Advice about negotiations after a Homebuyers Report

[kim111]

Just after some advice really - our buyers have just come back to us as they've had the Homebuyers report through which says that there's some damp in the kitchen and the flat roof on the garage/kitchen extension needs replacing very soon (it doesn't leak).

We've had some quotes done and it will cost a minimum of £1200 to sort out. What normally happens in this situation? I think they're going to ask us to take the cost of all the work off the price of the house but I think it would be reasonable for us to only offer to pay half as it is an 80 year old house so surely they'd expect some issues.... Also do we really need to pay for the roof replacement as it's OK at the moment?! Any advice would be gratefully received!

You could offer half but tbh if I was buying I would want the full cost of the work if I had got to have the hassle of having it done.
Understand age of house but if there are specific issues, I would want them sorting.
Have they negotiated you down on price already though?
Alternatively, get the work done quickly?

Sorry but I think its more than reasonable to offer the whole price off. They are the ones who are goign to have to put up with the mess and inconvience of getting it sorted. I understand the age of the house but problems like that come off the price of the house. The house isn't worth the money unless the work is done.

Also remember that they are going to have to have redecoration done as a result of the work which won't be included in the quote and although you can say that they might do that anyway, they are now being forced to do it even if they like what you've got. That happened in our current house. It needed a complete rewire. The house was decorated to our taste and in good nick but because of the rewiring we're having to redecorate the whole house.

You coud try and agreev to leave 1500 with your solicitor and they can draw on it when they do the work otherwise after say 2 years its returned to you.

You then get the money back if they don't actually do the repairs but otherwise they get the full cost.

You adopt the approach of a vendor we were trying to buy a house from who told us (after a report outlining several thousand pounds of work) that the house was "sold as seen" and would not budge on the price. We walked away though so perhaps not the best way to achieve a sale.

you could adopt...

I think a buyer should expect that an 80 year old house would have some issues - most older houses will have some damp and flat roofs always seem to be an issue.

I think offering to pay half is fair.