Hello all,
I trust you are keeping well.
I purchased a BTL apartment in Birmingham city centre which completed in Mid-February this year.
The property was managed by the managing agent who sold the apartment.
When I viewed the apartment for the first time there was no electricity on in the apartment because the prior tenant was evicted and vacated the property.
I agreed to purchase the property but only if the integrated appliances were in working order (I could not test them because the electric was off). This was written in the sales agreement that the integrated appliances would be in working order and I have an email agreeing this with the estate agent.
Upon receiving the keys in mid-Feb there was still no electricity on in the apartment and it took me 3 weeks to get the electric back on because the prior tenant had run up £162 in electricity debt which was still on the prepaid meter.
When the electric was turned back on I ordered an inspection of the electric boiler because there was no hot water entering the apartment and I was informed that the electric needed to be turned off once again because of exposed live electrical wires in the boiler which I needed to rectify.
Upon getting this issued sorted I started testing the appliances. I noticed the the integrated fridge freezer was not getting cool and I had an independent contractor come out to look at the fridge who informed me it was beyond repair and because of the fridge type it was it would cost me £800 to fix.
I then tested the dishwasher and also find out that the door is not locking and therefore will not wash. This time I just replace the dishwasher without having a 3rd party inspect it because of literally having to spend £850 on a fridge and inspection.
I raised this as a post completion issue with the solicitors and for the past few months I have gone back and forth regarding this issue of having to replace electrical appliances that should have been in working order.
The estate agent then got in touch with me about 3 weeks ago asking for all the evidence I had submitted to the solicitors and said they would conduct their own investigation as they didn’t want solicitors involved as it would be too costly.
Today the estate agent has come back to me telling me that “I should have requested an electrical survey” therefore they have done nothing wrong.
I’m a little confused here as an electrical survey would only look at wires, sockets and switches and not electrical appliances and it’s something I do not have to do as part of a purchase. I have asked them to clarify.
Any idea where I stand? Surely if it’s written into an estate agents sales agreement that white goods will be in good working order then it is up to the estate agent to make sure that this happens as part of the sale.
I’ve had to shell out c£1.5k on new appliances because of this and I know it’s not a lot of money but it’s more the principle that I’ve been promised in black and white that the white goods will be working and they clearly weren’t.
Surely there has to be some sort of code of conduct that holds an estate agent to a their sales agreement and commitments.
Any ideas peeps?
