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

I live in a Victorian house on my own and most of those things my handyman would have done in a day - the shower hose, internal doors, dishwasher pipe and decking. He’d charge me about £150.
Every house in my area comes back with the chimney stack pointing - again, a couple of hundred max.
The roof tiles and porch, small jobs for a roofer. I don’t think you can ask for the cost of a new roof.

Where did the figure of 12% come from?

YABU

The list you give are all pretty minor matters. A number of them you should have noted on your own inspection of the property. Are you fairly inexperienced in buying houses? Most of the things you note are minor and hardly warrant a 12% reduction- I’m assuming you’re paying several hundred of thousands of pounds.

If I were your vendors I’d remarket the property.

It sounds as though you’re getting cold feet about going over your budget and you seem overly fixated on this property being the only one you’ll consider.

That’s on you, not your vendor.

These all sound like normal things to expect on a survey. Buy a new build maybe?

You either want the house or you don’t, it’s as simple as that. My son has just bought a house that needs loads of repair work, he paid the asking price because of the location.

Just politely withdraw from buying the house. My response to such a suggestion of a 12% reduction would not be very polite.

Haven't read the full "repair" list but I would absolutely try my best to get as much off as possible. What's the harm in trying? It's what most seasoned property buyers would do!

We got 30k off our main home after the survey came back and lots of what was on there was cosmetic, but did need doing.

We argued that the costs involved to rectify some parts were higher than expected. Other bits we argued we couldn't have possibly known about without a survey.

We did say when putting the original offer in that it would be survey dependent.
The seller accepted our lower offer without hesitation.

If you are buying an older house that might have issues instead of getting a structural survey instruct a schedule of repairs. The advantage of this is that it highlights all the issues but also attaches an estimate of costs. Let's assume it identifies 20 issues. You then discuss with the vendor which of the 20 is part and parcel of buying an old house and therfore are ignored and which need to be addressed. The vendor may choose to take care of some themselves and then this leaves those that might warrant a price reduction. I have used this very effectively and it is much less confrontational.

With most of those I don't see an issue - they are fairly minor jobs so provided you believe the price is fair I wouldn't try negotiating. However, I did notice "Carry out crack repair to the front elevation." is this a cosmetic crack or is it the sign of the building shifting or subsidence? That would be a far bigger worry.

Not read the thread but you are taking the piss. They are normal minor issues and if that's it the house seems pretty sound.

This is all very minor I’d laugh if you asked me for 12% discount and think you were a time waster. Why are you trying to contact the Vendor yourself rather than going through the estate agent? You sound very naive.

When we sold our last house, the buyer tried to pull this stunt after the survey asking for 10% off. She refused to let us see the survey gave lots of vague reasons and insisted that it was 10% reduction or she was walking away.

We called her bluff and told her that was absolutely fine as we were in a position to hold onto the house and rent it out for a while (which we were) . We phoned the estate agents and instructed them to put it up for rental - she agreed to the original offer within an hour of that call. We were not prepared to tolerate it and I doubt your sellers will be open to it either. A small negotiated reduction perhaps but a blanket 10/12% or forget it is not going to wash.

Big question is what does the surveyor say the house is worth under the valuation?

YABU - they seem relatively minor issues for an older house.
A lot of the visible issues should have been taken into account as part of the original price of the property or part of a lower offer.

Once your offer was accepted, I think it’s just reviewing any hidden issues coming up in the survey. Stuff that you would have never known about, if it wasn’t for the survey.

With our current property we reduced our offer by £5k to accommodate extra work brought to light by the survey, which we’d costed with a builder and provided the quote for visibility. I think this was fair enough and the seller accepted this.

I don’t think you are being fair to the seller. They might get very irritated and withdraw. So go for it but it may backfire.

Do people really not care if their doors can close? I think a door that can't be closed is pretty useless.

And right now in this market, seasoned vendors would tell you to piss off.

i know you said you are buying in London, some areas of London have very bad subsidence problems. A friend had to get her whole house underpinned at huge cost in London. That would be making me very nervous. Good luck. X

I’d have a great big laugh and tell the estate agent not to bother me again with your nonsense.

The front haif of my house is several hundred years old and floors and ceilings can slope substabtially. I have modified some of them, but it has stood the test of time and will still be standing long after many modern houses have been and gone. At some point my husband and I may downsize, but we do not need to do so and would baulk at selling to someone who did not understand that older houses need upkeep. We have done far too much to preserve it for the next hundred years to sell it to someone we feared wouldn't look after it.

Houses need upkeep, and larger or older houses need more, it was ever so.

Please forget the notion of insurers paying to fix the doors erc. They will not pay for historic movement apparent when you buy the house, shaving the doors costs very little and you will merely open a can of worms where the insurers are concerned and increase your premia. Sorry to be harsh, but your FIL sounds like an unprincipled numpty.

You could try for a reduction but you will almost certainly be ignored at best or told to get lost at worst. Don't be surprised though if you are told that the price is 20% extra with all of the work you mention having been carried out to near new build standards.

This is ridiculous OP! The perfect house doesn't exist, people even have these problems with new builds and fail to get the builder to rectify them. Unless you are in the £10 million plus renovated to within an inch of its life bracket?

None of these are major issues and some are not issues at all - and those that are have probably been factored in to the asking price. To ask for a 12% reduction isn’t going to fly because it looks like what it is - an attempt to get the vendor to pay for the things you want upgrading. If you can’t afford to do it up, don’t buy it. Consider the fact that if you pull out now, you will still be liable for the conveyancing fees so far, on top of what you’ll pay for them on another property. Are you a first time buyer ? Because if so, you need to realise that the decision to pull out and collapse a chain doesn’t just affect you and these are none reasons.

Forgot to mention that somewhere on the survey report there should be an opinion as to whether the house is worth the asking price. If not there should be an opinion as to an appropriate alternative.

Has anyone yet mentioned that doors (and windows) not closing properly can be a sign of structural movement? Might just be historical age-related settlement. Might be a sign of subsidence. Or might just be crap doors.

If you were buying my house, I would immediately pull out and put it back on the market after this list of demands. But you can try and see what happens!

If you can’t afford to run and maintain the house don’t buy it. It makes no sense to spend all your budget and then some. there misery and penny pinching and hating the living room carpet for five years till you can afford to replace it lie.

If any of those ‘issues’ have to be done right now for safety you could ask the vendor to do them or seek a reduction for them but it’s not good form imo.

The survey is not a discount list I bet you the vast majority of properties could produce a list like that at any point. If you can’t afford to correct the issues in due course then withdraw and say that.

Not read all the thread but your OP makes you appear a very inexperienced buyer if you think you can get a seller to do all that work you list or give a large reduction. Agree with others saying you need a new build.