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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To reduce the offer

81 replies

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 14:16

Buying a house.

Original asking price £190,000. We offered £180,000 after advice from restate agents that it would be accepted as they had been rejecting lower offers.

Avg value in area (for a ready to move into house) between £170,000 - £180,000.

Searches have come back, as well as separate gas and electric inspections. Radon high area (will need testing), needs replumbing and rewiring. We've been quoted £5100 for the electrical whatnots, the gas engineer has told me to expect much for the gas.

Would we be unreasonable to reduce our offer again? And if not, what would be a reasonable amount?

We originally offered less because it needs amfair bit of cosmetic work. There's no floor covering down, there's not enough outlets etc- it was overpriced to start. Now we're looking at a large sum to make it livable.

OP posts:

GenderApostate19 · 19/02/2021 15:11

A 70 year old house that’s never had the electrics touched could well have no earth on the lighting circuit, you can’t put metal light switches / fittings on that - it’s not as easy as bung a new consumer unit in, the wiring may well not be up to it. It needs a full Electrical report costing @ £200+ .

ivfbeenbusy · 19/02/2021 15:12

Your offer might not have accounted for that work but it's possible the value of the house did.

An electrical or gas engineer inspecting an older property will always comment that it isn't up to current standards....because it won't be as regs change all the time and they have to cover themselves. Not being up to standard is different to be unsafe and you should clarify that with the engineers first

Scbchl · 19/02/2021 15:12

OP are you in Scotland?

Original poster

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 15:13

Forgive me, got my C's mixed up.
Mostly C2 still which is listed as Unacceptable condition (state either C1 or C2).
C3 - improvement recommended.

OP posts:

Original poster

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 15:14

I'm in Wales.

OP posts:

Scbchl · 19/02/2021 15:14

@Bluntness100 I had a home report done two days ago and received it yesterday and the categories are as op says. I'm guessing she may also be in Scotland.

GenderApostate19 · 19/02/2021 15:15

Ah, I see you’ve had an electrical report - does it specifically say that to have a new C U it needs rewiring ?
Does it mention no earth wires?

Original poster

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 15:16

@GenderApostate19

It cost £200, it was a full report.

OP posts:

GenderApostate19 · 19/02/2021 15:22

If the lighting circuit has no earth, it’s perfectly safe although you should only use plastic light fittings and light switches OR you can go for more expensive, double insulated fittings.

Ir’s obvious that a house of that age will need a rewire at some point though. Ir can’t have many sockets for one thing.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 19/02/2021 15:25

Speak to the agent about the report. Ask if the property was priced with the gas and electric works in mind. Be quite specific about the fires having been condemned and the wording/ codes for the electric.

If the owners were unaware they may be open to further negotiating. If they were aware then you know that they have set their price and the rest is up to you.

MessagesKeepGettingClearer · 19/02/2021 15:28

Sounds like you are messing them around. Why offer £180k when you never thought it was worth that?

If I were them I'd pull out. I hate these kind of tactics.

FatAnneTheDealer · 19/02/2021 15:29

Rather than immediately reducing the offer I would allow them the choice: on all the issues showing "unsafe" they can either make them "safe" or reduce the price to reflect your quotes for fixing.

I did exactly this for a house I moved into almost 5 years ago. They accepted quite a low offer from me on the grounds that they would not go any lower, no matter what the survey said. That was, of course, a silly rider - I could always pull out. When a safety issue was uncovered I required them to make it right or I would pull out, even though it effectively reduced the price by another £5k. They made the repairs.

The vendors can, of course, pull out of the sale, and put the house back on the market. However, if gas and electric items/ system have actually been identified as "unsafe" or "condemned" then the estate agent will be legally bound to reveal this to any other potential purchasers - which will inevitably drop the price - possibly even below your offer.

The vendors may decide to suck it up and either carry out the repairs or reduce their price and stick with you - buyers in hand.

This is a business transaction. No one shiuod call you "unfair" (or worse) because you are being business-like. That is what a survey is for - to prevent you from buyng a property with significant hidden defects. Respond accordingly!

Original poster

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 15:30

Thank you all for your advice.
I think we'll make the sellers aware of the condemned fires and the aspects of the electric report that "require urgent remedial action". And ask them to rectify the issues before completing and provide certificates or to reduce the price to allow us to do so.

All we can do is ask.

OP posts:

Original poster

MizMoonshine · 19/02/2021 15:31

@MessagesKeepGettingClearer it's not a tactic, we were only made aware of the extra costs because we paid for further inspections.

OP posts:

Freddiefox · 19/02/2021 15:47

I think of who’s be reasonable to ask for the fire and the c2s and c1s to be remedied abs if that’s not for them I would ask for a reduction in price. 5k would be a good start if you have quotes to back you up. I wouldn’t be happy paying the the offer price with a condemned fire and some parts of the electrics unsafe.

TheRebelle · 19/02/2021 15:57

It depends, will you walk away if they don’t reduce the price? It sounds like they want a certain amount and are willing to hold out for it so I’d only try dropping the offer if you’re prepared to walk away, if you’re going to live there for a long time then it doesn’t really matter if you over pay by £10k or so.

2ndtimemum2 · 19/02/2021 16:01

@MizMoonshine

Okay so just because the report says that the electrics are unsatisfactory doesn't mean we need to be worried about it? I was in a bit of a panic when I got it back and thought it would be something that we need to fix before we could move in. But if it's something we can do as we go that's less intimidating.

I bought a house like this it was 60 years old and I've had to plough thousands into it. I know in my case the house insurance would've not stood over any claims if I had an electrical fire

Jaxhog · 19/02/2021 16:03

If it was the gas board, they always condemn stuff. Every single person I know whos had them check things has had their fires and boiler condemned.

I would upgrade the wiring and do the fires and boiler when you have spare cash.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 19/02/2021 16:08

I wasn't aware we could ask them to do something about the fires!

I really wouldn't ask them to do it; you could request a certificate for anything "new" I suppose, but in view of the rest you've said there's every chance they could just whack in a couple they've got off ebay

In a dodgy market and with house values possibly falling in a depression I wouldn't have offered as much you have in the first place - or bought at all unless I had to - but I'd certainly reduce the offer now, and quite substantially

BlueTimes · 19/02/2021 16:13

@MizMoonshine

Yeah it's just the plumbing and wiring, really. My DP is of the mindset that they've already reduced the price to meet our offer, but our offer didn't account for these things. They've only been noted since.

It needs rewiring because it's about 70 years old, the fuse needs replacing and it just needs bringing up to standard.
The gas/plumbing is to bring the boiler up to standard, the two gas fires have been condemned and there's no radiator in 3/5 rooms.

Are you a FTB? The reports rely on finding things but it doesn’t mean a properly isn’t liveable in. I think you should have looked at the fuse and boiler asked the questions about them when you viewed. I’ve never not done that when moved or had buyers ask me the same.

ladycarlotta · 19/02/2021 16:16

@MizMoonshine

The exact wording of the report is very long and measures safety using codes. C3 is immediately dangerous - this appears several times on the report. C2 is potentially dangerous and fills the rest of the report. This is for the electric inspection. It's serveral pages of work. This is why I haven't given a direct quote. This leads to a recommendation of a rewire and a new fuse board.

The gas fires are the only things that have been condemned.

I'm not sure you can ask for a reduction on this basis, but I do have sympathy. Our house was built in the 60s and had literally one socket in each room. It also had an ancient fuse box. We talked to quite a few electricians who said we might not have to have a full rewire, could spur things off etc etc, but to be honest it was so rudimentary we decided to go for the rewire so that we had something more comprehensive to build on in the future. It sounds like you will need a rewire if some of it is actively dangerous, so that really isn't something you can do 'as you go along' - it's disruptive and dusty and causes so much damage, you will need to get it out of the way before you move in and redecorate. So... something to think about. Whether you're prepared to go through that. You might have a case for reducing your offer on the basis that experts have deemed it unsafe. It might just be the price you have to pay to own this particular house.

NoBlueSkyComing · 19/02/2021 16:21

The only question is 'are up prepared to lose the house sale if they decide you are uncommitted buyers if you offer a lower price?'

If yes, offer lower. If no, and you really ,really want this house, then I would just pay what you offered. What you are looking to save is not a vast sum, over a lifetime, if you really do love this house.

LakieLady · 19/02/2021 16:25

@GenderApostate19

My house was built in 1936, and still had the original wiring when I moved in in 1993. They couldn't just replace the consumer unit because the wiring wasn't up to standard (still had braided flex on the ceiling lights, among other things) so I had a full rewire done.

I wish I'd been able to use the old, round, Bakelite light switches though. They were lovely!

IamwhoIsayIam · 19/02/2021 16:30

I am selling a house where the EICR came back with things of immediate danger and potential danger. The overall report was the electrics were 'unsatisfactory' I got the electrician who did the assessment to give me a quote on the work needed to bring it up to 'satisfactory'. It only came to £700 and we went 50/50 with the buyers.

I don't think it is unreasonable to request a discount on putting right things that are dangerous - if you get a quote on what that costs rather than pluck figures out the air.

CharlotteRose90 · 19/02/2021 16:46

On your updates I would definitely offer less but be prepared they might pull out. It’s a sellers market currently and people have multiple offers.

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