Problem with house buyer, trespasser

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

thelad77

Registered User
Messages
90
My house is empty at the moment , the front door and windows are boarded up. i intend to sell it after all repairs decorating is finished. at the moment i,m looking for a carpenter to do work .the problem is my neighbour contacted me and said his friend is interested in buying the house .the back windows are boarded up. unfortunately the back door lock is faulty .i spoke to his friend joe for 20 minutes .joe is a builder . I Told joe he could go into the back garden and cut down 2 trees that are growing out of control .so whats happening now is i think he,s going into the house and doing carpentary work ,eg he goe,s thru the neighbours garden and uses a ladder to climb over the wall ,wall is 12 ft high.
at the moment i,m trying to find a carpenter to remove the front door board and put in 2 new locks on the front door .
And put a new lock on the back door. i spoke to him for 5 minutes last week. he said sure i can do the carpentery ,renovation
so basically i think hes,s trying to take over the house ,do all the repairs and maybe ask me for a discount on the house price . i told him you cannot go into the house without my permission .thats trespassing.
i dont know what to do now.
i think i,ll have to get a carpenter to take down the front door board ,and install new locks and make the house secure .there is no power ,esb at the house.
so what ,ill have to do is get a carpenter there ,and take down the boards and and put on locks on the front door and back door and ill also board up the back door too in the space of a few hours . the house is a terraced house. i know my neighbour for 11 years so i took his advice .
theres probably 25 hours of carpentery work to be done,theres also 4 pvc windows bought 4 years ago in one of the rooms .
he has his own business ,eg he has plenty of money .
i don,t understand why he is being so rude and ignorant when we have no formal agreement to sell the house , i cant get the house valued until all the painting ,renovation is done . i,m living in a 1 bed rental unit at the moment .most of the time if i ask him to meet up he,ll say i,m busy this week,
so he can go into the house anytime at the moment .
i cannot go in at the moment .
any advice is welcome .
i don,t want to report him to the gardai at the moment ,that might make things even worse .
its important that both doors are locked and secure before i leave the house ,so i,ll have a few hours to get the work done once the carpenter gets there
 
Last edited:
Lets try this

You own a house that is uninhabitable.

You currently live in a rented property.

You are concerned about unauthorised access to your property. For some reason you are unable to access your property?

The person you are dealing with appears to have little respect for you.

Forgive me if I have this wrong, but from your post you seem somewhat vulnerable and a little out of your depth.

So here's my advice.

Contact a local locksmith, have the locks changed and the house secured; don't give anyone a key.

Do you have a friend or relative who can help out with drawing up a list of works to be done and finding someone suitable?
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Sounds like a ‘win win’. You need carpentry work done on the house and your neighbour’s friend is possibly sneaking in and doing carpentry work on the QT.
Click to expand...
I recently got quoted €120 per hour plus vat for carpentry work. No body came close to doing it free of charge.
 
To clear things up, the front windows front door are boarded up, lets say call him, joe, is going over the neighbours wall , he wants to buy the property , joe says he,ll do all the carpentry work, we did not discuss is this free or will i get a bill . i dont know what he,s doing really .
yes i,m trying to make an appointment with a carpenter to get the front door open ,board removed , and new locks put on both doors, i,ll also board up the back door too.
my theory is he is trying to take over the house and maybe he,ll say oh look you are going to have to sell me the house ,cos i did all the renovation carpentry work ,
we have not even discussed valuation or price ,
my mistake i told him to cut down the trees in the back wall , i did not ask him to do any carpentry work.
i read forums it says carpenters in dublin charge average 40 euro per hour plus vat not including materials .he,s a builder ,
i dont even know if boarding up the door at the back will stop him getting inside the house .
yes i am vunerable ,i,m up against someone who is very well off , he can go into my back garden by going through my neighbours house .the house has no power ,i cant install an alarm system .
joe has no respect for me at all, he just wants to buy the house , maybe he thinks he,ll get it cheap if he does all the work himself .
theres very few houses for sale in the city centre ,
i can do most of the carpentry work myself if i had acess to the house
 
Last edited:
If there is no electricity the house is uninhabitable, if is off for more than 2 years it is a new connection. New connections have to meet current specifications. i.e. a total rewire.
I not sure what going some renovations before selling is going to achieve? In all lightly hood the house now needs to be totally renovated. So why spend money on a small job? Is there a good local estate agent who could fix the doors and sell the house as is?
 
Ok a lot to digest here...

Did you inherit the house? Reason im asking this is to understand if its directly in your name or potentially held within a trust. If a trust you may have executors who can step in and support and have a solicitor on hand.

Either way i would strongly recommend getting a locksmith out- there may be some that can come out as emergency but it may also be expensive.

Also, get onto a solicitor. Even if its judt to write a couple of letters to state that neighbour needs to stop allowing others access to your property and a letter to builder stating exactly what work was agreed and that you will not be liable for other work and that him or anyone that works for him does not have the right to enter the property.

You need support on this. And a paper trail. You could end up with a massive bill for works done. I made a similar mistake on much smaller scale years ago as was recommended a guy to do some work. Small jobs as i was alone with two small kids in a massive house.. stuff like putting a cage on the chimney.. stuff i couldnt do myself. Couldnt get a proper quote from him, started work left it and then came back to finish initial job, then i arrived home one day and he was starting to paint the front wooden porch.. i told him i dudnt need that done and i needed to settle up for work done.. he overcharged and was a rip off merchant and i was lucky to stop it before a massive bill. His pleasant old lad jokey country boy demeanour changed when i said i didnt need more work done , and he started to demand payment... bear in mind id been asking him.for bill for weeks.. I paid him what was due for the agreed jobs but made him wait for as long as he messed me around. I may have mentioned not to return as it would be trespassing and id contact the garda. Not a good look for an ol fella to be harrassing a woman alone with 2 kids.

Get support. Do not tackle this alone. The neighbour and builder are up to jo good. Not clear exactly what but no reputable builder deals in this way.


Do you have an auctioneer /estate agent? Get onto a few. Get 2 or 3 opinions. It honestly might not be worth your while doing further work before selling. Might be better to sell as it is.

Wishing you the best. Take a minute. Break down the big issues and tackle one at a time but get proper support /advice.
 
I have a solicitor I'll be selling the
House with no power, ESB off, I can do most of the renovation myself .I don't really know what's going on as I have not been inside the house for 5
weeks
Joe says I can do all the carpentry work I have not had a chance to ask
are you doing the work for free
I'm not selling as is as theres 6
Windows that need to be replaced I bought 5 windows
It's my fault eg I should have said I'm not even discussing selling until I have all the work done that I can
do myself
and the house was secure
I emailed 10 carpenters it'll cost
300euro approx just to get inside
the house and put on new lock on one door

My intention is to write out an agreement eg no person will go inside the house without asking my permission and I'must be there to let them in
no work will be done without my permission and i.ll ask him to sign it
I can employ whoever I choose to do the work

I'll block off the back door as soon as I can
you say get support I'm single I don't know where to go for support apart from Flac free legal advice
I can't live there if someone goes into the back garden I have no way to stop them they have both lied to me about various topics
The neighbour is probably getting paid a few grand to persuade me to sell the house to joe
Joe has 2children he is renting a house
the yard is big enough to build a large extension the house is close to a luas stop
If I had 20k to do a rewire I'd still be living there. I see no point in getting an estate agent at least for a few weeks and I'll see what work I can do
Yes if you are dealing with a builder you must specify the work to be done and the price in advance
 
Its not clear what your question is.

It would be helpful if you told us how you came to own this property.

You say you are single; do you have parents still living or siblings?

If you intend selling the property, then I think it would make sense to do so now.

I think you are out of your depth in regards to renovating a property & are at risk of losing money.
 
I intend to replace 5 windows replace 4 floorboards replace 2 doors that's pretty basic carpentry work there's plenty of places to buy windows adverts ie Macs warehouse
at a reasonable price
I don't see what siblings have to do with selling a house
The question is can I do anything to stop getting taken advantage of by my neighbour
I don't want to sell a house that's just a boarded up shell I think the builder
is going inside the house and doing
work without my permission
I'm only doing basic repairs
 
thelad77 said:
The question is can I do anything to stop getting taken advantage of by my neighbour
I think the builder is going inside the house and doing work without my permission
Click to expand...
If this is the case, go to your local garda station and report it.
 
The property is boarded up including front door. Joe can go into back garden from neighbours gaff
 
thelad77 said:
The property is boarded up including front door. Joe can go into back garden from neighbours gaff
Click to expand...
You previously said that he's getting into the house but you can't:
thelad77 said:
so whats happening now is i think he,s going into the house and doing carpentary work ,eg he goe,s thru the neighbours garden and uses a ladder to climb over the wall ,wall is 12 ft high.

i told him you cannot go into the house without my permission .thats trespassing.

so he can go into the house anytime at the moment .
i cannot go in at the moment .
Click to expand...
 
thelad77 said:
I intend to replace 5 windows replace 4 floorboards replace 2 doors that's pretty basic carpentry work there's plenty of places to buy windows adverts ie Macs warehouse
Click to expand...

As it seems you intend to sell the house I think this is foolish. It doesn't sound in habitable condition and anyone buying it will want to do substantial refurbishment or redevelopment. Your new windows are unlikely to add much to its value now. You will need a solicitor (as well as estate agent) to sell. I suggest contacting a solicitor immediately about preparing for sale and for advice on dealing with the apparent trespass.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top