To say no to potential house buyer

[Lmnop22]

So, I am a single mum to DS4 and DD 4 months. I am selling my house.

Someone came to view the house and I showed them round. They then asked to come back with their brother who is apparently a builder. I said yes, they came and looked round.

He then made an offer which was £17k below asking price. Nothing had been flagged (in front of me at least) by the builder brother and he had only been there around 15 minutes and I was in each room with them. I counter-offered for £5k more (so £13k below asking).

The agent just rang yesterday and said he would “provisionally accept my counter offer” but on the condition his brother took up the carpet in my bedroom under the bay window to “check for rot”.

The problem I have is that I have one of those beds where you lift up the whole base and it’s full of stuff and incredible heavy. I cannot take everything out of the bed and move it by myself (or really at all given the level of disruption!) - I have a very young baby who I have with me all the time. I also don’t want some random person to lift up the carpet in my bedroom without even having accepted my offer, without sufficient evidence that there’s even a possibility of “rot” in those floorboards and when he is not a suitable qualified, independent not an insured person.

I relayed the message back to him that he could get a survey and, if the survey gave sufficient cause for concern, he could get an independent and insured person to look under the carpet but I wasn’t rearranging my bedroom furniture, taking everything out from inside the bed base and then having his brother lift it up himself. Someone independent and professional would have to do it again anyway because if his brother said there was a problem, I couldn’t just take that at face value!

He came back to the agent and said he was no longer interested if his brother couldn’t lift the carpet so I’m now wondering, AIBU?

Sounds like they were chancers. Did you not have to get a survey done before putting it on the market though?

They would have been a nightmare, you've had a lucky escape.

Tbh you are going to have to move the furniture anyway when you move. A survey is pretty useless as most areas picked up advise to get a builder to look at it and surveys no longer quote repair costs so you will need a builder to do that anyway.
I would have compromised and explain that you can unload the drawer on bed but they can lift it and put it back. Its not that inconvenient if it got a sale. Chances are someone might ask the same thing in the future.

Yeah, the brother was going to find problems that required a reduction in price. I think you answered this one right.

No noone does this

@FionnulaTheCooler

Why would she? In the UK It is up to the buyers to arrange a survey (usually after an offer has been accepted). I have never heard of a seller paying for a survey prior to marketing.

In Scotland we do. It's called a home buyers report and is available before viewing.

Why would they?

In England that is the norm. In Scotland the seller pays for a survey before the property can be advertised for sale.

If OP is in England, no you don’t survey the house before putting it to market.

I’d have done the same OP – probably. Though two things: is your house pre 1920s? Many people knowledgeable about old houses skip the survey and do instead get it seen by a good builder. Standard surveyors these days often misdiagnose issues and miss others in period homes. Secondly, bay windows in period homes can be subject to wet/dry rot and damp which effects the joists beneath the floorboards. I’d have been interested in what the reason is for wanting to inspect – bouncing floorboards or a sloping floor?

Essentially, if he’s skipping a survey for above reasons, it’s not unusual. But I do think he needs to better communicate his reasons with you if he expects you to comply.

Surely nobody just lets random people lift up their carpets. They wouldn’t be put back correct surely.

This is another case of things not being the same across the UK (and it being assumed that what's done in England = what's done in the UK). Sellers in Scotland have to have a Home Report done, with very rare exceptions.

@Precipice@HirplesWithHaggis

Apologies - I didn't know this. I should have said in England (and OP has not said that this is the case!).

You will get another buyer. He sounds like he would continually want a reduction.

It is a 1900 terraced house.

I didn’t know about the tendency to get a builder round so thanks for letting me know that’s relatively normal.

I think my problem was that there’s no justification that has been identified at all and they didn’t even get close to the window in the bedroom because the bed is there.

I would also have accepted it being a common issue as sufficient justification but then would want an independent and insured builder to check it anyway because his brother could make a mess or identify some expensive issue that I can’t just accept….

Seems fishy also that instead of saying he would get a different builder he just lost interest too!

I am in England - sorry should have said but didn’t realise it made a difference!

In my experience surveyors don't lift carpets or move furniture. Other people may have different experiences. But the 'my brother is a builder' line was tried on elderly neighbours, who said they didn't want to sell to them.

He probably just doesn’t want to pay for one if he trusts his brother.

At the end of the day, if he really wanted it he’d pursue, and you want a buyer who really wants your home.

The buyers are usually the ones to get a survey not the sellers though?
At least in my experience!

Even a surveyor is not allowed to lift carpets or other floor coverings. Any builder should know that. The buyer and his brother seem like two chancers. I'd move on to the next ones who want to view.

We do in Scotland, it’s called a Homebuyer’s Report, carried out by the seller, is available to anyone and saves nonsense like OP has just experienced

My fitted carpets cost a fortune, there’s no way I’d let a random builder in to pull them up. Sounds like a way for him to say he’s found all sorts to reduce the offer and leave you with a pulled up carpet.

Does the floor have bounce in or next to the bay window? That could indicate a joist problem however if the brother is a builder it would be relatively cheap for them to renew those joists IF they were rotten. Bay windows are known to have a bit of a damp problem so don’t panic.

This guys sounds like a good one to dodge: it seems as though he has tried to play you, you counter offered and he’s going to try and play you again. Don’t give yourself the headache.

I think @Lmnop22 if someone is going to be so bizarrely demanding during a viewing, they'd make life hell during a sale.

The woman I bought my home from was a nightmare and it was worth it to get the house but I'd selling isn't as hard. It may take longer but it'll eventually sell.

You did the right thing. Without doubt he was going to find a "problem" and reduce the offer even more.