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?

'Renovation' to me means the place needs gutting, if the estate agent said the property needs renovating then I would view on the assumption that everything would need replacing.
If they say things like the house is dated it usually means more of a cosmetic overhaul.
Just something to think about if you go to more viewings.

Yes so this. Then if necessary negotiate down to 65% if you think it is worse it

You don't need to ask for a reduction.
You contact the estate agent a d say that due to the work required you are reducing your offer by xxx.
This is then accepted or they will counter

It's usual to reduce offer by cost of work plus a bit extra for inconvenience which also gives room for negotiation.

You do need to be prepared to walk away.

Another vote for walk away.

This.
Renovation to me means electrics boiler kitchen bathroom

I would walk away too. There could be more things wrong with it than the survey has found. We are on our third house and every one something has been uncovered once we started renovating some bloody dangerous!

We found a property that needed a lot of work. It had been on the market previously but the chain collapsed a week before exchange. We were outbid which was disappointing but a few months later it came back on the market with an asking price over £100k less that our rejected offer. I can only think that the second buyers survey found something significantly wrong with the property and we consider ourselves to have had a lucky escape.

You could make a reduced offer, and walk away if it's not agreed. On the other hand, if this has all come up in the survey there's bound to be more to deal with that hasn't been picked up. So it would have to be a really good reduction, with a contingency included, or I'd look elsewhere.

I mean, if it's very dated and needs work then I would automatically assume it needs a full rewire? Ours hadn't been done since it was built in 1955, they wouldn't let us turn on the lights due to insurance or something and it was the first job we did when we moved in. It didn't put me off the house we just expected it. Ours was priced as a project in comparison to the fully done houses in the area.

OP, have you had a drains test done? Drains can cause a LOT of inconvenience and expense if they are damaged and need to be replaced.

Have you run all of the taps in the property, and flushed the toilets? If not, go back and do this, so that you know what you are getting into.

As an ex estate agent, I am appalled that you weren't told about the dodgy electrics. However, you do sound a tad naive, is this the first time you've done a renovation? My advice to you, would be to go through the survey you've had done with a highlighter, and mark everything which has been pointed out as being a problem. Then, get builders in to quote for the necessary works. If the property has been priced with a view to the work that may need doing, then take that into consideration, ie, if the property fully done up would normally be marketed in your area for £500k, but due to the obvious work needed, it's being marketed at £450k, then they've already made a good allowance. However, as you were led to believe the the electrics were OK, then definitely ask for the whole cost of rewiring.

Are you an experienced DIY'er? If not, be prepared that this house is going to cost you a LOT of money to get into good shape by the sound of things, and it doesn't sound like you have a massive budget. Has the survey down valued the property at all? If so, then you need to ask for the price to be reduced to the valuation given by the surveyor.

So basically, do your homework, and then send the agent an email with a revised offer, stating why it has been revised, ie, we've revised our offer based on the fact that we've now had a survey done, and it has brought to our attention that the property needs a full rewire, cost of which will be ..., etc., etc., and then be prepared to walk away.

Finally, being NICE when buying and selling a house is foolish, does your partner really think that the Vendor will be nice when reviewing your amended offer? Of course not, they will want every penny they can get, and in turn, every penny you save on the purchase will be needed to put toward the renovations, so tell him to stop being nice, and start thinking with his wallet!

My understanding of that story was that the seller knew of the moths as he'd had a survey done. I read it as hanging on whether moths constituted 'vermin' or not. He reported no known vermin.

If you were told not to turn on the electrics then surely common sense would tell you that there was a problem. You didn't need it in writing from an estate agent. If the sockets/plugs/switches are not modern ones then it's highly unlikely to be alright. If there is no certification for recent work then you should also assume you'll be redoing it.

If you are buying a probate house and it has obviously not had any work done in many years surely it's sensible to assume everything needs doing and budget, or offer, accordingly.

Also meant to add you don't need to prove you've been lied to or mis-led to reduce your offer though. Hope you get a better price if you decide to carry on with the purchase.

I would look at that carefully.

Small budget and renovation aren’t too phrases that go well together but someone’s idea of small to another’s it’s hard to say.

As a rough guide we are 3 years into a renovation: midlands, 2500sqft detached, no roofs or ground flooring needed redoing, but everything else yes.

We are probably at 100k already; that’s mates rates, mid range finish, a lot of shopping around and waiting for sales and 90% of the house is now at decorating level (so basic white walls and when most people start their house updates ie. Decorating, furniture, lighting fixtures, window dressings, shelves etc).

So to get a 3 bed semi 1500-1800 sqft to a habitable state when you start ripping walls apart; you’re probably looking minimum 50k+ and that won’t be fast or one contractor.

Crikey, I wouldn't blame you for a second for requesting a reduction in price!

So you just revise your offer based on the information in the survey.

You're still making this into a bigger issue than it needs to be.

If you want the house, revise your offer or don't.

When you reduce your offer by 2%, the sellers snap your hands off, your purchase completes, and 6 months later you're staring at ruined, chased-out walls (rewiring), leak damage (from boiler replacement/roof work), and having to live with limited access to toilet/kitchen/showers as they get replaced etc... you'll regret wanting to be 'nice' at the time of purchase. Ask me how I know...