Reduction in offer price for House

[Weightypenguin]

Hello!

Long story short, I am in the process of buying a house. When we viewed it, we asked the obvious questions around gutters, roof, boilers and if there are any known issues or previous surveys that highlighted serious risks to the agent, they said no and we followed that up with an email to them where in writing they said no. When we viewed the house we were told: boiler was recently serviced and not to turn any lights on (red flag and that should have gotten alarm bells ringing).

We made an offer, had the survey done and it flagged the roof as an issue, list as long as my arm of defects. But also mentioned that the boiler was faulty and electricity is dangerous. Had a specialist electrician produce a report and he confirmed it is dangerous, failed the safety and said downstairs lights don’t work.

Agent insists lights do work, which is a lie. One of them came to the house with me a second time and tried to turn them on and failed. When i mentioned the survey results, she now tells me that the seller has always said the wiring is a relic and belongs in a museum. None of this was mentioned to us until we did the survey. When I told her that her boss refused to let us turn the lights on, she says it’s standard practice when viewing property. A lie I know as I’ve visited close to 50 properties before this one.

I want to know am I unreasonable in asking for a reduction in price to remedy the issues identified?

TL:DR - estate agent lied about defects of the house I’m buying, paid for survey results that prove I was lied to, am I being unreasonable to request a price reduction?

Don't buy the house and don't use those agents again.

They have lied about all those things, why the heck would you want to proceed with the house?

I would be informing them that they are unethical and I would be seeing if there is a way to report them. I do believe there are guidelines that agents legally must follow. Directly lying will be in violation.

YABU to even consider making another offer at all.

Yanbu to try. They can always say no.

How does the house price compare to similar ones that are up for sale or have recently sold in the area?

Bugger a reduction, I'd pull out, the estate agents are liars! What else are they going to lie about as time goes on?

Walk away from this house. These issues will be the very least of it

How much of a reduction, roof issues, boiler and electrics could cost anything, yes if it’s an old house work will need doing, but surely lights should be a priority before buying.

For context: we had a survey which showed zero issues and when we move d in none of the plumbing worked, all the white goods were broken despite being negotiated into price etc

Our 'Reno' budget got eaten on all the hidden necessities

Walk away!

If you like the house and are happy to go ahead knowing what work needs to be done having had a full survey (it was a full survey??? Make sure you know everything that's wrong with it!), the agents acting like this wouldn't put me off.

But yes, get quotes for the work that needs doing and drop your offer by that amount and explain why. Perfectly reasonable and ordinary thing to do

I wouldn't touch this. Goodness knows what else you will uncover further down the line.

So we offered what was the average cost of a house of that type. We like the area, it’s a big substantial house, more space than we need. But the house is dated so we factored that in our offer price. The agents said it only needs renovation, nothing about the faulty electrics and boiler.

Was it a proper survey, rather than a homebuyers survey? They do look scary and are there to guide your next move. Which should be pricing the work, then negotiating a discount.

Pull out completely, survey won't even have picked up everything wrong. It'll be a moneypit

Thanks - I agree I will be reporting the agents to the Trading standards and their regulator. Thankfully I always insist on communications to be via email so I have plenty of proof that they lied.

Thanks - that is what I have done, I’ve tried to be reasonable and will probably only ask for 65% of the total remediation costs as we do like the house and the area. Friends have said that they too had tonnes of issues when they bought but are happy now that all the works are done.

Thanks - it was a full one and an Adonai asbestos and electrical safety one. So we will go back to the agents and ask for a reduction. If they say no, we need to think of our next move.

The point of a survey is to find out if any work needs doing then get quotes etc and then decide how to proceed. It's normal

Sorry to hear that! We are tempted but I guess perhaps the first step is to negotiate it down and if they’re stubborn we can walk away.

Only asking for 65% of the cost of necessary work is a mistake. You're entering into another round of negotiations. Start by asking for the full costs

It is only a 2% reduction - so not a lot in the grand scheme of things for the seller who’s inherited his mums house and is looking to make a very pretty penny, considering his parents bought it for less than £1k.

You’re right, it’s not what I wanted but my partner wants to be nice. But it makes sense to start at 100% and go down to 65%.

It depends on how it is priced in the first place.
If it's priced to reflect being in need of renovation then you can't expect to offer the reduced price to cover the costs.
It depends entirely on the market and how many offers. If they've had no offers they may accept but if you reduce your offer and they've had others then they are unlikely to accept a reduced offer. It's just how it works. I pulled out if a sale after a survey because for me it was too much work. The house sold not long after. It went to a builder.

It went on sale two years ago when the old lady was alive, she died and they had a year long probate. Had offer 1 and that fell because of a chain, had offer 2 that also fell through due to a chain (or so we were told) and we are offer 3 so after two years it’s on its way to a sale. There is demand but this house isn’t ready to move in, it needs a lot of renovation to make it pleasant but thankfully I have a flat we can stay in whilst works are being done.

That sounds like the kind of house that, if i were making an offer i would factor in new boiler and electrics in the price

The agents said it only needs renovation, nothing about the faulty electrics and boiler.

Renovation would imply serious work is needed rather than just a lick of paint. In England, Estate Agents aren't qualified to give advice on what work needs to be done on a house, which is why it's recommended to get your own surveys done. If it's a probate sale, it's unlikely they would have access to professional information on the standard of the guttering, electrics, roof, etc. The only information a seller needs to provide is an EPC.

It would be reasonable to revise your offer now you have some idea of the extent of work needed to make the house safe. This is standard practice when selling the house. Of course, the seller doesn't need to accept, but it's likely they will need to lower the asking price eventually to get a sale if it's been priced as a house which need minimal work.

To be honest you can buy a house that looks pristine and still have to spend £££ on the plumbing and electrics due to cowboy work! Rather than a reduction, you could ask for a contribution? There is a propper term for it in the process but I cant remember it. When we sold we had ancient roof tiles. It was structurally sound as we had it inspected just before we sold as we were considering a loft extension if it was truly knacked. Our first time buyers were a bit concerned even though we had the reports from 3 roofers saying its just cosmetic but their lawyers suggested we keep the price as is but make a contribution of £1k to give them peace of mind. 3 years on and its still standing but everyone left happy. Could be a better pitch to sellers?

When you're spending hudreds of thousands of pounds, 'nice' is irrelevant and unhelpful. Don't be nice, be sensible.

In this process the 'nice' thing is to be straightforward and honest. You can do that, even if the agents can't