Hi All, new here and hoping someone can help :-)
After much searching, dh and i finally found a house we like and had our offer accepted. We've lived - and owned property - all over the world but this is our first house purchase in the UK.
We had a homebuyer's survey done which indicated that there is a crack in the rear wall of the house and (as a separate matter) they feel the back patio doors weren't properly installed with appropriate support, so have said that a structural survey is needed - surveyor has stated he cannot complete the house valuation until he's seen the structural report.
Vendor and her EA are being a bit freaky. First of all they tried to talk us out of a structural survey and we had to point out that we had no choice as our lender requires it! Then the EA called twice to tell us we only need a structural survey on the crack and we don't need a full structural survey (we haven't yet ordered either kind of survey so why she's flipping out about this i don't know); on the last occasion my dh asked why the vendor is so averse to a full structural survey and she tried to brush it aside and make out that we're trying to delay proceedings - which we're not, we only got the homebuyer's survey back today!
Both structural surveyors that we've spoken to have said they'll inspect just the crack if we'd like, but that a full structural survey doesn't cost that much more and would give us greater protection and they'd recommend this. The lender's surveyor has said the lender is just interested in the crack and so just having that inspected would be fine. Honestly we would have proceeded to just have the crack inspected if the EA hadn't kicked up such a stink and actually made us smell a rat (which may or may not be there).
There were other items in the homebuyer's survey that (at our broker's recommendation) we asked the vendor to comment on, and the only comments that came back were 'surveys always say those things, everything is fine'. Sorry but based on personal experience I'm fairly sure every survey doesn't say that (among other things) the chimney is crumbling and in urgent need of repair, the roof underfelt urgently needs repair, and there's no insulation in the attic! (Funny story – vendor insisted there was no attic. When I pointed out the attic hatch in the hall ceiling she told me she’d never noticed it – she’s lived there 10 years – and had never been up there...!)
We're not FTB, we spotted some (but not all) of what the survey is pointing out and we're not wasting anyone's time, but we're careful shoppers and don't want to buy a lemon. We weren't looking for them to offer to pay for everything and were/are happy to just move forward and get quotes and reassess at that point, but we were looking for them to at least acknowledge and accept that we will be getting quotes for this other work and not try to railroad us (EA actually wanted to know if we could get the structural surveyor there today).
Much as we liked this property, I’m getting a bit of a ‘feeling’ about it. We’re in rented at the moment and don’t have to move (haven’t given notice etc) so if this house doesn’t work out we’ll just take another look around for something else. I'm a bit taken aback by the vendor’s attitude and unsure how to proceed. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?
Thanks in advance!
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Vendors being a tad 'odd'
48 replies
xandersmom2 · 28/04/2017 15:50
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