New house was full of sellers’ rubbish … can we charge them for cost of clearing it out? Consumer lawyer DEAN DUNHAM KC replies

We bought a new house. When we moved in, the sellers had left a broken washing machine full of clothes, a broken fridge-freezer, dirty dishes and unwanted furniture. We had to pay to have it cleared. Can we claim the money back from the seller?

Name and address supplied.

Potentially, yes – and your position could be quite strong.

When you buy a property, the seller will generally be required to give you vacant possession on completion.

That means you should be able to move into the property and enjoy it without being confronted by the seller’s belongings, furniture or rubbish, unless you agreed that particular items could remain.

From what you describe, you did not agree to take these items. A broken washing machine containing the seller’s clothes, a broken fridge-freezer, dirty dishes and unwanted furniture are not things you should ordinarily be expected to deal with after completion.

If the seller was contractually obliged to give vacant possession, leaving these items could amount to a breach of contract. If you then had to pay a reasonable amount to have them removed and disposed of, you can seek to recover that cost from the seller as a loss resulting from the breach.

There is one important caveat: check the contract and the TA10 Fittings and Contents Form you signed during the buying process to make sure none of the items were agreed to be left at the property.

I would write to the seller, explain that the property was not handed over in the agreed condition, provide photographs and the clearance invoice, and ask them to reimburse the reasonable cost of removal.

Do not overstate your claim by demanding compensation for the inconvenience. Your strongest claim is for the actual, reasonable cost you incurred in clearing up.

My daughter lives on a street where finding a parking space is difficult. Her neighbour recently had the kerb outside her house dropped, even though she can’t park in her front garden because it has a wall. The neighbour says because the kerb is now dropped – lowered to enable access to off-road parking – no one else is allowed to park outside her house.

When my daughter did park there due to a lack of spaces, an egg was thrown at her car. Is the neighbour right about the kerb?

S.N., Northampton.

The neighbour is wrong. A dropped kerb confers no ownership of the road, and creates no private parking space.

The highway outside a house remains public and, unless there are specific restrictions in place, such as yellow lines, a residents’ bay or similar, anyone may generally park there. Having a kerb lowered does not reserve that stretch of Tarmac for the homeowner and the neighbour cannot simply declare it hers.

The fact that she can’t even use her front garden for parking, because a wall still blocks it, rather underlines the point.

There is, however, one genuine note of caution and this is where the distinction matters. Parking on the road near the property is fine, but parking directly across the dropped section is another matter.

Under the Traffic Management Act 2004, parking across a dropped footway is a civil parking contravention that councils can enforce with a penalty notice.

Be aware, too, that some councils will enforce this even where the resident has no usable driveway and, occasionally, even if the resident hasn’t complained. So your daughter would be wise to check her council’s stance as it varies from area to area.

What troubles me far more is the egg. Throwing an object at a vehicle could amount to criminal damage if any harm is caused, with repeated targeting potentially crossing into harassment.

My advice: avoid all confrontation. Photograph the dropped kerb, the wall and any signs or road markings, and keep a dated record of every incident.

If it happens again, especially if her car is damaged or she feels threatened, she should report it to the police.