Snagging Dispute

dazzerd · 5 Feb 2019 at 16:53

OK I'm trying to gauge peoples opinion.

We are between exhchage and completion. Due to complete very soon.

The vendor agreed and this is confirmed by their conveyancer in writing that they would undertake snagging works before completion date.

We saw the house at the weekend and it has been partially redecorated (very well) but there are still shrinkage cracks around the window sills and on some walls etc as you would expect on a newish build.

We have gone back via his estate agent to query this and he is claiming that such cracks are not snagging, hence the reason why they were not done. Clearly we are disputing this through our solicitor and they agree with me that shrinkage cracks should be covered under "snagging".

So what do we think is shrinkage snagging or am i being a pain in the backside?

dazzerd · 5 Feb 2019 at 17:01

kindai said:
I would say it depends on where and how big.

If its "obvious" then yes, if its just something you might notice on a fine tooth comb, then no.

They are clearly visible standard kind of cracks on a new build. Not stuff we have gone searching for but stuff you can see from the middle of the room.

dazzerd · 5 Feb 2019 at 18:58

The issue we have is we are supposed to complete this week. Its been a drawn out process as it is. I suppose the best we can get is a guarantee from their solicitor that they will pay for the work to be done. Not sure we or they want to delay completion because of it. In fact I'm not even sure we can. But then again arguably they are in breach of the contract for not doing the work.

dazzerd · 5 Feb 2019 at 21:55

We have bought the house from the builder it's just over 2 years old so outside the snagging warranty.

And yep it's a caulk and cover job that's all.

Yep no chance it gets done by completion which is fine it's more the principle of the matter.

dazzerd · 6 Feb 2019 at 11:04

It's a two year old property but was rented out originally by the builder who is know selling it to us. The builder should have done the snagging within the standard 2 years but they didn't. Hence the reason why we asked for it to be done.

Anyway our solicitor is saying as we have not directly specified exactly which snagging works we wanted doing we have had it and their solicitors are saying technically as it's second hand snagging is irrelevant. Even though they confirmed in writing snagging would be complete. A whole semantic headache indeed.

Plan now is to just forget about it and do it ourselves but pursue a complaint against our solicitor.

dazzerd · 6 Feb 2019 at 16:02

Yes they are fine cracks and it should have settled more or less by now so I will get it done off a friend. I'm terrible at DIY and will make it worse i'm sure It's the principle of the matter which annoys me and the fact my conveyancer seems unbothered.

dazzerd · 7 Feb 2019 at 07:14

That was the point of the thread i.e. to make sure my understanding of snagging was correct.

They have agreed to do snagging on legal documents and not done it. My conveyancer has not ensured this has been done I don't see their is a problem here challenging this with a simple letter.