To think our buyer is really out of order.

[PrincelySu]

We are selling our property, it's a detached cottage in a rural location, and was valued at £750k. We need a fairly quick sale due to our circumstances, we got an offer of £725k, we countered with £735k, and the buyer agreed. The cottage has lovely original features and is very quirky.

On the initial viewing, before they'd even made an offer, we pointed out a couple of things that may need to be looked at, one of those being the roof. Due to this, the buyer got a surveyor round, who agreed that the roof should be looked at. That is the only thing that has been flagged on the survey. The buyer organised a roofer to come and have a look, and the roofer said it's a quirky cottage and roof, but there is nothing wrong with the integrity. There are no leaks, damage, the felt is fine. There are a few tiles missing and it doesn't look great, but this is only cosmetic. The roofer said it is optional to replace the roof, and you'd probably want to at some point, but it's fine.

In between all of this, the buyer also came back to view the house twice more, to measure up for their furniture, plan where to paint and how to redesign the house, both of these visits totalling 4 hours. Which we were happy to do and accommodated.

The buyer has now decided they want the roof replacing and wants £10k off the house price! We said no, the roof doesn't need replacing, the roofer said it was optional and we've already given you a £15k discount from the listed price. The buyer has come back saying that they 'only wanted to pay £725k in the first place and they are fed up to be honest.'

AIBU to think they are being really out of order?! I feel like saying they can't have the house out of principle.

That's how I would understand what the roofer is saying too. It's a bit vague but if I was buying I'd understand that I'd need to replace the roof, not now, but in the immediate future.

I agree with all of that. I wouldn't take a vendor seriously who was keeping the house on the market and would move on to the next one. If a buyer is instructing a survey and a solicitor they are moving ahead.

Whether it's fair or not is not the point - there is no love in real estate and these people are trying it on to see if you are desperate to sell, in which case it will be 10K in their pocket and not yours.

Are they going to walk away?

Who knows.

It's a matter of who blinks first.

You need to decide if there was a queue of buyers and if you can find another one.

If you have had only one offer, is that significant at all?

I think you should stand your ground and put back on the market if need be. They are trying it on. Prices have risen recently too.
I do think buyers do often get spooked by surveys, they can come back with pages and pages of small issues that seem really daunting.
But asking for 10k off for no real reason is just a piss take. They could see the condition of the roof cosmetically when they agreed the price.

I mean cosmetic things still need doing.. so I don’t think they’re being too unreasonable. I think people are wary of older properties as they do come with potential issues and I don’t think 10k is a lot of money off given the overall value. A new roof will cost more than 10k and even if they need to do cosmetic work I’d expect it to cost a couple of grand.

What rubbish . . .

They them you "only wanted to accept £750K in the first place, and you are fed up to be honest."

and we've already given you a £15k discount from the listed price.

I don't think you can call a below-asking offer, a 'discounted price'.
You put it on the market at what you /agent thought it was worth but that's purely subjective.

The price is a starting point for negotiation. 'Discount' doesn't come into it.

A house is worth what you can get for it. The price is not set in stone and most agents over-value (or undervalue to get a quick sale.)

Only you can decide this, and try not to let emotions cloud things. Negotiations are normal but this kind of endless trying to find something may point to a bigger problem.

We had a buyer like this. We took a big hit because we really wanted to move, they then turned out to have lied about being chain free so we found out 2 days (by accident from their solicitor who didn’t realise we didn’t know) before exchange that they weren’t in a position to proceed. Sometimes buyers are just problematic.

My decision would be based on:

• Do you need to move quickly? You could accept a lower offer based on immediate exchange and completion.
• Did you have other offers or are you confident you would get them?
• Is the money annoying or material (does it stop you getting the house you want)?

Ps. We dumped those buyers and got another who was motivated, paid more and we got from viewing to completion in 6 weeks by buying the searches from the crap buyers and giving them for free to the new ones!

You're taking this personally and it's clouding your judgement. Do you think you'll get another buyer willing to pay 735? How quickly do you need to move? If they hadn't allowed themselves to be pushed up to 735 when they put in their original offer? These are the questions you need to be asking yourself, not whether or not this particular buyer is or is not a nice person. For the money you're after you won't find a huge pool of buyers who aren't at least a little bit ruthless, you don't acquire quarter of a million quid by being nice.

It’s just a problem with the way property is sold in England.

You can negotiate up until the moment of exchange. I think they are taking the piss, but, on the other hand, can you get someone else to pay £735 quickly.

i would say forget it and stick it back on the market. Chances are they will comeback pretty quickly. Additionally, if you get no better offer within a couple of weeks, you can always go back to them again.

What the home report value it at?
Will they share it? I think 15k off is the price of most of a roof so theyve had it off already but if the survey came back at 700k then actually perhaps a bit more negotiation is required.

Dont get upset but do try to keep communication open and fair with reasons behind decisions. If you do this and they are just dicks its easier to walk and know thats ok.

It doesn't matter why they're now only wanting to offer £725k. That's what they want to offer. You can accept, counter offer or say no.

I always build this into selling a house when I choose a price to market at. I'm fortunate not to have ever been in a position where I had to achieve a set price but have had a range I would be willing to accept within.

Our last buyer did exactly this, offered a price, we came back with £5k higher and she accepted. Nearer exchange, suddenly there were all sorts of reasons she wanted £5k off. We all knew it was because she wanted to pay the price she had originally offered. We accepted as we wanted to close the sale.

If you accept or counter offer I would add a proviso that this is it and you will not budge any further and the house will be remarketed if they try again.

Depends how desperate you are to sell. If you’re not in a rush tell them to get lost and stick it back on the market at 750k. Not sure where you are in the country but I haven’t heard of anyone paying so much below the asking price in years. They may have only wanted to pay 725 originally, but you wanted to get 750k.

Personally I would stick to your guns. Go back and say no to the reduction, it’s £730k as agreed or will go back on the market next week.

'They're fed up, to be honest'.

I'd just reply 'So am I.'

If you need a quick sale, then I think you will have to suck this £10k loss up. Otherwise, you could just say that the agreed price was £735k and that it won't be reduced for non-essential works.

It’s not about the roof. They didn’t want to pay more in the first place. Either way it doesn’t matter - it’s a negotiation, so either accept it, or say no, or suggest something in between. If it was me I would stick to my guns, but it depends how quickly you need/want the sale.

The exact same thing has happened to my parents this week. Their buyer did a survey where the surveyor put a drone over the roof. They said it needs to be replaced and it will cost 35k.so my family are all builders /traders we've sent up 5 really reputable roofers and they say there is nothing wrong with the roof. No leaks etc. So my parents have refused to drop the price by 35k. So the buyers have pulled out saying they can't take this risk. 🤔

I’m really surprised by some of the replies here.

The offer is not “the starting price for negotiations”. It’s an agreed price subject to exchanging contracts. Yes you can pull out or try to re-negotiate but it’s trying to change the agreement you made.

OP - stick to you guns and be prepared to walk. This would put me off the buyer and I would be worried they’ll do it on the day of exchange.

A good way to negotiate, though, is just to say ‘bye’ and put the house back on the market. They have sunk £1,000 or so on the survey, and maybe some legal costs, and they want your house.

There is nothing to stop them renegotiating (or even the Estate Agents reducing commission to get the deal done).

They are expecting at least a counter offer and, I suspect, might be much more friendly if they think they will lose the house.

Just say no - they are trying it on

Or offer £1k off as that's what the roofer they instructed says it would take to fix

I hate it when people say they’ve given a discount already from the asking price…

You haven’t given them a 15k discount. It’s only worth what someone is happy to pay. You accepted an offer of 735k so that’s what is worth.

I don’t think they’re being that cheeky tbh. I was expecting something fat cheekier.