problem with solicitors and surveyors is that it can be hard for the uninitiated to get some perspective on the these things.

Sometimes I wonder how houses ever get bought or sold at all

MarkAnthony

di11on wrote: »

Thanks MA...

I think the problem with solicitors and surveyors is that it can be hard for the uninitiated to get some perspective on the these things.

Sometimes I wonder how houses ever get bought or sold at all

Well you kinda opened a little pet rant of mine their I'm afraid. While I realise you had no knowledge of the issue, I believe that the vendor should bring the house to market in a ready to go condition.

I assume there were a lot of cowboy surveyors during the boom. As a regular lurker in the A&P forum it amazes me the issues houses are brought to market with and the reluctance of vendors to get involved in the fix.

I stress that I believe you genuinely did not know of the issue but I believe you're in the minority. Also for what it's worth kudos in trying to fix it.

Anyway sorry to derail by getting that off my chest. Again every situation is different but a forthcoming and helpful vendor makes all the difference in my opinion.

Victor

di11on wrote: »

Isn't there a time limit, after which it's not possible to object to something?

We bought the house 13 years ago with the conservatory in place - so the allegedly overhanging gutter has been there for at least that long.

Is there a time limit after which acceptance can be implied?

Thanks in advance

If you are thinking of claiming adverse possession / squatters rights on a gutter, I don't think that's possible. You need to occupy the land and exclude all others.

There is case law on a drainage ditch (the boundary fence was moved from one side of hte ditch tot he other and one party claimed adverse possession), that you can't occupy the ditch. Now, unless you're a starling, I can't see how you can occupy a gutter.

TopTec

I've bought and sold a fair few house over the past 15 years and eventually gave up having surveys. Bloody surveyors were useless. I have, on occasion, bought a survey report from a previous interested party to satisfy a lender but they insisted on another one. Grrrr.#

Anyway, no picture on that other thread di11on so can't help.

TT