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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU: Do you renegotiate the price of a flat sale based on something you haven't noticed because you're blind or stupid?

64 replies

user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:19

We're selling our 2 bed flat and were lucky enough to have had an offer within 2 weeks from first time buyers with an enormous deposit.
However, a month ago they realised that our garage was a storage garage rather than a garage for a car. To start with, it's got parking in front of it, there are parking lines and a parking sign with times that you need to have a permit to park there. Secondly, it hasn't got a drop curb. Thirdly, we never advertised it as off street parking, it's a garage that you can store stuff in. We put our bikes in there.
We think they must have a fancy car or something, as their solicitor said that "they required" us to apply to the council to get the parking restrictions changed and get a drop curb put in. It might cost us around £7k and take months. We don't have a car. We said no.
Apart from this demand, they've been saying they want to renegotiate the price for a month, but haven't come back with anything. They've also now had the survey through, which apparently they want some other money off for. We think they are wasting our time.
When we bought the flat, we really wanted a wood burner, but we didn't request the sellers to get it for us. AIBU?

OP posts:
BarbarianMum · 24/05/2019 20:24

Stop thinking in terms of reasonable/unreasonable, this is a business transaction. They are offering you x amount for your flat under y conditions. Just decide whether you are interested or not. If not say so, or bargin.

MatildaTheCat · 24/05/2019 20:24

We need a diagram as I can’t quite imagine your set up.

However, they sound like time wasters who think they can get a big reduction in the cost. The offer they made and you accepted was the agreed price. Ask your estate agent to clarify their position with a view to getting it back on the market ASAP.

They might well suddenly decide they do want it and stop messing around. Maybe.

Passthecherrycoke · 24/05/2019 20:26

Nope put it back on the market. Who cares what they want to do to it in terms of dropped kurb etc? It comes as it is, and they’ll have to pay for that themselves

Say no, and the house will be back on the
Market on 1st June unless they demonstrate progress in buying

Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:29

@matildathecat, the garage isn't attached to the flat. It's slightly up the street. The real estate agent also appears to be on their side, we've told him that we'll be giving him notice next week if we haven't had an acceptable offer through and going back on the market with a different estate agent. It seems he's been speaking to them more than us and keeps on telling us that we'll need to give them £10k, or even £20k off for this garage that they didn't notice was just a garage that you put things in. It's a bit ridiculous.

OP posts:
AgentProvocateur · 24/05/2019 20:32

A garage, by definition, is a building to store a car. If yours doesn't fit a car, it's a brick shed - not a garage. Put it back on the market, but don't call it a garage.

Thehop · 24/05/2019 20:33

Utterly ridiculous.

Just market again with another agent.

Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:35

Hi AgentProvocateur,
The garage does fit a car, we kept a car in it when we borrowed MIL's car. It's big enough for a car and it's called a garage on the title plan, it's just that you might not be able to get the car out again as there might be a car parked in the way on the street.

OP posts:
Passthecherrycoke · 24/05/2019 20:36

The EA is actually responsible for advertising it as a garage when it’s not so tell them to bugger off and try their research again before you change agent. You’re the ones paying them, how can they be on the buyers side? Dicks

Crispyturtle · 24/05/2019 20:36

What BarbarianMum said.

But really, if I saw a flat advertised as having a garage, I would assume this meant you could park a car in it, otherwise it’s a shed.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 24/05/2019 20:37

I agree that calling it a garage might have been unhelpful, but surely they looked in it and saw the size. I'd make sure you have the dimensions on your listing so it's absolutely clear and you avoid people inadvertently wasting your time if they think you have a garage big enough for a car.

flowery · 24/05/2019 20:40

If there isn’t a dropped kerb how would you get a car in?

PrayingandHoping · 24/05/2019 20:41

Sounds like EA fault for not listing is clearly as a garage!

Tell them tough and put it back on market if they aren't happy.

No one puts cars in garages that I know! Garages are great storage

cstaff · 24/05/2019 20:42

Tell them EA that he is supposed to be acting on your behalf not the purchasers, and that if he wants you to move to another EA he is going the right way about it.

Pipandmum · 24/05/2019 20:43

You mean you don’t have right of way to access the garage? Did you approve the particulars from the agent? It doesn’t matter if the garage can fit a car or not if there’s no right of way to access it. Market it with another agent but be sure you are specific about this anomaly.

Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:43

No one puts cars in garages that I know! Garages are great storage

PrayingandHoping that's what we thought. It never occurred to us that someone would want to buy the flat because of the garage. There's always plenty of on street parking.

OP posts:
GarthFunkel · 24/05/2019 20:44

If a garage was soooo important to them, then I would have expected them to have measured it, looked at it, tried it out etc. Not made amy assumptions about it and then made out it was a deal breaker.

Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:46

Pipandmum we would definitely be clearer next time, but to be honest we didn't get to approve anything from the agent. They just stuck the listing up without even showing us and I've no idea what they said to the so called buyers.

OP posts:
Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:47

GarthFunkel they did measure it. This is the odd thing. We don't have a car, so didn't think about it when buying the flat, but they requested access to it and went in and measured it before offering.

OP posts:
Honeyroar · 24/05/2019 20:50

You should've just called it a shed, because it is, by the sounds of it. I'm on their side to be honest. It was badly advertised.

sanmiguel · 24/05/2019 20:51

I guess from the buyers perspective, if they bought thinking it was a garage for a car and that was their reason for buying, you'd be cross/disappointed if it wasn't as expected.

Similarly, we bought a house with an en suite. We wanted an en-suite for a specific reason- easy access to night time toilet that wouldn't involve going out onto the landing or disturbing DC. When we actually bought the house and moved in, we realised that not one bit of the en suite was functioning - all with significant plumbing issues meaning it'd be cheaper to just re-fit (at a cost we hadn't budgeted for). Had I have realised prior to signing, I'd have similarly asked the seller to get the bathroom functioning or would have pulled out.

Just because the buyer didn't notice the garage had no drop kerb, it doesn't mean they're being unreasonable.

recrudescence · 24/05/2019 20:54

Such good advice from BarbarianMum

Lifecraft · 24/05/2019 20:54

The first reply from BarbarianMum was the correct answer.

jayritchie · 24/05/2019 20:55

There is a huge difference between have off street parking and not. I can absolutely understand someone who expected a garage (and yes - might have planned to park in front of it and use it for storage) reducing the price or pulling out of the sale when it turns out the garage is just a decent sized shed.

Original poster
user1476448102 · 24/05/2019 20:56

Yes, absolutely agree. The buyers just need to say what they're willing to pay. As it is, we've been waiting for about a month now to find out what that it.

OP posts:
Laiste · 24/05/2019 20:57

They wanted a garage. Yours is advertised as having a garage. It's not next to the property. They wanted to see it and check the size, and they did that when they came to view it.

Thinking back to when i last purchased a property i had a short list of about 20 and payed as much attention as i could but when you're viewing multiple properties and trying to remember to check on different aspects of each one i'm not certain i'd definitely notice the lack of dropped curb.

In any event - you're doing the right thing. No more he said she said - just say to the agent 'list it as a storage facility and stick to the price bracket please'.