Buying a repossessed house, any pitfalls to check.

[JasonM]

I’m in the process of purchasing a repossessed house and seeing if anyone knows of any pitfalls to check for. These are the only things I’m aware of.

1) Make sure there is no charges still attached to the property when it’s purchased, the solicitor has assured this will checked before completion.

2) Apparently the previous owners had a lot of debt, because of this it’s possible there could be letters arriving in previous owner’s name, or even debt collectors arriving at the door.

The only other thing is the property has been empty for around 3 years, all services have been disconnected. I’ve not phoned any of the utilities but presuming they should be all ok to switch back again. The property is on a nice residential estate.

Could anyone with experience of buying repossession add anything else to check for?

Many thanks
Jason

 

[JasonM]

Sorry for not replying for so long, but thanks for everyone that posted.

I got the house and everything is fine, only major headache is electric cables running in the garden as previous owners took outside electrics with them. They have been made safe by electrician however.

I'm just in process of getting utilities connected, also got a gas guy here this week to check gas boiler.

If it has been empty for longer than two years you could be entitled to 15% VAT reduction on any building/renovation works.

Only just read this, house has been empty for 3 years, any links you can post related to this.