Buying a repossessed house

RhinoDesk

I had a look but couldn't find a recent/relevant thread on this.

I have a found a house for sale by public auction in a location that suits me. The price is good, I've had an engineer and a family member look at it and both have said its good value for the reserve price (even if it goes up a bit).

Solicitor is just starting the title search and engineer is checking out further details on the site and planning etc..

Its vacant possession.

I'm just wondering if anyone has been through the process of buying a repossessed house and how they found the process and moving into the house afterwards?

Any pitfalls to be aware of beyond what the engineer and solicitor might come up with it? Are you happy with the property etc??

Thanks

DubCount

I think OP has covered off the main issue. Having a solicitor check out the title is important to make sure the seller has gained the right to sell the property.

Other than that, there may be "abandoned property". The title the bank gets only covers the house/apartment. Other things like furniture and white goods etc. that are left is abandoned property. This technically still belongs to the previous owner (not the bank or the purchaser). Check out with your solicitor how to deal with any abandoned property depending on whether your intention is to use them yourself or get rid of them.

Good luck.

RhinoDesk

Thanks for the reply.

the legal docs just got uploaded so I'm having a look through, mostly double dutch to me.
The house itself has been cleared out but there are 2 out houses that were locked up at the viewing which contain god knows what. As per the legal docs we have hold on to anything left behind by the previous owner its still theirs. I'll check what the solicitor says re this. I don't have an issue with it really as long as I don't have someone knocking on the door in 10years. I'd be ok with storing stuff for a defined period. Would also like to know what I'm storing.

I was just wondering if anyone has actually moved into a repossessed house and had any other issues, like as baliff rocking up? Or bad blood?
I don't know the circumstances of the repossession, so while I am keen on the house, I am also a bit weary.

Dolbhad

RhinoDesk wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

the legal docs just got uploaded so I'm having a look through, mostly double dutch to me.
The house itself has been cleared out but there are 2 out houses that were locked up at the viewing which contain god knows what. As per the legal docs we have hold on to anything left behind by the previous owner its still theirs. I'll check what the solicitor says re this. I don't have an issue with it really as long as I don't have someone knocking on the door in 10years. I'd be ok with storing stuff for a defined period. Would also like to know what I'm storing.

I was just wondering if anyone has actually moved into a repossessed house and had any other issues, like as baliff rocking up? Or bad blood?
I don't know the circumstances of the repossession, so while I am keen on the house, I am also a bit weary.

Provided the legals are in order in that the bank have the power to sell the house and all relevant taxes are paid to date (lpt, household charge, nppr) you’ll be fine. I think in the requisitions there is a section on contents and whether they are any hire purchase agreements etc on them

Ms2011

Went sale agreed on a repossessed house in Oct 2013, sale finally completed April 2015, living in the house since Aug 2017.
We've had no issues, the house lay empty for 5 years before we bought it so any bad blood from the previous owners had died down by the time we bought it. They actually still live locally & even knocked in once when my husband was there carrying out renovations before we moved to it to see what we were doing with the place!

RhinoDesk

Ms2011 wrote: »

Went sale agreed on a repossessed house in Oct 2013, sale finally completed April 2015, living in the house since Aug 2017.
We've had no issues, the house lay empty for 5 years before we bought it so any bad blood from the previous owners had died down by the time we bought it. They actually still live locally & even knocked in once when my husband was there carrying out renovations before we moved to it to see what we were doing with the place!

Thanks, this is positive to hear. I hope its all going well for you.
Do you mind me asking why it took so long with the sale?
I am expecting to have to have it closed quiet quickly but maybe that's be because its an auction?
Will see how the auction goes at this stage and worry about the rest when/if I have to. Just trying to be as aware as possible going in.
Did you have a lot to do based on the fact that the house was idle for 5 years?
The engineer and solicitor are happy enough that it is what is says it is. So fingers crossed.

Thanks again for the responses!

drunkmonkey

Who own the house now to sell it? Who's the receiver?

Your not going to be able to get power or water on until it's yours that's when problems might show up the surveyor can't see through walls or floors. There's plenty can go wrong and could be some dangerous or malicious jobs done internally you might not have spotted.

Depending on the size of it make sure you have your renovation costs worked out.

Timeframe I'd say budget 6mts as not to be stressing yourself out, could be shorter but as a poster above knows it could be way longer.

Markcheese

Was just about to say ,the electricity ....
If it's been unused for 2 yeara,it gets disconnected, and treated as a new connection with loads of hoops to jump through ..
So if the lights work now, pay an esb bill ... ( Even if it's not fully yours yet , pay once under a fake name if necessary, that should reset the 2 years.)

..

Cuddlesworth

Markcheese wrote: »

Was just about to say ,the electricity ....
If it's been unused for 2 yeara,it gets disconnected, and treated as a new connection with loads of hoops to jump through ..
So if the lights work now, pay an esb bill ... ( Even if it's not fully yours yet , pay once under a fake name if necessary, that should reset the 2 years.)

..

Over 6 months with no owner, new internal wiring depending on the age of the house. Not up with the current reg's, I think there is something about each socket having its own ground, no plastic fuse boxes, cabling standard to be met on the actual cables, lots of stuff.
Over 2 years, probably new external(feed into house) and internal wiring depending on age again, plus reconnect fee(circa 2k). They come out, check it and tell you what needs to be done. I think a competent registered sparks could tell you looking at the meter/tails if the full works were needed.

Even with water turned off, no heat for 2 years means freezing/thawing in the pipes, so really good chance of leaks when the water gets turned on. Unless it was all drained, which is very unlikely. Sometimes it's avoided in newer houses, with really good insulation or with neighbours in semi-D's who love to blast the heating.

Ms2011

RhinoDesk wrote: »

Thanks, this is positive to hear. I hope its all going well for you.
Do you mind me asking why it took so long with the sale?
I am expecting to have to have it closed quiet quickly but maybe that's be because its an auction?
Will see how the auction goes at this stage and worry about the rest when/if I have to. Just trying to be as aware as possible going in.
Did you have a lot to do based on the fact that the house was idle for 5 years?
The engineer and solicitor are happy enough that it is what is says it is. So fingers crossed.

Thanks again for the responses!

It took so long because the bank dragged its feet on the sale.

The house had no heating and both the water & electricity had been shut off. It was structurally sound but needed a complete renovation which we are still doing as we are living in the house.

I wouldn't pay too much mind to all the horror stories of how much it will cost to get the ESB reconnected, I heard them all and it only ended up costing is €100 to get it done after 5 years of the being switched off.

Cuddlesworth

Ms2011 wrote: »

I wouldn't pay too much mind to all the horror stories of how much it will cost to get the ESB reconnected, I heard them all and it only ended up costing is €100 to get it done after 5 years of the being switched off.

In September of 2017 the standard twin and earth cable with a uninsulated earth wire, now has to have its own protective insulation sleeve. My house, rewired around a decade ago would now fail to meet this standard and would require a rewire after 6 months of a disconnection.

These are not horror stories, they are important information in buying a house. There are new standards this year, both in building requirements and electrical requirements. These have a impact on purchasing(if you bother to learn about them).

drunkmonkey

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

In September of 2017 the standard twin and earth cable with a uninsulated earth wire, now has to have its own protective insulation sleeve. My house, rewired around a decade ago would now fail to meet this standard and would require a rewire after 6 months of a disconnection.

These are not horror stories, they are important information in buying a house. There are new standards this year, both in building requirements and electrical requirements. These have a impact on purchasing(if you bother to learn about them).

Your correct it may cost a lot. I had to get one turned on recently after 2.5yrs and made a €75 profit.
All I'll say is if your going to be an electric Ireland customer they may take it easy on you.

*(the profit was before paying the electrician to certify it)

jethrothe2nd

We bought from the bank although in our case I think the keys had been handed back rather than it being re-possessed. We didn't have any issues throughout the whole process - it took about 3 months from going from sale agreed to getting the keys. Bear in mind we bought during a different time when the market was more stagnant.

In terms of the house itself, I am not entirely sure how long it was empty. Possibly a year or maybe 2. It was pretty much stripped inside but oddly, all the utilities were still connected. The engineering reports didn't show up any structural concerns, and the solicitor did not come up with any title issues etc. We are in the house 8 years now

Ms2011

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

In September of 2017 the standard twin and earth cable with a uninsulated earth wire, now has to have its own protective insulation sleeve. My house, rewired around a decade ago would now fail to meet this standard and would require a rewire after 6 months of a disconnection.

These are not horror stories, they are important information in buying a house. There are new standards this year, both in building requirements and electrical requirements. These have a impact on purchasing(if you bother to learn about them).

Bother to learn about them? I'm living them!
If I had listened to the horror stories of what COULD go wrong or how expensive things COULD cost I never would have bought this house and would have lost out on a great home.
I was told I would need to completely rewire my house plus pay about 2k to get the ESB reconnected, I had a new fuse box installed and paid €100 for reconnection in August 2017.

Graham

First hand experience with a property that had been disconnected for 8+ years; sparky out, test, certify, ESB reconnect, sparky back to check. Few hundred euro all in.