Tenants buying house have asked me to pay for investigations and repairs

[Wonderifitsme]

Have not sold a house before and have no-one to ask on this.

I moved abroad a couple of years ago and rented my (v nice) house to some nice tenants. They wanted to buy the place and I agreed, at a slightly lower price than the estate agent valuation range for the ease of having a secure sale etc (think valuation range 400-450, agreed 390).

they have had a survey, great, which has come up with an internal leak in the upstairs ensuite, possibly making a damp issue in floor. They have asked me if I am willing to pay for further investigation and for costs of repair.

Gut feeling is that this is not right. Surely costs of further investigations are borne by potential buyers and then you negotiate on price. Since I agreed a price at below 3 estate agents’ estimates I’m loath to renegotiate further. But are my instincts right? Tia

House buying and selling is all a negotiation, you don't have to accept offers or negotiating tactics and neither do they.

However I would work out your red lines and don't cut your nose off to spite your face.

As it stands the house you own has an active leak that is causing damp, why would you not fix it?

You could offer to meet them half way - you fix the leak and they’re responsible for repairs. I’d be asking why they hadn’t reported this to you as the landlord before though. Surely there were signs of damp, etc. Perhaps if they’d reported it in a timely manner the cost of the repairs would be significantly less.

i’d get the leak fixed asap. As even small leaks are dangerously because they can mix with electricity and cause house fires, beimg a ceiling down etc.

do you have insurance on the property?

once the leak is fixed you can see what the options are.

id ask the plumber you send out to give you a couple of quotes for repairs to the woodwork wall etc once hes fixed the leak while hes there.

preferably a good long term option and a patch up option to sell the house.

tell him not to discuss with tenants as they are possibly buying the house just say “not sure yet, need to price it up” if they ask.

then consider your options. i’d suggest if it’s a grand to fix just discount the price further to get the house sold.

You are the landlord there is a leak it’s your responsibility whether they buy the house is irrelevant.

You’ve got tenants in a house with a leak, you need to fix the leak. Even if you don’t sell to these people you know about the leak now so need to fix it before you sell to anyone. It’s not going to be a fortune!

Fwiw a leak was discovered on our survey and we asked the seller to fix before proceeding, otherwise I would have knocked off the cost of the work

I think you should send your own plumber to fix the leak - if there is a leak.
Damp in a cupboard? If it is a sink with a cupboard underneath that sounds cheap as chips to fix. If it's not that could be not ventilating the bathroom, condensation from a pipe or blocked gutter externally.

I think you should get the leak fixed but also tell your tenants that you are not willing to renegotiate on the price as you have already reduced as far as you are willing to.

That’s irrelevant. If you were selling to a buyer on the open market you’d have to negotiate on price or fix the leak. If you weren’t selling you’d have to fix it. You’ll have to fix it if you pull out and sell to someone else. There’s literally no scenario where you wouldn’t have to pay for it.

You are a landlord, your tenants have reported a leak. You have to investigate and get it fixed. Whether you then add the cost of the repair to the price you are willing to accept from them or put it n the market is up to you. Check if your insurance will cover the cost of repair before deciding whether to sell to them still. Issue them with notice once the leak is fixed anyway as you cant trust they wont try to negotiate a further discount.

That's a good post actually. In most circumstances I'd say all part of the negotiation, do what you need to to get the best deal, but in this case, you need to investigate and repair the leak, regardless of whethger they buy the house.

I think it's normal for a potential buyer to ask this and it's irrelevant that they're you're tenants. (Although, as a landlord, they would expect you to fix this leak anyway.)

I had a similar issue arise and because I felt the buyer was acting fairly, I didn't want to lose the sale and I thought the surveyor was having them on and a more detailed survey wouldn't show up the problems they feared (which was, in fact the case), said I would pay a contribution towards a more detailed survey, but only once the sale was complete. So they paid the full price for the survey and would have lost that money if they decided to pull out, but, as they proceeded with the sale, my contribution was deducted from the total price by my solicitor at the end.

You're going to have to fix this leak (or declare it) anyway, OP. I'd just get it looked at and repaired now.

Always outliers, not the trend..

Can’t you just get it all covered on your insurance? The house isn’t formally on the market, so maybe go down that route and then proceed with the sale?

Yes, it’s definitely a buyers’ market at the moment.

They have a lot on their side, not having to move, being able to buy into a desirable area without competition or risk of gazumping.
The OP has a lot on her side too – willing buyers with no chain, and not having to put the house into a buyers' market.

Amazed by the number of people on here who think that an EA valuation reflects the actual value. The only way to know the market value today is to put your house on the market.

Take control of this, OP - employ a plumber yourself - do NOT just agree to pay for whatever ‘investigations’ and ‘repairs’ your buyers find - you could end up footing the bill for a full plumbing refit!

This. Your house your leak. 🧐

The valuations don't suggest they got a huge discount at all, your meant to take an average of the valuations as the lowest was 400k it doesn't indicate its worth 450k.

With mortgage rates through the roof at the moment it's a buyers market at the moment and you might find it costs you a lot more if you put iton the open market.

I've changed my mind.

Claim on insurance
Serve notice
Put it on the open market.

You own them nothing and they are doing the mess around £310k where its valued at £400-£450k and places are going g above asking screams "doing the messaround"

I like clean sales.

I guarantee immediately before exchange there will be something else.

When we sold we sold as is and left fitted blind and curtains / light fittings if desired no extra costs... because we didnt want to derail the sale
Similarly the people we bought off we did haggle on surveys and piss about.

Go to open market

Forget that you are planning to sell the house to them. Right now you have tenants who have reported a leak that needs fixing. Of course you should pay to get it fixed. To protect your asset and to fulfill your landlord duties.

Am really torn now - kind of inclined to say it’s ‘as seen’ given the discount, maybe because of the process leading up to this I kind of feel like they are a bit inclined to take the piss

I can't follow your trail of thinking at all here.

Firstly, they're still your tenants. If they've found and are reporting a leak, you need to deal with it.

Secondly...if you sold to someone else, chances are the same thing would come up in the survey and you'll simply be facing this same problem.

Thirdly...you have a leak in your house. Quibble about costs later. If a ceiling comes through or it fries all the electrics you can x your bill by ten.

Finally...you're in a vulnerable position. If you pull out with them, you're trying to sell with sitting tenants. Good luck with that, you probably won't. So you'll have to wait for them to move out, hope they leave it decent, potentially have to make things good - then have x months or longer with an empty house, in a falling market, plus estate agent fees.

Personally, I'd fix the damn leak.

Say you are happy to do it, but the cost would have to go on the asking price, as it is below valuation.

And they might not want to buy it after all. Then she can wait until they move out, keep paying the mortgage without any rental income, get photos taken of the empty house and sell it during a time when people can’t afford to move house. A plan without any flaws.

They may say they will fix it themselves! Why would a tenant renting a house say they will fix a leak themselves?

That wouldn’t happen with any other buyer. It’s a ridiculous idea.