Or is the person we're buying a house from totally fucking batshit?

[sootspritez]

I'm gonna start by saying I know I'm not being unreasonable, however I am inexperienced, so looking for some guidance on where you think things have gone wrong and what I can now do to placate this nutjob vendor. NC as outing. Will try not to drip feed.

Dh and I are first time buyers. Visited a house. Loved it. Offered full asking price. All fine up until this point.

3 weeks after offer is accepted the survey happens. This is when things start going south.

Let's say that house was on market for 150k. Survey came back and said the house was only work 137k due to needing new Windows, chimney work, roof tiles, etc and the bank believe this was all the house was worth.

Survey cost in excess of £500 so fairly decent survey for a reasonable priced house. Put it to the agents that unfortunately this is now all we can offer as the mortgage lenders I.e. bank believe it's all the house is worth due to work needing doing. Fully prepared to be told tough and that they're holding out for the full price as I know they rejected a previous offer for being slightly below asking.

Vendor agrees to sell for 137k immediately. Phew... Or so we thought.

From this point on the following has happened via estate agents -

• vendor has cancelled 3 second viewings because they were inconvenient though she initially agreed

• she has denied entrance to the property for a contractor to come out with us to estimate how much work needs doing

• pointlessly got in touch to specify that now that they had gone below asking that all appliances wouldn't be included (I didn't want her appliances)

• asked EA to ask us TWICE if we would be willing to offer them more money despite accepting price given by mortgage lender

• when we have asked for another viewing she has proposed just insane times '20 mins at 6pm on the last Sunday of the month' '30 mins at 10.30am exactly 4 weeks on friday' despite us offering to be entirely flexible where possible (I.e. evenings and weekends at her convenience but would be willing to book an hour off work if she can guarantee the time). She says she cannot guarantee time as she works fill time and has 2 boys who play football until 8pm every single night and all day every weekend and they are her priority.

She has told the EA that she thinks we are inflexible and both the EA and the branch manager have apologised to us for her behaviour but obviously won't challenge her on it.

Am I right in thinking she's pissed off about lowering the price and just doesn't wanna sell her house?!

When I sold my first house I allowed the (first time) buyer to arrange quotes for the work the survey had apparently thrown up, despite the valuation being in line with the offered price. He then wanted the curtains thrown in, that would be a no then. The day before exchange he said he’d only exchange if the price was dropped by £2k - about 3% at that time. I told the agent to tell him to jog on and we exchanged at the agreed price.

After that debacle I’ve never allowed a buyer into the house after the offer’s accepted and never will. Perhaps your vendor has been similarly treated in the past, OP?

Just get the sale complete as soon as possible and sort out the contractor once the house is yours

This is quite possibly the worst advice possible. While I think you went about things a bit arse over tit, please do not buy a house that you suspect may be a money pit, without finding out what you're letting yourself in for.

I'd pull out OP.
I sold a house once. It was a doer upper. Nobody was living in it. Two sakes fell through where I'd agreed multiple re-viewing s following the acceptance of an offer. I thought it was reasonable to allow, because the buyers were wanting to do work to the house and wanted to start planning it and to see if it was, eg, feasible to live there during the work.
I allowed the viewings but in reality it allowed the buyers to become more and more nervous about the purchase.
I think they are trying to hide something. Tell the EA that if you can't view again to check the extent of the issues then you will have to pull out.

And the last house I bought the owners invited us up before completion to show us how everything worked and where everything was!

Personally, all this hassle over the house would give me bad feelings about it and I would look for something else which didn't need so much work. You can probably bet it will cost you more than £13,000 to do the repairs so I think she is hiding something.

@Catchingbentcoppers. I agree with your advice too, but I stand by what I said. I don't believe that the seller is being unreasonable to refuse to have contractors traipsing through her home. It is her home. She has her own commitmentsShe is perfectly within her rights to say that the contractors should visit when it is their home. If that means they decide not to complete the purchase, then she will have to wait for another buyer.

I’m astounded by some of the “normals “ people are saying on here. Get a survey before making an offer? Measure up before making an offer? Why would you invest £500 on a survey on a house you might not be buying? Why would the vendor be happy to have people measuring up in their house when they haven’t said they want to buy it? We have bought and sold several houses and have always viewed, made an offer, had survey, viewed again at some point to refresh memory and discuss any issues from survey/ any idiosyncrasies of the house and measure any immediate purchases ( cooker, bedroom window coverings etc). The same when people have viewed ours, sometimes they’ll come back to show parents/ builder friend etc, or as above.

Op I would ask your solicitor to ask for proof of structural calculations and installation of support in the fireplace, if it’s not done correctly it can be massively damaging. If they cannot provide this, or you continue to get bad feelings I would pull out at that point. I would ensure you’ve told the EA this is what you plan to do so the seller is aware you are serious about pulling out if not happy.

Good luck

“I’m astounded by some of the “normals “ people are saying on here. Get a survey before making an offer? Measure up before making an offer? Why would you invest £500 on a survey on a house you might not be buying?”

No one has said any of that, so no wonder you’re astounded

@Genevieva I completely agree.

The only way I see the vendor agreeing is of the OP threatens to pull out of the sale of their contactors are not permitted access. It's all a very unnecessary situation if it had just been dealt with properly before offering.

@yabadabadontdoit. Getting a survey before offering was absolutely normal when I was working in estate agency. In fact, an offer subject to survey was seen as worth nothing at all and clients would never have been advised to even consider it.

However this was circa 15 years ago in Scotland so I'm sure things are very different now. (I'm not sure where the OP is buying). I live down south now and not involved in EA anymore so would be interested to hear what the process is now up there.

Sounds like she is pissed to me, the goodwill has gone...I'd be wary of her pulling out at the very last minute. But I'm a fretter.

We went for a second viewing after offer had been accepted. Same with our house we sold. Totally normal for measuring up to order appliances.

Why would you need to measure for appliances? They’re standard sizes, aren’t they?

Not necessarily.

It's nice to go back and have another look when made and had offer accepted. You get a better look at what would fit in the rooms and what you need to ditch before moving.

Can't see the issue with a second viewing to be honest. What are people hiding if they don't let you is what I think

I don't think she's bat shit but she is clearly very pissed off with the fact that you dropped the price and perhaps she is wondering whether she wants to sell it to you now. She probably thinks you will drop the price even further and is not going to do you any favours. You may think that she will need to drop the price for everyone but not everyone pays for a proper survey so it may be that she can get more for it from other people.

Every time I have bought a house I have asked for and been given a second viewing after the offer was accepted to measure for furniture and so on. I've also agreed to them every time I have sold a house. I always thought it was perfectly normal to do that. I agree though that she is probably worried you're going to drop the price again.

"Why would you need to measure for appliances? They’re standard sizes, aren’t they?"

And therein lies some of the issues that people do not get. I have lived in many houses - some of them had 600m standard gaps, and some had 580mm - in which case standard appliancnes would not fit. They LOOKED normal but were not. This is really common.

I would walk away and let the owner get on with it - find something easier to buy.

I don't believe that the seller is being unreasonable to refuse to have contractors traipsing through her home. It is her home. She has her own commitmentsShe is perfectly within her rights to say that the contractors should visit when it is their home.

Perhaps not unreasonable, but I think it's unwise if she really wants to sell.

Fairly significant structural work has been done and the vendor appears to be unable to offer any assurance that steps have been taken to maintain the stuctural integrity of the chimney stack. She's now making it difficult for the OP to get an idea of whether remedial works might be needed, or what those works might cost.

I can understand the vendor being frustrated, and pissed off because she's already dropped £13k, but it also seems as though she doesn't want OP to establish what needs doing, which is very suspicious imo.

I'd walk OP. If you ended up forking out loads of money to have an RSJ put in, you'll never feel the same about the house again.

I think a 'measuring up' visit after offer is fairly normal but that's quite clearly not what the OP is after and the vendor knows it.

The OP is trying to reduce the price further despite the issue already being priced into her initial reduction.

Passthecherrycoke
Itsnotme123 Sun 28-Apr-19 03:50:21
I wouldn’t make an offer on a house that I’ve only seen for a few minutes. I’d make damn sure the offer I make is worth it, after a survey and a good second viewing
And I did go back and copy and paste the several other comments I was referencing but can’t get them to change page without losing the others. Feel free to go back and read them yourself before saying they don’t exist though.
.Catchingbentcoppers in Scotland isn’t the offer binding, like exchanging contracts is in England? In which case that would be sensible.

Argh bold fail, having a bad day!

This is why it is so stressful selling to FTBs who don't understand the process properly!

It may seem strange OP but it's not unusual for vendors not to allow buyers further viewings after their offer has been accepted.

It's frustrating but you'll probs my have to wait until it is yours to measure up etc.. That's the usual way of doing things.

It's not yours yet. Vendor still holds the cards.

But the OP isn’t going in to measure up - she wants a builder to tell her how much more she needs to spend. Vendor can refuse all she likes, just as the OP can walk away from the sale.

@Peanutbutterforever
How rude. OP being a FTB makes no odds here.

FTB are by no means the most awkward to deal with. It’s all down to the person, some are awkward some aren’t and one persons idea of awkward differs to another.