In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
there is a difference that is even harder to explain to many of the nordic country purchasers about the laws here... we have an Norwegian estate agent friend who has bought a property here in abruzzo... he was quite surprised over the lack of legal controls but buying an older property quite willing to go through without worry...
however he does have some of our properties listed now with his agency in norway and the level of documentation and proof that he would normally have on a house for sale up there is way and beyond any you get here...and the responsibility of the people selling and the agent to provide a secure sale seems very much higher than here ...plus as far as i know from the past the UK.... however i have heard things have changed with these seller pack type things....
legally an agent here has most probably as much responsibility as the norwegian agent to inform...however the seller or owner does not and the agent then is covered in the sense that unless they have been informed of building or legal problems or it has come out in checks if they are not aware of a problem they can avoid any come back... in Norway the system seems to be set up so that all involved have to run standard checks and provide legally sanction-able statements
so yes cover ups of existing problems are very common both here and in the UK i would say... and even though technically against the law... hard to prove .. i always like to see a house when buying with not a lick of fresh paint anywhere.... quite easy in Italy... hard in the UK where everyone selling does a quick "cosmetic" tidying job to enhance their chances of a sale ... indeed many of the cosmetic methods having been learnt off of TV style programs
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Dishonest practices are not the prerrogative of just one nation as cheating and dishonesty occur in every race, in every nationality. What is needed is good laws to protect the prospective buyer and to hire an expert to check on the real condition of the house. There are tools now that measure the level of humidity on any wall, etc. So cheating is becoming more difficult for anyone.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
And barn elms you have just reminded me of my Polish friend who always used to faint in morning prayers, doubt if it was to do with her diet though, or the fact that she was Polish, the geography master was always designated to catch her though, strange what you remember after all this time.
Apologies I digress
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
No intention to tar anybody, just wondered if the behavior vas legal and a common way to do things. And the program is subtitled, as nearly all english programs is on Norwegian TV channels. One program on resently is called "selling houses abroad" There has been others as well.
[url=http://www.tvnorge.no/programportaler/selling_houses/4694450selling_houses_abroad_ar_2/om]TVNORGE[/url]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Barn elms your waggish sense of humour is always so refreshing , erm even if I dont actually understand it.Sorry digress again.
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
My take is that NOTHING on TV "Reality" shows, or headlined in newspapers will ever be typical or average.
It's the "Man bites Dog" syndrome, and the more sensationalist the better.
It unfortunately ends in the currency of the recent items posted here on the two drowned Rom girls, and frequently starts off stupid and unsuccessful Government initiatives like gun and dog control legislation.
Right - got that off my chest - what's next?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Re the orginal query - which seemed to me to be about 'bodging up' a house for sale, (and nothing to do with the responsibilties of estate agents or obscure catastal matters) I tend to agree with livarandsofie that the Brits are awfully prone to bodge.
I put it down to the 'diy' culture which has been around for much longer in the UK than in Europe, and that many 'builders' in Britain have come up through this same diy route. An Italian will expect to spend €1000 per sq m for a restoration - a Brit will call in Johnny with a Wickes damp-injection kit and a pot of Asda emulsion, use some plastic paint on a solid concrete floor and lay a carpet on top.
Unfortunately UK building surveyors (of the domestic type, and especially in a heated market) not only know sweet eff all, but write reports peppered with phrases such as 'at the time of my inspection I was unable to ascertain with any certainty the condition of........and for a definitive assessment I would recommend an expert examination conducted by a structural engineer'.
This translates as "Just pay me £500, thanks, and now go and pay someone who has got a clue and has the insurance cover to voice a very slightly clearer opinion (not binding) about £2000".
I'd rather rely on my own, or no, opinion!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I once was selling a Victorian house, which had a new roof. The potential buyers sent in a surveyor who stated in his report
"There is a possibility, that at some point in the future, there could be a problem with the roof"
Now who can argue with that!?
He could also have said
" There is a possibility that, at some time in the future a nuclear bomb may fall on the house"
The buyers pulled out because of his report and we sold the house later on. I have a friend who still lives in the road and, 30 years on, the roof has needed no work.
On another occasion a surveyor working for our mortgage company stated that he had inspected the sewerage system, calling it a 'mains' sewer, this amused us as we had already spotted the septic tank in the garden.
So with such experiences I totally agree with you Charles! :idea:
[quote=livarandsofie;94560]Lately we have been watching (on Norwegian TV) programs about Englishmen buying and selling houses abroad, as well as doing up houses for sale in UK.
One thing that strikes us, is that it seems that it is ok to hide problems that the house has. One witness damp problems being sorted by washing and adding paint and so forth. This procedure is very strange to us and would be illegal in Norway. Is this procedure normal for UK? Or is the programs recorded at an early stage when cowboy methods was ok?
[/quote]
Perhaps the television programmes in Norway are made in the same way as television programmes are made everywhere else in the world - with an eye to viewer ratings. The problems are very much the same everywhere when it comes to building work - you are (as are your building contractors) in the hands of the individual workers actually doing the job. The UK has building inspectors that check the various stages of building - digging the foundations, the foundation concrete, brickwork to DPC, etc. etc. The rules there are strict and the contractors have to stop work on a new build until the building inspector has actually visited the house and signed that particular stage off. If your question was to clarify if there are building controls in place in the UK; the answer is "yes". If your question was are there bad builders doing poor quality work in the UK, the answer is also "yes". Don't believe everything you see on TV, or read in the press - especially regarding "foreigners".