Homebuyers survey suggest our offer is too high by 15k and we should renegotiate. Now what?

[cluelessfirsttimebuyers]

Renegotiate or leave it?

Major problems identified are; need new front door, bannister installation recommended, bath poorly fitted and needs regrouting, sealant round bathroom fixtures deteriorating so needs replacing otherwise risks wood rot, mortar bed on roof is starting to weather and so some tiles need fixing or replacing.

Should we take their advice and try to renegotiate with the seller? They had a lot of offers but their purchase is ready now so they are waiting to move asap- I can’t see they’d choose someone else over us, surely?

First time buyers and a bit clueless. As stated they’ve said it’s worth £15k less in their opinion than our offer.

Offer accepted at 210k, was on rightmove for offers over 200k and had about 10 offers in total. They are recommending 195k.

Thanks in advance!

@cluelessfirsttimebuyers regrouting the roof tiles is only around £500 for the whole roof and if likely doesn't need that. We had one come off in the winds last year including the tile it was around £90 the guy was going door to door. I got a quote on a 5 bedroom house to do the entire run (remove, grout and replace) was £600. If you don't have 1k flex for those minor bits in your survey I wouldn't be buying a house. What if the boiler breaks or a pipe burst within hours of being in.

Erm, you're buying a house! You need cash to fix stuff, stuff breaks and needs adjusting/replacing all the time. Or very good skills to fix yourself

I dont know about regrouting tiles but I do think another poster quoting 500 quid is a bit off the mark, I would think the scaffolding woujld cost more than that!

Whats a safety issue?

Bathroom sealant needs re doing? Go to B+Q and get some sealant
New front door? whats wrong with it, off its hinges or just old and needs replacing, thats a choice. Our door as utter shite, its been like this since we moved in 15 years ago, I might be able to replace it this year. I hate it anywya, I hate everysingle thing about it, the threshold is all broken, letter box doesnt work, is corroded and we have had numerous handles and locks over the years as they seem to all break for some reason. Still not a major issue
A bannister, of course its recommended, but lots of houses dont have one and you saw it when you viewed surely?
Tile bed showing signs of weathering, well of course it is. Again our survey 15 years ago recommended the tiles being looked at, several are missing, need replacing. We still havent touched it. Houses weather, its what happens!

People pointing this out to you are not being unpleasant. The poster you quoted was in no way unpleasant.

Perhaps they’re just in the real world of home ownership, you can get caught quite badly. Life changeingly so if you don’t watch what you’re doing.

Loose tiles needing to be replaced came up in our homebuyer survey as well. It seems to be quite common. It cost a fraction of £15, 000 to sort out. Phone around and ask for a quote if it will set your mind at ease.

@soupfiend no scaffolding for a minor repair he went up a ladder and at one point was sat on the ridge like riding a horse. The trick is to know where to get trades if you went with one of the all singing and dancing building companies they would have your eyes out. Dad and son type company keeps it local and is affordable.

Well, in that case you'd have to try to find the gap in funds elsewhere, try to renegotiate in the knowledge that you may well lose the property by doing that, or pull out and buy something you can afford instead.

Also selling / buying right now.

If I’d had a lot of offers and then my buyer came back wanting a 7% reduction for the reasons listed I’d ask the agent to reach out to everyone else who’d made an offer to see if they were still interested.

If I’d had no other interest at all I might try and reach you in the middle but otherwise I’d say jog on.

Yes I wish we had similar round here, unfortunately not. Even the window cleaner wont go up a ladder due to health and safety although they'll use the long pole (I prefer not using that pole thing as I dont think it gets the sills clean) and I cannot tell you how many window cleaners Ive tried in general and either they're ill, fully booked, retiring/retired, dont respond, arent reliable, the list goes on

Our windows havent been cleaned since early this year, Ive messaged and messaged and messaged, no reply.

We also need some rendering on the front done, plus painting the front and side, plus a new front door, painting of brick window sills upstairs, the list goes on. It gets left as you can never find someone.

Our window cleaner goes up a ladder. He does 17 windows for £25. Our roofer went up on ladders to replace tiles, no scaffolding needed. These reports are just protecting themselves.

The surveyor has stated he believes the offer is too high and the house is worth £195k in line with other properties in the area and taking the condition of the property into account.

The house is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. You cannot be that exact, down to the last £1k

We offered over because we were told other people were interested too, and it was on Rightmove for offers over.

Rookie mistake. Offer what you can afford and what you are prepared to pay. Don't dick around because you made an over generous offer just to secure the property. It doesn't work like that.

Our surveyor said that our house was worth £10k less than the asking price. We attempted to get the vendor to lower the price based on the report, vendor said no. We bought it anyway, as the choice was buy it and do the work, or don’t buy it. Houses frequently go for tens of thousands over the asking price, or at least they used to.

I have just sold my 1900's terraced property (and bought another 1900's terraced property!) and if you looked at the home buyers survey report they made it sound like the house I sold was about to fall down!!
In reality it has been beautifully maintained throughout the 15 years we have been here and will still be standing in decent order long after we've gone!
The job of the surveyor is to nitpick and find every fault, no matter how small (hence bringing up the sealant), it is your job as a buyer to recognise what constitutes a 'big job' and what doesn't. Unfortunately for you, if you were buying my property for 210k and tried to knock me down 15k at this point I would put the property back on the market the next day.
Rightly or wrongly I would assume you were chancers that secured the deal with a higher offer just to rail road me into taking less when you thought you could get away with it.
Oh, and you are being very foolish not to have any money set aside for immediate repairs. Home ownership is expensive, the responsibility for everything is on you!! Are you sure you can genuinely afford this property?

Advice I'd give is to have a call with the surveyor (if it's possible) as they'll often give you a more balanced view. The survey usually sounds horrendous as they're covering themselves by including every little thing.

I did renegotiate on my current house as the survey came back with £40k of work so we split it 50:50. But we were talking the serious (blue?) asbestos, wood boring beetle in the joists and the like.

I'd tell you politely to do one if you expected money off for a bathroom or front door which were obvious when you made your offer.