To not know what to do.

[fancybiccies]

Long story short, we bought a house a year ago. Needed some work, but ultimate plan was to do it up, make some money and move back to near family.
We have bought the house, gutted it and done everything. New kitchens, bathrooms, carpets, decoration, landscape gardens etc.
We had a survey (just regular home buyers survey) when we were buying and everything came back fine. No issues with structural/damp/anything.
We have a buyer and are due to exchange in a week.
They have just paid a surveyor to go over the entire property over the course of 3.5 hours. It was the most comprehensive survey you can buy.
They have come back with so so many things they are saying is wrong.
They say that the garden is sinking and needs digging up and re landscaping, the loft is apparently covered in mold, the garden walls around all 4 sides are twisting and need knocking down and rebuilding, the drains are blocked. They want to knock £50,000 off the purchase price a week before exchange.
Our survey done a year ago shows none of this. Just garden and walls satisfactory, they have moved slightly when settling but this is deemed as old and the property is now 20 years old.
Builder friend says that items in the loft often get covered in mold. The items up there aren’t even ours, I think they’ve been there 20 years. It’s a few old Santa sacks and a box of cuddly toys.
What would you do?

I’m going to get some advice today. Its just so bloody stressful.

Say no, don't even counter. Some people try it on, hope they don't succeed!!

They're not necessarily trying it on. Much of that sort of thing wouldn't have come up on the survey you had done. Ask them for the breakdown (they won't share the full survey, they'll have paid £1k for it!) and offer them a reduction in line with the urgent / essential items as they're the ones they'll actually have to tackle as soon as they move in. They've more than likely included all the non-urgent items too and all houses have those.

Your other option is just to refuse and hope your next buyers don't get a full survey done.

Tbh if there's subsidence in the garden I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole and I'm surprised they've asked for as little as £50k!

offer them a reduction in line with the urgent / essential items

imo nothing they have mentioned is urgent or essential or true

I find surveyors in general to be incredibly unreliable. We got a survey done on our first house, a homebuyers one I think. All fine, bought the house.

Sold it 4 years later, they got a valuation survey which revealed "damp" in the living room and dry rot in the cellar. We had to pay for a beam in the cellar treating, which to be fair, fine I didn't want their house to collapse with them and their children in it and it was about £500. But the "damp" was ridiculous.

Some twat had pointed a damp meter at an external wall while it was pissing down. There was not visible damp there for the entire 4 years we lived there AT ALL, no mould, wall wasn't wet to touch etc. The house was incredibly well ventilated because it was a v drafty Victorian terrace. . But, the bank wouldn't give them the mortgage without the work being done, so we paid for the "damp proofing" - lo and behold they now have massive damp issues on the wall that was treated. A lot of surveyors may as well be teenagers on work experience with the amount of actual knowledge they have.

Some, on the other hand are fabulous, but you're often reliant on your mortgage provider to who you get, unfortunately.

There's a big difference between a Chartered Building Surveyor doing a full structural survey and some lad with a damp meter doing a quickie 'survey'.

Not a chance!

lido I know there is that was my point!

but we also don't know who did this survey and how reliable they are. My guess would be not very! Considering the garden has been landscaped, I cant see how whoever did it wouldn't have flagged up the subsidence if that is actually the case? because surely they would charge £££ more to landscape a garden with those issues?

What would you do?

nothing. Just offer to put it back on the market tomorrow if they are no longer interested.

I wouldn't have a loft full of crap that doesn't even belong to me though.

This is a classic try-on, the timing is deliberate - they want to panic you into agreeing.

I'd be so furious with this being tried on me I'd refuse to sell to them!

You send back a polite reply saying your choice would be to put it straight back on the market, so please let you know if they want to proceed.

Don't back down an INCH.

Twats!

Call their bluff. They come up with this a week before exchange?! If you reduced the price you couldn't afford to move, so you can't do it, can you? They're CFs.

Hold firm and say no. They're expecting you to panic and cave in. Call their bluff.

Do you know the name of the surveying company that visited and can you check them out? Were they even legit? It's ludicrous that they'd expect you to drop £50K on the verbal say so of this surveyor without an official report having been drawn up.

Agree with everything the previous posters have said. Play them at their own game. They've already spent thousands on costs so doubtful they'll want to back out either. They're just after a bargain at your expense. At this stage I wouldn't budge on price and I'd tell them you're happy to put it back on the market if they don't think the house is right for them.

because really, WHO gets a survey done A WEEK before they are due to exchange?

So nope, nothing at all. Back on the market if they don't want it. Boxing Day is the biggest viewing day of properties on rightmove and zoopla apparently, so it's not a bad time to go back on the market if you need.

You can't accept it anyway as then you wouldn't be able to move so either way you CAN'T sell to them at that price...

Total game players, just say no!

We backed out of a purchase after getting a full survey. It revealed £80k of essential work. We didn't even bother asking for a reduction as it wouldn't have helped us, we didn't have that kind of cash. Of course we were gutted to lose the £1k we spent on the survey but we had no choice. So people DO withdraw from purchases after having surveys done.

@Bollykecks I was agreeing with you too

Pull out. Tell them you have another interested party. If you lose your purchase so be it. Dont be blackmailed . Your new house is not the only one you can be happy in. Call their bluff. Unblock the drains

Tell them no, then get an extensive survey yourself.

And empty the loft.

peach yes, they do for real problems!

You can't afford to take the hit, so the answer has to be "no".
They're chancing their arm. £50k is crazy for items you'd ordinarily expect in a house of yours' age and which aren't structural or essential.

And have drains washed out.

Is the garden sinking?

peachgreen did you do the survey a week before exchange though...?

Seriously, they are AT EXCHANGE. And only now they've decided on this 3.5k survey????

Either they half intend to pull out anyway or they are hard nosed chancers. I would be quite suprised if the 'survey' cost anything like that or even exists tbh.

OP, don't even bother getting advice! You can't afford to take that drop anyway, as you say. Offer to put the house back on the market and be zen.