Buyer wants survey as about to exchange!

[Linsthings]

Due to exchange this week after 5 months. Our buyer has been patient and waited whilst our first house fell through.. we did find another quick with a very short chain.. just us and our seller. Now buyer wants a level 2 survey before exchange, they forgot to arrange it when advised by solicitor 4 weeks ago .. .. our house is on just I know that surveys can be scary to read and put people off!! If something is found, would be happy to reduce within reason.. anyone else had this and it’s all worked out? I’m so stressed about it all.. just want it all to be over.. The annoying thing is they were asked about a survey months ago! Moving house is not for the faint hearted.. never doing it again if this does work out!

I would be deeply unimpressed by this - the survey is usually the first thing to get done! (No point paying for conveyancing if the house is unmortgageable).

Five months is pisstaking honestly.

Hmm...I'd be dubious about this. Be wary that they are not about to try and gazunder you. It's a known tactic- wait until the last minute, find something wrong and then go in with a revised low ball offer knowing you are in a corner.

Goodness that’s really annoying. I wouldn’t want to sell to them if they pushed for it so late in the day, but obviously aware you have somewhere lined up and don’t want to loose your new home.
Sounds like they have you over a barrel and they know it! There is a very high chance they will come back to you after survey with a ridiculous low offer!

Yes we are really unimpressed by it all… can’t understand it. Mortgage offer in place, contracts already signed by all parties now this! You couldn’t make it up..

We had someone do this then about three days before ask for money off and knew we HAD to move then for varying reasons. We ended up knocking about 10k off for the work that ‘ needed’ to be done which they never did.
buying and selling houses is game playing as far as I can see.

That’s very annoying.. the way buying and selling in the uk needs an overhaul.. so much wasted money and nothing you can do about it!

In your position, through the EA, I would agree to the survey, but state that as their mortgage company is happy to loan money as is, there will be no reduction in price, and if they try that then you withdraw from the sale. Hopefully that will put stop to any BS.

How stressful. It’s a horrid process (we’re in it at the minute too). I don’t think you can say no without it looking suspicious or like you’ve something to hide. We’ve recently done the survey stage and it was arranged, carried out and the report written within around a week, but the stress is then dealing with the report.

They forgot to instruct a survey? Sounds like they don't give a shit about buying it.

This.

This shit happened to us. Next they wanted a drain survey…

We ended up making a significant reduction to get the sale through but I hope they have a miserable existence in that house.

The process in the Netherlands is sooo straightforward. DS has just bought and sold there and there was none of this crap. We need to make a noise and stop this piss taking process that causes so much stress and headache.

The only positive here is that they are spending money on the survey so it shows they are committed

if it doesn’t find anything great

Very similar story here. And then they still almost screwed up the whole chain by being idiots then had the gall to think I'd be helpful when I went round to collect our post! (Completed less than 48 hours after exchange thanks to their shenanigans so redirect wasn't ready)

Not really. They may well think it’s better value to spend £500-1k on a survey and then demand a substantial deduction because of perfectly normal issues found in every house everywhere.

Are they FTB? Or just playing games?

Dropping your price can cause issues in itself as they'll then have to get their mortgage offer reissued which all takes time.

Yes FTB…if we do have to drop price due to survey…(hope not) it will necessitate new contracts, deed transfer forms and a new mortgage offer…hence our frustration with it all. Cant understand why the solicitor didnt check with them before sending our all the contract paperwork.

I know all houses gave some kind of issues..your not buying a brand new house…some FTB get spooked by the wording in the surveys. I think if a house is being used by a family it’s highly unlikely to be unsafe and need immediate work.

The survey is nothing to do with the solicitors so it's not their fault, but also here you messed them around by losing first property so I wouldn't be surprised if they held off at that point so as not to lose more costs if you don't find anything else and they then lost your house as their purchase, then time has moved on and they forgot and have been reminded as part of checking over things just before exchange. It's totally plausible, even if frustrating.

Our buyers did this, sat on things for 6 months and then a week before the agreed exchange date decided to do a full structural survey with drains videos etc

As predicted, then tried to negotiate a price reduction for ridiculous things like the strength of the bathroom ventilation fan. It was a 100yr + victorian terrace that we had fully gutted, rewired and replaced the heating, roof and windows 2 years prior.

By that point the vendor of our purchase was ready to pull out so we said if we’re losing our house anyway- then we’re not selling to you. This was in 2021 so the market was great and we’d had a lot of interest which made this a real threat. Thankfully they saw sense. Our solicitor also pointed out that had we agreed to lower the price, the buyers would have to agree a new mortgage, which would take time, so we would be risking our purchase property anyway, and also losing cash on our sale.

It was honestly one of the most stressful times, but we stood our ground and it all worked out. They paid the offer price we had accepted.

I would assume your buyers are also trying their luck, they either want the property or they don’t. To have paid for a solicitor and I assume by this point- all the search fees, land registry and mortgage arrangement cost. They’re invested so you’re probably safe to stand your ground and reject any price drops for all but a very serious issue.

edited for typos

This. I know it’s hard but at this stage you need to play hard ball. Good luck!!

When you say contracts are signed / what do you mean? If they’ve exchanged contracts they are binding and they are stuck with it.

This is incredibly annoying, but it’s “buyer beware” so your solicitor is not obliged to check whether they require a survey.

I agree that FTB may be spooked by the wording in a survey, hopefully they’re not trying to pull a fast one.

When my wife sold her house when we'd first got together, a buyer did this and then came back and tried to low ball the price by £25k for various absolutely outrageous things. She told the buyer where to go, and put the house back on the market, and it sold again a week later. I would either make it absolutely clear there are no reductions in price, or, be prepared to lose the sale unfortunately. It really is frustrating.