Bought a "new" house, huge issues.

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Home buying.. OMG, what hell.

I have only one piece of advice to any home buyer, and that is to fork out the R2-3k
for a building inspector to check out the place you are buying first.

Their fees are orders of magnitudes less what you could end up paying to fix the hidden issues,
in your would be "dream home". I and countless others have learnt this the hard way.

Unfortunately when it comes to home buying, what isnt in black and white, just doesnt matter.

Interestingly enough Carte Blanche had a show tonight about home buying and the CPA,
where home buyers found non disclosed defects with the property after the sellers had moved over seas.

I myself having gone the lawyer route, I have to wish you the best. Before you go that route I would try all the free avenues first such as the estate agents board and using your transfer attorneys (you have already paid them a nice pocket, they will be more than willing to help further).
 
Yeah home inspection is the way to go, but the problem is they don't come cheap and if you have a list of 2+ potential houses it could start working out a lot to find "the one" as every one needs a report.

Thats why I would agree that we need a law like in NZ where the seller has to pay for this inspection report and must be available for free to any one who are interested in buying the house.

At least then you have a legal entity to take to court if something is not as it seems, ie: the inspection agent.
 
xrapidx said:
Anyone care to summarize the cart Blanche episode?
Click to expand...

It was incredibly frustrating. Long story short is that there are competing opinions about whether or not the voetstoets clause is enforceable in terms of the CPA and the EAAB's new guidelines. There is no consensus and to be honest, most of what was said was merely the opinion of one or two industry participants with a vested interest in their cause...
 
Elimentals said:
Yeah home inspection is the way to go, but the problem is they don't come cheap and if you have a list of 2+ potential houses it could start working out a lot to find "the one" as every one needs a report.

Thats why I would agree that we need a law like in NZ where the seller has to pay for this inspection report and must be available for free to any one who are interested in buying the house.

At least then you have a legal entity to take to court if something is not as it seems, ie: the inspection agent.
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+1 to this ... now who do we have to vote/bribe to get this setup :)
 
someone needs to be man enough and stand up for buyer's rights. one minute the voetstoets test isn't acceptable anymore, the next no one knows what the hell is going on. there can't be confusing issues here, it's either or and i say if you as the seller want to cover up blatant defects and ask for hefty sums of money, then the seller must forfeit because he knew for sure what was wrong with the property to begin with. there's also the possibility that the seller has kept the information from the estate agent as well. there is no way the estate agent is going to climb into the ceiling or roof for that matter to check for faults.

someone needs to make this whole thing clearer for the buyer.
 
Update is as follows:


We are still fighting tooth and nail to get the ****ing house I paid for. Owner is the biggest bitch in the world. She is refusing to take any responsibility for anything. I did a little Hellopeter search on this sad excuse for a women and low and behold unearthed some very very interesting information on her. She has numerous complaints against her and her company for very similar dirty doings. She is no stranger to controversy and based on the hellopeter comments is also no stranger to a court room.

Bottom line is my lawyer is now very much involved and is ready to tear her, her lawyer and the estate agents a new one. We have however made some headway and have gotten the bank to agree to pay for the outstanding issues. When all is done, I plan on reporting the agent to the agency board as they are responsible for this ****ing mess. It was their job to ensure that these patent defects were disclosed to us.
 
Grimspoon said:
Update is as follows:


We are still fighting tooth and nail to get the ****ing house I paid for. Owner is the biggest bitch in the world. She is refusing to take any responsibility for anything. I did a little Hellopeter search on this sad excuse for a women and low and behold unearthed some very very interesting information on her. She has numerous complaints against her and her company for very similar dirty doings. She is no stranger to controversy and based on the hellopeter comments is also no stranger to a court room.

Bottom line is my lawyer is now very much involved and is ready to tear her, her lawyer and the estate agents a new one. We have however made some headway and have gotten the bank to agree to pay for the outstanding issues. When all is done, I plan on reporting the agent to the agency board as they are responsible for this ****ing mess. It was their job to ensure that these patent defects were disclosed to us.
Click to expand...

Well done on getting the bank to pay.

It's really horrible when you have to go these lengths - good luck - holding thumbs for you.

There are some really pathetic excuses for human beings out there.
 
Grimspoon said:
Update is as follows:


We are still fighting tooth and nail to get the ****ing house I paid for. Owner is the biggest bitch in the world. She is refusing to take any responsibility for anything. I did a little Hellopeter search on this sad excuse for a women and low and behold unearthed some very very interesting information on her. She has numerous complaints against her and her company for very similar dirty doings. She is no stranger to controversy and based on the hellopeter comments is also no stranger to a court room.

Bottom line is my lawyer is now very much involved and is ready to tear her, her lawyer and the estate agents a new one. We have however made some headway and have gotten the bank to agree to pay for the outstanding issues. When all is done, I plan on reporting the agent to the agency board as they are responsible for this ****ing mess. It was their job to ensure that these patent defects were disclosed to us.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry you still having such a hard time. Good luck with the lawyers etc and hope you see the light soon.

Our update: move went very smooth and even thou the female seller left the place filthy ( I actually felt embarrassed for her, wtf moves out of a place and leaves it so filthy you can't even see out the windows?? Clearly no shame) anyhow, the male seller , who hasn't even lived in the house for 2 years has bent over backwards to accommodate us...minor issues like missing keys, pool leak and a plumbing issue were sorted within hours of emailing him. I guess we have indeed been very lucky.

I really hope you get sorted soon too so you can start enjoying your new home. Kup.
 
AfricanTech said:
Well done on getting the bank to pay.

It's really horrible when you have to go these lengths - good luck - holding thumbs for you.

There are some really pathetic excuses for human beings out there.
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Thanks AfricanTech, appreciate it!

Carol35 said:
I'm sorry you still having such a hard time. Good luck with the lawyers etc and hope you see the light soon.

Our update: move went very smooth and even thou the female seller left the place filthy ( I actually felt embarrassed for her, wtf moves out of a place and leaves it so filthy you can't even see out the windows?? Clearly no shame) anyhow, the male seller , who hasn't even lived in the house for 2 years has bent over backwards to accommodate us...minor issues like missing keys, pool leak and a plumbing issue were sorted within hours of emailing him. I guess we have indeed been very lucky.

I really hope you get sorted soon too so you can start enjoying your new home. Kup.
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Shoo glad the guy was so helpful! That's what you should expect. People are so quick to dump their issues on new sellers. I just wish this women would be help accountable for her actions. Its seems there is no justice when buying from a dodgy seller.
 
Just an update. This **** is still dragging out, everyday there is a new issue. The biggest issue now is that the council have finally issued clearance figures, but what do you know, they have ****ed up the figures. They have recorded the incorrect dates and thus the usage looks MASSIVE. Now these more than useless transferring attorneys are saying that the council refuse to change the figures and they are correct, even though we have SOLID proof that they have messed it up. I am so gatvol now, I want to kill someone.

They now expect me to cough up R35k for the last 4 months that I have been in the house. They have simply thumb sucked rates, refuse, water and electricity and expect me just to pay it. These attorneys are beyond useless and bloody rude. I am so done with this crap!
 
Grimspoon said:
Just an update. This **** is still dragging out, everyday there is a new issue. The biggest issue now is that the council have finally issued clearance figures, but what do you know, they have ****ed up the figures. They have recorded the incorrect dates and thus the usage looks MASSIVE. Now these more than useless transferring attorneys are saying that the council refuse to change the figures and they are correct, even though we have SOLID proof that they have messed it up. I am so gatvol now, I want to kill someone.

They now expect me to cough up R35k for the last 4 months that I have been in the house. They have simply thumb sucked rates, refuse, water and electricity and expect me just to pay it. These attorneys are beyond useless and bloody rude. I am so done with this crap!
Click to expand...

I think you need to find out whatever body represents this "attorneys" (though they aren't attorneys at all) and report them... watch how quickly they jump after that.
 
Grimspoon said:
Just an update. This **** is still dragging out, everyday there is a new issue. The biggest issue now is that the council have finally issued clearance figures, but what do you know, they have ****ed up the figures. They have recorded the incorrect dates and thus the usage looks MASSIVE. Now these more than useless transferring attorneys are saying that the council refuse to change the figures and they are correct, even though we have SOLID proof that they have messed it up. I am so gatvol now, I want to kill someone.

They now expect me to cough up R35k for the last 4 months that I have been in the house. They have simply thumb sucked rates, refuse, water and electricity and expect me just to pay it. These attorneys are beyond useless and bloody rude. I am so done with this crap!
Click to expand...
OMG!!! 35k? For interests sake...Why are the lawyers responsible? Shouldn't you contact the municipality?
Dammit, we haven't received our first bill yet and I will die a thousand deaths if we get a huge bill like that.
 
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