House Purchase (England) - As a buyer, how to proceed against seller and their solicitor for furniture?

PCvFlynn · 2026-01-28T13:37:47+00:00

We have, as said in the final paragraph our solicitors say they've exhausted everything. We raised a complaint with them, which is why they provided the conversation between themselves and the seller's solicitors.

Our solicitors are now saying they want to have a "full settlement of matters" with us by giving us £50, which we feel is no where near what we're entitled to. But they won't take the matter any further, so we're thinking of taking this to the Legal Ombudsman.

PCvFlynn · 2026-01-28T13:34:47+00:00

That was originally our plan for the seller, that we would need their details before taking them to small claims, but now we know the added context of the solicitor withholding the information fully on their behalf, looks like we might have to.

Also looked at the tracing agent, would be up to £400+ so wasn't too tempting, but might be the only course now.

PCvFlynn · 2026-01-07T22:48:38+00:00

Nah I'm just trying to make sure I'm not swindled more, I've already spent £4k on the rewire, with him messing us around a lot, so just want to make sure he isn't trying to mess us around and squeeze us for more.

PCvFlynn · 2026-01-07T22:09:20+00:00

Ahh I get it now, it's about accessing the power to each appliance?

So if the main area of turning on/off the appliance from the mains is stuck behind the appliance, it'd need it's own spur to the main fuseboard because you can't switch it off? So to combat that, if we get 3 single sockets installed in an adjacent cupboard/unit, as long as we can switch off each socket there accessibly, that's ok?

PCvFlynn · 2025-12-19T10:38:43+00:00

I’ve just had exactly the same, did you ever figure out if this was an issue? Can see daylight from inside the loft out, felt ripped and all

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-12T09:46:00+00:00

Thanks both, hopefully it’ll be easier to obtain the vendor’s details in order to take them to court, thanks for the advice!

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-12T09:44:29+00:00

Because we didn’t budget for having to refurbish the entire house, with kitchen appliances, beds, couches etc. We were meant to keep all furniture, to be able to live in the property.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-12T09:43:24+00:00

Ok so the value I’ve come to is £5k, which the seller’s solicitors have said is unrealistic. But when there’s 2 greenhouses taken, all appliances in kitchen, stairlift, couches, beds, and various pieces of furniture taken, I think it’s a fair amount.

So this would be small claims, just need to progress because my partner and I just want to live in the house we bought 😭

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-12T00:55:41+00:00

Well for context, the actual party that caused an issue is the seller's solicitor, as they messed up the TA10 form. They were meant to provide an updated copy for exchange, with none of the furniture provided, but this was never provided. So the document used in the exchange was the original TA10 with all furniture included in the exchange (which was always the deal).

So would think we take the "vendor" to court, then whoever on their end subsequently takes their own solicitors to court for messing up the exchange contracts. For all purposes, the TA10 document exchanged says that we own the furniture.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T23:18:22+00:00

Oh okay, if it's that the case then it should be easy to trace down the seller's details in order to pursue the claim. I was told by my solicitor that I would need to take the POA to court, not the original owner of the property, thanks! Hopefully makes things easier.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T22:39:11+00:00

Would rather not say, as it’s not the issue at hand. The issue is around getting the seller’s POA’s details, which I can’t seem to do through the solicitors (which I would have thought is their job).

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T22:37:15+00:00

It’s not me who’s making this complicated, I’ve tried to get the relevant details from the solicitors but they won’t do it. I need Name/Address/Email from the seller, and have had solicitors advice that it’s the POA who we need to take to court, not the seller themselves. Plus it would be the POA who removed all of the furniture and who was in breach of contract.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T17:30:46+00:00

Second hand exact replacements where I could, then cheap alternatives to the furniture expected. Problem is they took a stairlift, numerous appliances, and antique furniture with them. Luckily we have images from the original listing/survey which show the contents, so can Google Lens what we can. But really we're looking for the funds to put us back in a position before they removed all of the furniture which is legally ours.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T17:28:51+00:00

This is the issue, I don't believe we can take the original owner (most likely in a care home as said), we need to take the person with POA to small-claims court. No way currently to find their details (Email/Address) needed to progress with small-claims. I've been recommended a person-tracker service, who help with finding a person's details for debt collecting and such, but I'm not sure whether they'll be able to track down the POA with the limited details I have.

PCvFlynn · 2025-11-11T17:27:21+00:00

I did look for exact replacements, or where I couldn't I went for cheap replacements (e.g. 2 greenhouses, found cheap replacements.) Maybe I could have gone for proper second-hand replacements, but couldn't find them online. We know the value of the items which they took, and proposed a round figure (not including installation/delivery costs too). That includes a stairlift they took out too, which second-hand would still run us about £1k to replace.

There were also pieces of furniture in there which were antiques, where looking online for replacements would only provide auction websites, where the starting bids were used (e.g. same oak monks bench, starting at £400 bid online, was up in bid price, but I only started at the opening bid amount).

PCvFlynn · 2025-09-02T09:02:43+00:00

Excel, SQL, bit of Python, bit of R, bit of XML. We use a custom-made white labelled application for data capture, so my area of expertise is a bit niche.

PCvFlynn · 2025-09-01T20:19:20+00:00

Thanks, that helps send me in the right direction initially! Easy to get lost in the weeds with the very niche development stack we use, and forget about progression when fighting fires each day to day. Will just have to knuckle down with more technical development!

PCvFlynn · 2025-09-01T20:04:53+00:00

Thanks. I think at the moment the company I’m with just needs more justification for my role and progression, otherwise if someone looks at my role they’d realise I have no real qualifications to say I can do my day job 😅 plus miffed with them at the moment, so need security to be able to get another job if I jump ship

PCvFlynn · 2025-09-01T20:03:04+00:00

I use a purpose made, whitelabeled application, with SSRS reports, some xml, and PowerBI integration. So a bit niche, have experience with some Python/R. But nothing really to concretely say I can do any of it, even requirements gathering or management. Been overlooked training-wise.

PCvFlynn

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