Really pissed off and disappointed.

[absolutmum]

Had a house up for sale for a year. Dropped the price substantially and finally got an offer from a first time buyer in July. The house is vacant, so should've been a speedy transaction.
They had a survey done and got their mortgage sorted, my solicitor sent the contract two weeks ago, which I signed. The buyers then decided they wanted to take a builder round as a few things had come up on the survey.
Emailed the agent today to be told that the buyer has instructed his solicitor to write to our solicitor to ask for £20k to be taken off the agreed price to cover the work that needs doing!
I have emailed back to the agent to tell him I am not dropping the price as we have already reduced the price by £90k over the year. If we accept this new offer we can't afford the house we are trying to buy.

Bunch of bastards.

How awful!! Call their bluff as they will have invested money in buying and I bet won't want to just walk away. Feel your pain though.

Yeah totally! Very on your behalf at these people.

All may not be lost... They are clearly trying their luck & have already invested time & money in the property so when you go back with a "no can do" see what they come back with... Is there a way you could get your own quotes done to see how realistic what they are coming up with is?

Thanks ladies.
I have sent a message via the agent that we will not be dropping the price any further.

I don't know what work they feel is going to cost that much. My solicitor is out of the office until tomorrow, I suppose she'll let me know on her return.

They have not even told you what work is required!! Probably nothing major then! Even a new roof wouldn't cost that much unless its a thatch... It sounds to me like they are seriously trying their luck....

In all likelihood they are calling your bluff. This happened to me a few years back, the night before we were due to exchange they wanted £30k off. I was 33wks pregnant and we wanted to be in our new house before the baby was born.

Fortunately we had a fab lawyer who had the stroppiest exchange with their solicitor, along the lines of "your clients are taking the piss, if I do not have the signed contracts on my desk by noon tomorrow my client will be withdrawing the house from your clients who she feels she can no longer trust and deal with in good faith and it will be on the market by the end of the day".

It worked. Get Angry with them

Come back and let us know how you get on.

Very annoying but the buyer is not to blame. It's the system where surveys are done after offers etc.

HIP's were a poorly implemented idea, but, IMHO a full structural survey should be done by the seller before the house is put on the market to avoid these sort of issues. That way

a) if there really isn't much wrong,the buyer couldn't pull these tricks
b) if there really is something wrong, everybody knows up front and the asking price reflects it.

If they had sale agreed in July then surely the survey was done well over a month ago & the buyer has had plenty of time to flag up any issues requiring a 20k drop long ago & provide mortgage valuation undervaluing the property with reasons, estimates for required work indicated by survey or specialist reports to back up their findings. The fact that they have not done so & are only now using it as an excuse screams gazundering pure & simple! These people are trying it on....

It's quite possible that miscommunication has caused this problem. You and the buyer haven't managed to talk I assume. Could be there is a genuine issue. Can you not arrange to discuss this directly with potential buyer and miss out all the middle men?

Prices are falling so it would be better for you to come to an arrangement now rather than try and find a new buyer.

I am confused by the anger on this thread. But am not from this country so maybe do not understand.

We are currently buying. Our survery has suggested ten different professionals go and look before we proceed. We don't think all of these are fair (e.g. many items are obvious, so therefore reflected in the price already).

However, some items are fair to check again, I think. e.g. the vendor has installed non-legal and unsafe windows, and also assured us a leak which we spotted was already fixed when it is not. We could not possibly have known for ourselves, and therefore it is not unreasonable for us to ask for extra contractors, surely, and maybe a reduction in price to reflect? I thought that was how the process here worked.

Spoke to the solicitor today. Although we had been lead to believe the valuation survey had been done, it now appears that the house was valued at £5k less than the agreed price. I have told the buyer I will reduce the price by that £5k and no more. He knew this at the start of September, but only told us two days ago.
I am not prepared to accept less than the value of the house. And I'm certainly not paying for his decorating!

Let the waiting continue.

We put in an offer on a house and had it accepted on 20th August. The agent rang today to say the vendors still haven't found somewhere to buy! My plan of a new house by Christmas is fading fast....
I hate this business.

Absolutmum. Remember that putting a value on a house is not an exact science. It is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

Be careful. I've heard of many cases recently when a vendor refused an offer and later regretted it. Don't chase the market down.

You poor thing! Its a horrid business and with so many horrid people about...shame people can't live with 'do as you would be done by'

Your offer to reduce the price is generous - the valuation survey is purely for the lender to be sure that if the property is repossessed they'd still get their money back. They don't lend 100% so the valuation is never for 100% of the agreed price IME

What ???

Excuse my language, but that is so many levels of horseshit ElbowFan.

One, a valuer could never guarantee that if the property is repo'ed, they'd get their money back. If the market drops by 40%, which it conceivably could, they wouldn't get there money back.

Two, these 'horrid people' are committing to spending ludicrous amounts of borrowed money on the human essential shelter. Many peoples opinion is the market is overpriced and buoyed up solely by low interest rates, so you cannot blame buyers for being cautious considering the sums involved.

So, let me get this right. A buyer has made an offer then discovered the house needs a lot of work doing which perhaps wasn't obvious at the time of the offer. And on top of that, the valuation survey has suggested that the agreed price was too high. So naturally, the buyer has revised their offer accordingly.
So presumably you think it would be reasonable to expect the buyer to find another 20 grand to put things right so you can "afford the house we are trying to buy"? Really???
I would add the caveat that if the buyers are actually just trying it on, then I take it back and would understand your anger, hence communication is key.
Also, you say you will not accept less than the value of the house. Can I ask how you have ascertained 'value' - because as WhaohThere has said it is only worth what someone is willing to pay. So basically you have two choices - accept the best offer you get..or be prepared to stay in it for a long time telling yourself it's worth more than it actually is.

Horse manure it may be but this is from but one site which describes a valuation survey...

"A surveyor will usually carry out a valuation survey for the lender to assess whether the proposed loan is less than the value of the house. The surveyor will know firstly what the proposed price of the house is, and secondly, the size of your requested mortgage. Expect the valuation price to be lower than the asking price - the surveyor will always be pessimistic and cautious."

www.houseweb.co.uk/house/pros/survey/val.html