Homebuyers report valued property lower than we offered.

[Honeybear30]

We currently rent and are hoping to buy the property from our landlord. Our mortgage lender wanted us to still complete a home buyers report even though we 'know' the property. We had the report done by Legal and General. It showed a whole host of problems with the property, many of which we felt were unfair and also incorrect. The report led to a £10k retention on our mortgage. We don't have an extra £10k, and our landlord was not willing to drop the price by £10k. We decided to try and resolve the various problems shown in the report to release the retention, including getting reports and surveys done by experts to show that the original L & G surveyor was indeed wrong. We contacted the surveyor today, and sent him copies of our reports that we have obtained and outlined the changes made to the property to resolve the problems. There is one problem still outstanding, a structural issue in the loft which we anticipate will cost £2-3k (currently getting a quote from a builder) but most other issues outlined in the report have been resolved. L & G are refusing to make any amendments meaning that the bank will not release the retention.

Is there anything we can do? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I understand that this is becoming a more frequent problem with home buyer reports, and in some cases will prevent people from buying because they just don't have the extra money. This is really stressful and my DH is on the verge of meltdown :(

Someone suggested we go to an alternative lender and have a simple valuation done rather than a full surveyors report. But what if that lender also uses L & G, won't the other report just come up and we'll be stuck again? Also we'd really rather not change lenders (currently it is our own bank so makes sense to stay with them), and lose the admin fees we have already paid.

Could this not be a good thing ultimately? Basically they are saying the house is not worth what you are offering.

Any other interested parties will have the same problem.

The seller needs to adjust the price downwards.

If you sit tight and wait, they may realise this?

We did think that initially Chandon, but L & G are now saying that it's not the house isn't worth the additional £10k, but the 'potential' damage caused by 'potential' problems could amount to £10k. They have advised they will release the retention upon completion of the work advised in our expert reports. Not sure we can afford to do it at the moment.

We did say to the seller that other buyers will no doubt complete a full report themselves so she will face the same problem but she still doesn't seem willing to negotiate down. Perhaps we need to talk to her again. She seems utterly convinced that there are no problems with the house as she had some random builder nose around for two hours (in the evening when DS was two weeks old but that's another story...).

We were hoping it would cost X amount to fix, and then we could negotiate X off the price. But with L & G saying they won't release until the work is complete I don't think this is an option.

I think your seller needs to lower the price.

Sit tight, and maybe start lining up other properties.

Playing it a bit cooler.

There are no other properties for the same price in anywhere near as good condition as this one. Which makes it even more frustrating, because I know this house is worth that much! I have been keeping an eye out online for similar properties, they all go for a similar or higher price.

Will see of DH wants to negotiate with the seller again. £10k is an awful lot to knock off though, I don't think she'll go for it.

Argh, house buying is so stressful! Maybe she can fix the problems? We made our seller fix a roof problem before we bought our house.

Good luck!

If the problem is now something that will cost £2-3000 to repair perhaps the seller would pay for that repair or go halves with you .

Flora that's not a bad idea. We'll have to get the quote this week and then maybe that's a route we can explore with her.

unfortunately I've not too much faith in surveyors, everything is so hedged around and there is so much arse-covering.

is the roof thing about trusses? According to the surveyors half the houses in the country are about to collapse!

keep nagging the surveyor and escalate with L and G.

Sorry, I'm confused. Did you commission and pay for the survey or did your landlord? As the seller, all costs fall to them and if they think they can sell it for more than valuation, they are sadly deluded. All other buyers will have the same issues you have.
You are also not responsible for any repairs - they are. What is to stop them letting you pay for repairs and upgrades then either selling or renting to someone else?
Keep looking. I doubt you'll get L&G to budge. If they think it's worth £150k, that's what they'll lend.

Hi caley yes it was us that got the survey. I like your comment about delusion! Yes I think she probably is deluded.

Repairs so far have been very minor, many problems have been resolved by us paying for further reports to prove the surveyor wrong. But yes I know you're right that the repairs are not our responsibility.

We are going to get the quote for the major repairs and then try and negotiate with the seller. Hoping she will see sense and drop the price so we can get the retention released and go through with the purchase.

It's so stressful :( badly timed to with 4 week old baby.