Val Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 I bought my little house in a small town at the end of Jan. this year from an English couple. They had used it as a holiday home and I bought it furnished. What I did not expect was they they would just walk out and leave everything including piles of rubbish - I cleared out two transit van loads and paid for it to be transported to the tip. On removing a huge pile of junk from a walk-in cupboard in the attic bedroom I discovered a hole in the floorboards - I got a builder to look at it - at sometime (fairly recently) there has been water coming in, someone has renewed the guttering pipe but didn't renew the rotting timber. This will entail the timber being renewed and a new ceiling in the bathroom (which is underneath the hole) - there is also damp behind the bath but that will require more investigation. It would have been impossible for me to have found this when I looked round the house as there was so much junk.Does anyone know if I can make a claim against the sellers.Val Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Unfortunately I doubt it. In France it's very much a case of Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware.If you didn't have the place independently surveyed before buying you're pretty much stuck with it and if the English sellers don't even live in France it's completely hopeless. Even if you could claim against them and won you'd have a hard time collecting.Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 ValYou would have to prove that the seller was aware of the fault. My advice is to save the money you would be throwing at a legal action and put it towards the repairs.Good luck anyway.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 thank you for replying - it was just as I thought - but it was worth a try. I read an article in November 2007 Living France called "Seller beware" which I thought gave the impression that I might have a claim but as you say it would be hard to enforce as the sellers are in England. It is just that I am so fed with the mess that they left and everything (the furniture that I bought with the house) seems be falling apart.But there - spring is here (apart from a few snow falls) and I am sure I will manage to get over it.Val Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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