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

OP, maybe pull out if you think you could genuinely get £450k for it. Fix the leak, give your tenants notice and get ready to market it in four months’ time. And please do come back and let us know how it went 😉

It's entirely up to OP to set the asking price for the property and both she and the tenants are free to withdraw from the sale at any point up to exchange of contracts.

But OP does bear the cost of investigation and repair as the landlord. That's what the law says. It's not complicated.

So I'm not sure where she would stand if she explicitly said she was adding the cost of investigation and repair to the asking price. I would want to take legal advice to ensure the tenants/buyers could not claim that amount back after the sale.

Other posters have pointed out that the eviction process can take the best part of a year if OP decides to go that route. The tenancy, and OP's legal responsibility for repairs, will potentially continue right up until eviction by bailiffs.

Meanwhile the government guidance for landlords with identified damp problems says they should assess 'with urgency' the severity of the problem and they should 'always tackle the underlying issue promptly'. If she's not careful she could end up with a counterclaim for disrepair, especially if the leak gets worse and causes further damage or risks the health of the tenants.

The sensible thing to do would be to just get the damp sorted properly, regardless of whether she sells to the tenants or evicts them and sells on the open market, and regardless of what her asking price is.