A new homeowner has expressed her shock after discovering the property’s backyard in a state of disrepair when she moved in, in contrast to online pictures showing it perfectly landscaped.
Kaitlyn Bilston, who purchased the house in South Australia recently, was left horrified when she came to find nothing but turned-up soil and weeds growing where plants had been removed.
Ms Bilston took to TikTok to share several before and after pictures of the backyard showing how it was properly landscaped and decked out with planter boxes.
She uploaded images of the garden she had been shown by the previous owner a week before she was given the keys to the house.
The images showed a well-kept area with gravel covering the surface of the yard, a pair of wooden park seats and a table creating a serene outdoor setting.
But on moving in Ms Bilston discovered the garden in a vastly different state.
Ms Bilston uploaded a video earlier on her TikTok page showing soil and mulch strewn everywhere after the plants had been pulled out.
The footage showed weeds sprouting from the grounds where the planter boxes had been and several bricks tossed across the ground.
Parts of the gravel had been scraped away and several roof tiles were also seen scattered across parts of the garden.
Ms Bilston came to an agreement with the former owner that they would be allowed to take all the plants with them when they moved out.
Text messages between Ms Bilston and the previous owner which were shared with realestate.com.au showed the owner informing Ms Bilston they would take most of the plants.
The owner also told her that they would ‘remove the dirt’ from the plants.
‘All plants have been taken out and been levelled out,’ the owner said.
The new owner was, however, left disgusted by the state of the yard once the plants were removed.
Dozens of users who commented on Ms Bilston’s post said the garden should have been cleaned up.
‘That’s terrible,’ one user wrote.
‘That happened to us, it’s so disappointing,’ another wrote.
‘There’s no excuse for doing this.’
Others were less sympathetic to the woman’s plight, arguing she should not have agreed to the former owner taking all the plants and that she should have raised the issue before the settlement agreement.
Ms Bilston was horrified to find the backyard covered in soil and mulch with weeds sprouting from the ground (pictured) after the former owner removed all the plants
The images the new owner had been sent showed a well-kept area with gravel covering the surface of the yard, a pair of wooden park seats and a table creating a serene outdoor setting
‘You organised with the prior owner to take all the plants??!! YOU are at fault,’ one user wrote.
‘Prior to settlement, it is your responsibility to check. Your Conveyancer will then manage issues like this. So, not on previous owner, it is on you,’ another said.
Ms Bilston claimed the resident didn’t leave the home on the settlement date and that she did conduct a final inspection of the property before the sale was finalised.
‘They weren’t even gone on settlement…real estate couldn’t get into them… we attended property a week prior, it didn’t look like this,’ she said.
Those purchasing a property need to conduct a thorough check during the pre-settlement inspection of a home, including gardens and garden beds.
Buyers should notify a conveyancer who conducts all legal and financial checks of the property to ascertain if there are any structural issues before final settlement.