WIBU to pull out if they don't agree?

[NeedANewNameBriefly]

Reposting for traffic

Short version - are these issues bad enough to withdraw from property purchase and collapse the chain. Or should this be expected when buying a house.

YABU - Even without a reduction, these issues are not that bad

YANBU - They definitely need to reduce the price a bit

Full version

We are trying to purchase our "forever home", have gone madly over budget on something that isn't perfect, but we are happy enough with. Survey has come back and the work that needs doing seems to be quite a lot. We want to renegotiate the price and based on repair costs for the most significant things, so not just decorate issues for example we want to go lower by about 12% (that's what I've worked it out as being) - estate agent (of course) is saying they won't agree but she doesn't have their actual answer yet. To complicate matters, they are overseas and we cannot reach vendors directly (currently trying via the solicitors instead though)

Basically, we are not quite sure the best way to approach this and how much of this the vendor thinks should have been priced in to our offer, bearing in mind we were unaware of 99% of the issues prior to the survey. The 1% is an issue we believe they should and could still deal with through their buildings insurance.

For context here are some of the issues:

•Repointing of brickwork to two chimney stacks
•Replace a number of missing, slipped and damaged roof tiles (particularly to the front and rear slopes). However, given their age it may be more economic to recover the whole roof rather than continuing to repair. This is our main issue - we want to replace not further patch up the roof. Lots of patchy repairs previously done apparently.
•Carry out crack repair to the front elevation.
•Replace some of the double-glazed units to the conservatory - showing damage
• Porch – replace several roof tiles, and carry out longer-term repair to the far right post which is damaged
•Install additional air bricks and replace damaged air bricks to the right side - doesn't have anywhere near enough. Those it has are damaged
•Reduce the height of the external ground level at the front (or install a French drain) - drain is right in front of doorstep and cut back the timber decking at the rear- to mitigate damp penetration
•Adjust five of the internal doors - almost all doors do not close at all within the house
•Rectify leak from the shower hose/replace shower in the family bathroom
•Hot water cylinder appears undersized/replacement needed
•Replace the waste pipe from the dishwasher and rectify leak from gulley surround
•Secure boarding to the timber decking and carry out timber repairs where required

If I was the vendor and the buyer asked for a 12% reduction based on those issues I’d immediately pull out. I would assume the buyer either isn’t serious, does not have the money to pay full price in the first place or that the entire sale will be an absolute nightmare if they were asking for such a huge reduction on things that must have flagged as issues when they viewed. Wanting new double glazing ffs? That’s like saying I want a reduction because I want to fit a new kitchen.

Is FIL a successful estate agent?👩🏻🤦🏻‍♀️

both off houses at 900k

Completely agree!!

How obvious were these at viewing? I would tell you to get lost if it was me selling. I priced the house with guidance from the estate agent to take into account the west and tear (which these are) on an older property. I had my estate agent reiterate this at the offers stage to avoid exactly this scenario (my buyer understood, we completed a few weeks ago!

Your list is quite ridiculous anyway - water tank is undersized? Who says? Drain height? What? Shower hoses are a few pounds. Showing damage? Unless cracked why?

It sounds like you have over offered, I would pull out as this is not the house for you

Sorry, missed your later posts due to the namechange. I suggest you get a roofer to look at the roof and give you an idea of what really needs doing and how much it will cost. We did this when something came up on a survey for one we were offering on many years ago, and the roofer said it wasn't at all bad, the roof was well built to the point of being overbuilt, and it would cost peanuts to fix. Our current house is 1920s and it sounds a lot like yours- the airbricks and ground level we're still part way through sorting out!- though it needed a lot more work in other respects than yours, all picked up by the equivalent of the old 'full structural' survey. It's a good house, though, and I hope yours works out for you too.

The house has apparently be subject to a lot of movement in the past, more than normal according to the report. I asked why this was and the surveyor said the foundations were not deep enough. But he has said on the phone that this is primarily historical, but that there is cracking in a couple of the bathrooms that could also be down to movement.

In the house we can feel the floors sloping in front places. In one bathroom very noticeable. So for me, I really wanted reassurance it's not going to fall down in us or that it's going to be a problem to insure. But he said he said he thought the issues were long-standing.

Surveyor said all the doors upstairs don't close (which fireman friend has said is bad from a fire safety perspective) because of the movement of the house. The doors not closing we knew about/had noticed. But PIL said insurance would pay to fix those. I don't know how true that is.

Oops - sorry! Will do

That's interesting.

And I guess perhaps responses here will be skewed depending on whether someone is picturing selling their own home/has sold their own home vs thinking as just a buyer.

Can you answer my question please. How far down the line are you to be considering a discount?

My daughter bought a similar aged house last year and I warned her that the survey would sound awful, with loads of things to worry about.

One of the things that the surveyor said was "obviously it needs a completely new kitchen", she laughed and said, "I was thinking of repainting the doors and replacing the doorknobs". Which is what she did, as well as tightening some screws and fitting soft closures. Absolutely fine now!

This.

Sorry about that. Didn't know the capitalisation changed things - learn something new everyday!

We are really clueless on all this DIY stuff. We have asked the surveyor to produce a costs estimate for us, but as this may take a while (and is primarily being done for us, rather than to impact the sae) we have now also decided to get a roofer out and also people to look at gas and electrics too.

@NeedANewNameBriefly if I were you I'd get a specialist out to check for subsidence or just pull out. It doesn't sound like you actually even like this 'forever' house.

@NeedANewNameBriefly of course, no one wants to overpay on what they are buying or under sell what they are selling.

Copying from another response I posted above (I realise now due to poor posting etiquette, some people haven't seen all my replies):

And as I said, since posting i now have had the full report through (survey was booked the same week offer was accepted. Was done last week and only bullets in an email to go off, which I received on Friday - there were 23 points in all, I listed a few here).

Wonky houses aren't necessarily bad but I would be wary of subsidence.

I'd be worried about the movement preventing the doors from closing. It sounds far more serious than normal movement.

I bought a house with some loose slates on the roof. There was a storm and half the roof blew off. Patching was a waste of money. I had to remortgage to get a new roof as the structure holding the slates on wasn't suitable for modern roofing and insulation. It was a big job, and of course, the chimneys and other brickwork on the roof needed repointing.

It sounds like a money pit to me. I'd avoid it.

I only buy new builds now. At least there's a two year guarantee and 10 years NHBC. I couldn't put up with the hassle of constant repairs.

@NeedANewNameBriefly & if you come on here & mentioned underpinning posters would tell you to walk away.

Hmmm, that's not good at all...

The word subsidence has not been used in the report at all, but it was stated as having more than normal movement. Going to go educate myself a bit on what subsidence actually is...

And yeah the roof on this house has already been hit once by storm damage. Repaired poorly (by their insurance company), apparently. And lots of tiles currently missing now apparently.

The movement was always the worry, but the survey relaxed me a bit on that by saying it was longstanding (except the comment made about the bathroom movement).

The roof - I'm literally hearing may cost between £10k and £50K from friends/family. Definitely need an expert's opinion.

Wow. YABVU. I’d tell you to fuck right off if I were the seller.

Just as I felt when I read the OP

Re "new builds" they can have big problems and IMO built like cardboard unless you DIY or get your own specs from the bottom up. Then there is the brisk the estate may not be finnished and or works go on for a long time.

None pf those are worth losing your forever home for. Sort out the more urgent issues like repointing and roof tiles when you move in, but even those can wait unless there is already damp. It would be very unusual not to have something flagged.

If, worst case, a new roof is £50k why on earth would you think a £150k reduction was a good starting point? Pretty much everything on that list would have been visible when you viewed, and unless you buy a new house you’re unlikely to get a new roof. Now if the house is overpriced then maybe you shouldn’t have offered so much in the first place. The market is softening in many areas, so maybe you can chip £40/50k off - that is only 3% or 4%. 12% makes no sense and will make you look silly if the issues you’ve identified are the reason, rather than just cold feet!!

You've got no chance unless for some reason the vendors are desperate. If you can't afford to rectify the issues yourself, you should pull out.