House purchase

Lash_Alert

Hi,

Quick one if you don't mind? I'm after purchasing a house which had two fairly new (last few months job) bathrooms installed. Now, I've had plumbers out about putting in a new shower pump and they have all said that they would not be comfortable putting in a new pump as they believe neither shower unit is sealed sufficiently. Upon closer examination, it turns out there are leaks from both shower units to the ground/first floor roofs. Now obviously to fix this will cost a lot more than the initial job of just installing a pump but what I am wondering is do I have any claw back to the estate agent/sellor of the house?
Thanks in advance

splinter65

No you bought the house “as is”.
It’s your house now and any repairs are your responsibilty.
At any stage between your bid was accepted and you exchanged contracts with the seller you could have changed your mind about the house.

hullaballoo

Did you have the house inspected by a surveyor or engineer or anything?

Homer

Its a bit like buying a car without getting a cartell or similar check done if you didn't get a surveyor/engineer to do a detailed inspection.

Its approximately €300-400 depending on how detailed you want them to be (we had it done in the last few months on a second hand property) but it would probably have avoided this situation.

Victor

Lash_Alert wrote: »

do I have any claw back to the estate agent

Nope. You have no contract with the estate agent and the estate agent is unlikely to have installed the bathrooms.

sellor of the house?

If it is a new-build house, you should be able to have such issues dealt within the first 1-2 years, depending on the contract.

If it is an existing house, you unlikely to have any entitlement to anything from the vendor, unless there were very peculiar clauses in the contract.

CastielJ

Here’s a checklist of the inspections and searches you need to do before buying a house.
Personal Inspection. If possible, always take someone else along with you when you go to inspect properties. Having that second pair of eyes can help you pick up defects – and benefits – you might otherwise miss.
Pre-Purchase Building Inspection. Every buyer should enlist a qualified building inspector to do a pre-purchase building inspection of aspects including the following:

• Foundation is structurally sound
• Building conforms to Australian building code
• Electrical wiring is safe and legal
• Plumbing is intact
• Doors and windows can open and shut
• Loose or damaged roofing, gutters, and downpipes
• In-roof and under-floor crawl spaces are structurally sound

Unsafe renovations done by previous owner

Surveyor’s Report. A surveyor can give you a report showing exactly where the boundaries of your property are, and whether there is anything currently blocking that.
In New Zealand many many ppl also make inspection on the presence of the meth residues and hire Forensic Meth Services.
Housing New Zealand's most up-to-date data shows 688 of its properties tested positive for meth between June 1, 2015 and May 27, 2016. This is a 200 per cent increase compared to the previous financial year, when 229 houses tested positive.

Hannibal_Smith

Did you have a survey carried out?