Deal on house contents

Hi guys

We finally moved into our new house and we're loving it. However, when we moved in we realised that the owner had left a huge amount of junk about the sheds and garden including boxes of kids broken toys, old wardrobes, old bikes, old shelving units, broken doors and frames, old printers and so on. We will definitely have to get a skip in for this and we won't get away with a baby skip either. Also, we had made an agreement that the vendors would have the guttering and fascia board at the front of the house fixed before we moved in and it it not done so we will have to do it.

Now, my question is this; we did a deal with the guy for a couple of items in the house i.e washing machine, fridge freezer etc - I am sending off a cheque for this but we feel that we should deduct the price of the skip from the amount. My OH rang the guy and told him that we will repair the guttering ourselves and clear all the rubbish but that we will have to do a deal on the skip. The guy said that he didn't leave that much stuff and we were to send the full amount in a cheque to him immediately then he would come over to the house to decide whether or not we need a skip!!. I'm disgusted with this guy's attitude, he already tried to get us to pay for architect plans he had drawn up two years ago!. Should we just go ahead and deduct price of a skip €200 and send him on the balance?.

Yes

are any of these 'deals' in writing (i.e., the repairs that he was supposed to have carried out or your committment to pay him a fixed amount for some of the white goods)? Whatever is in writing would need to upheld.

I think that there was a query a few months ago about the removal of rubbish from a newly occupied house and if I remember correctly there was not much that the new owner could do as you had already completed on the house purchase.

Ultimately, if the repairs and rubbish were an issue when you viewed the house initially, your solicitor should have refused to exchange until these issues were taken care of.

If none of the above is in writing I would not feel obliged to stand by a verbal agreement if the other party had not held up their end.

JohnBoy said:

are any of these 'deals' in writing (i.e., the repairs that he was supposed to have carried out or your committment to pay him a fixed amount for some of the white goods)? Whatever is in writing would need to upheld.

I think that there was a query a few months ago about the removal of rubbish from a newly occupied house and if I remember correctly there was not much that the new owner could do as you had already completed on the house purchase.

Ultimately, if the repairs and rubbish were an issue when you viewed the house initially, your solicitor should have refused to exchange until these issues were taken care of.

If none of the above is in writing I would not feel obliged to stand by a verbal agreement if the other party had not held up their end.

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Ditto with the cheque for the white goods.

HI guys

There were no agreements on paper. We are happy to buy the white goods despite the fact that the washing machine is old etc (we agreed to buy them because we wanted the house so much - very dumb FTB's) - so we will be going ahead with the deal. He had agreed to fix the guttering and fascia board which wasn't done and then he left all this rubbish for us to clear so we feel that €200 for a skip is very reasonable.

Throw the cheque in skip along with his junk so.

Don't get involved with him at all. Ask him to remove the rubbish he left behind himself, then he'll know exactly what sort of skip he needs. Pile them up somewhere in the yard. Don't be intimidated - he's very unlikely to take you to court over the white goods, if he threatens it just return them (white goods) to him.

You have no hope of ever seeing him or your money agian once you send off that cheque before the rubbish is collected.

ring him, tell him that you have his cheque ready and will personally hand it to him immidiatly after the rubbish has been moved by him and the guttering repaired, not 1 min sooner.
do not deduct anything from the cheque, do not give him the cheque before the rubbish i gone.

As I said I have no problem paying for the white goods even though as said they are not in the best condition - I made a deal and I don't like to go back on a deal even though it was stupid at the time!. I guess though I'm kind of worried that he'll start slagging me off to the new neighbours - he's strikes me as a real bully!. However I am determined that he should pay for the skip - we'll even load it for him and we'll repair the gutters - I think €200 euro is more then a fair price for this.

Tell him that he has two options.
1) Make the repairs and remove the rubbish, and he gets the full value of the cheque.
2) You will make the repairs and remove the rubbish, and deduct all costs from the value of the cheque.

Either way, only hand over the cheque once the repairs are completed and the rubbish is gone.

bytw I would put it in writeing.

Thanks guys, feel a bit more confident about it now - I just hope he doesn't go on about it to the neighbours that's all, I wouldn't like them to think that we are mean or causing trouble- then again my OH reckons that they probably know what he's like anyway! - tight as a fish's This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language! It's a pity that something so small and petty is ruining what is othewise a very happy time for us.

show the neighbous the ****e he left behind , thats that then.

what is the value of the white goods minus the skip hire and cost of guttering repair? Would he owe you money?

Cost of white goods we figure comes to about €500-€550. There were other little bits of misc furniture and in total we agreed €1000 (as said the items were not worth this amount but we agreed it anyway) I don't actually know the cost of fixing the fascia board and guttering because my OH was going to attempt it himself - basically we did not want to be awkward with this guy and start talking about getting in a guy to fix it all etc. The guttering is in the shed and the fascia board is as well - its the bit around quite a large porch - it is quite an awkward little job because there are lights etc wired into the fascia but again we didn't make a big deal about this.

We will need a mid size skip so we are talking about €250. We feel that €200 is more then fair because this will allow us to throw some of our own rubbish in.

In total we are prepared to give him €800 to get him off our backs. Just out of interest - how long should i give this guy to come out and have a look at the rubbish. He says he needs to see what exactly we are talking about but he has moved to the other side of the country - that's right - he is prepared to drive across the country to save himself a few bob!. He basically said look send me the cheque for €1000 cos we made a deal then I'll see if you need a skip!.

get someone to quote for the work to the house. of course he wants the cheque - he probably has no intention of compensating you for the cost of skip hire. is the property so large and well laid out that a skip-full of rubbish would not stand out? if this is not the case he is chancing his arm.

It's obvious from your previous post regarding the architect plans which he tried to get you to pay for that he's chancing his arm. You know what to do, or at least you should!

I know lads I know - I should have more sense by now but for some reason as confident as I am with every other aspect of my life/work etc I seem to turn to jelly when it comes to new house/mortgages etc hence all the questions here! - It's different when you have no experience in dealing with house stuff!

He raised the issue of the plans last night - when we told him about cost of skip he said 'look you should be glad you have a house with planning permission'. Basically he is still really annoyed that we never gave him the money for the plans (following much brilliant advice from here) This guy is unbelieveable, I was worried about the neighbour's but I think now they'll have to take us as they find us and they seem like decent people - we are not unreasonable and I know that it's only €200 but believe me we can put that €200 to good use. I sent a long email today just detailing (in a polite way) the problems as we see them. I will wait to see what his reply is and if he doesn't accept then I will tell him to keep all white goods - even though it's against principles to go back on a deal however crappy it was!

ney001 said:

I sent a long email today just detailing (in a polite way) the problems as we see them. I will wait to see what his reply is and if he doesn't accept then I will tell him to keep all white goods - even though it's against principles to go back on a deal however crappy it was!

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Well, you wouldn't be going back on a deal if he's already broken it by not clearing out the rubbish (I assume that an empty house was part of the contract - it's fairly standard) and by not completing the agreed repairs. I certainly wouldn't take any nonsense from him about his deciding whether or not a skip is required. He had his chance to get rid of his cr*p; now, it's up to you.

You'd be completely in the right to tell him to stuff the white goods. If you do go down that road, you should also tell him (in writing) that he needs to have them removed within a certain period, or you'll assume he doesn't want them any more. And that you'll only allow them to be removed at a time convenient to you. Oh, and that he has to bear the entire cost of having them transported.

I wouldn't worry about the neighbours too much. If he's acting like that with you, I'd say they're probably glad to be rid of him.

For what it's worth when selling a house recently I was asked specifically by my Solicitor if any rubbish was being left in the house. I took that to be a standard question. If so, might it be worthwhile asking your Solicitor?

Pat