Hi there,
In today’s post I tell you about the problems we found in the house after the purchase and that were the sellers’ responsibility.
Here are the previous posts:
On April 11 we bought a house in Ourense. It was a very meditated purchase, with many previous consultations to notary, lawyer, town hall… in short, we thought we had everything under control.
That same day, after signing the purchase at 10 o’clock in the morning, we left our things in the house and went to the supermarket and Leroy Merlin to buy the basics. But already that first afternoon everything started to go wrong.
The house was filthy. Disgustingly dirty. Although it shouldn’t be that way, we assumed it and spent all Friday cleaning until 2 am, and Saturday.
But that Friday night it rained, and as soon as the rain started, wham! Leaks in the kitchen. Two leak points through which water started to fall. I immediately made a video and sent it to Sergio, one of the sellers, explaining that this was clearly a hidden defect and that they should be held responsible.
Sergio replied that he would get someone to fix it the following week. Now, you must understand something: this house was sold by a separated couple, Sergio and Susana, who just wanted to pay off the mortgage and run away. And I’ll tell you about the surreal dynamic between these two.
But the story didn’t end with the leaks. On Sunday, while cleaning the top of the kitchen furniture, we noticed some holes in the wood that at first looked like dirt, but when we took a closer look, we realized they were termites. I took pictures and we sent them to Sergio, explaining that they had to call a specialist urgently.
The following Monday, Sergio told us to send all these to Susana. Which, honestly, seemed ridiculous to me. I mean, even though they are separated, the responsibility is shared, and if he was already aware of it, he was the one who should have told his ex. Right?
As a solution, we decided to create a WhatsApp group with the four of us. We sent there the information, photos, videos. Then came Susana’s answer, which was what bothered me the most: she said that they were going to pay for the roof issue, but that everything else was on our account, and that we should not pretend to be telling them about everything we found.
I answered her politely, but with total clarity: all the hidden defects that we find will be reported, and according to the law, they will be paid by the sellers. If it bothers her if I tell her by WhatsApp, she should let me know, and then I will tell her through my lawyer.
I also warned her that if I must hire a lawyer to resolve something that she and her ex should be resolving, that expense is also on her. Because all this, all this chaos, is adding to the property damages that they are generating us with their negligence and dishonesty.
What does the law in Spain say about hidden defects?
Spanish law is clear in this regard. The Civil Code establishes in its article 1484 that:
> “The seller shall be obliged to remedy hidden defects in the thing sold, if they make it unfit for the use for which it is intended, or if they diminish this use in such a way that, had the buyer known them, he would not have acquired it or would have given less price for it.” [1]
In addition, Article 1485 adds that:
> “The seller is liable to the buyer for the remedy for hidden vices or defects of the thing sold, even if he was unaware of them.” [1]
That is, even if the seller did not know of the existence of these defects, he is still liable for them. The deadline to claim for hidden defects in a second-hand property is six months from the delivery of the property [2].
We were waiting for Sergio, who was the only one still living in Ourense (since Susana had returned to the Balearic Islands) to send us professionals to solve the two problems that had arisen so far.
On April 25 the carpenter came to inspect the kitchen furniture and told us that they were not termites but moths and that it was enough to put some poison on it. He said he didn’t have any in his car, but that we should buy some and put it on it.
He also saw the columns in the garage and told us that they were fine and had no active termites. This put our minds at ease.
That same weekend Sergio told us to send him a series of data and measurements that the company that would be in charge of repairing the leaks in the roof was asking for.
On May 16, 2025, the repairman finally came to fix the leak we had been dealing with for a month.
That same afternoon, while cleaning the gutter on the side of the terrace, I noticed that there was an infestation of carpenter bumblebees. All the exterior wood of the roof was full of holes made by these insects.
I immediately took photos and videos and proceeded to send it to the former owner, so that he could find a specialist as soon as possible.
On May 25, we discovered that both the shower and toilet drains were leaking. I immediately made videos, and we sent it to the former owner of the property.
He told us that he did not know anyone and to please look for it ourselves as it was easier since we were only going to that house for the weekend.The following Friday, a plumber came and fixed the problem in a couple of hours. It cost €120, which Sergio reimbursed us almost immediately.
That same weekend, the carpenter who had built the roof came by and told us that he had to apply the poison and then wait a few months to see if the infestation disappeared completely. A second application of poison could be applied if there were still any carpenter bees around. Then a plate of the same color as the gutter would be placed in the area that had been affected and had holes. This gentleman never sent us the quote, so we had to keep looking for carpenters.
Finally, at the end of July, a young man came and sent us a quote for €3,000 and supposedly had availability to do the work before winter set in.
We sent the quote to the former owner and, logically, he had no objection as his situation was quite complicated: The problem with the neighbour Margarita over the alleged dampness, which was also a hidden defect in the house and where we had already brought in our lawyer to mediate, he had not been able to manage the cancellation of the mortgage and we had had to step in to file claims with the bank, and ultimately, the former owners had not been able to do a single thing right.
I will continue to tell you how this story unfolds…