Offer accepted but should we reduce our offer?

[Casuenut]

Hello, i'm new to Mn and am looking for some wise words. We have had an offer accepted on a property- 19 k less than asking price. The property needs cosmetic work in every room-carpets, new kitchen, new heating system, redecoration, new garage, new driveway and a complete landscaping of the garden which is a jungle. However we have just had the surveyors report and it has revealed some concerns. The biggest worries are

1)artex on every ceiling-which contains asbestos and will be costly to remove but also necessary as all the ceiling are stained with cigarette smoke and the kitchen ceiling is beyond repair and will have to be completely replaced.
2)the whole property needs rewiring.
3)the toilet is leaking and the bath taps pump out brown water.
4)no lintels above the ground floor windows which is causing the brickwork to push down on the windows.
5) an electricity substation 98 feet from the property.

We like the road the house is on and the house has great potential. We are prepared to work hard to improve it but when we negotiated a price we didn't envisage having to deal with asbestos, budget for a complete electrical rewiring or having to change the bathroom immediately after moving in.

Do we have any legitimate grounds to revise our offer? What would you do?

TBH I would step away from the house!

putting a lintle in above the windows will be expensive but absolutely necessary as it is major structual work

if you are absolutely in love with the house then contact a couple of local builders, ask them to give you a speculative estimate based on the work that the survey has thrown up and then reduce your offer accordingly -but be prepared for the vendors to say no

you know the house needs cosmetic work so it would be inadvisable to bring this into renegotiating the price

good luck

Yes of course you can revise your offer. Get quotes/estimates for the work that needs doing, and revise accordingly.

Surely the whole point of the survey is to advise you whether to proceed or not?

You either 1)proceed 2) withdraw or 3) proceed only with renegotiation of price

We live right opposite an electricity substation, about 40 feet away. Been here 7 years and not seen it as a problem.
We have artex in parts of out house on walls and ceiling and have let it be for the most part. Is it definately asbestos or maybe asbestos as i dont think textured walls always contain it?
Other stuff would concern me more.

It is completely normal to negotiate on price after doing a survey, otherwise there wouldn't be any point in them.

It is completely normal to negotiate on price after doing a survey, otherwise there wouldn't be any point in them.

Did the surveyor also give a valuation? If so is it the same or less than your offer? If he valued the house as same price as your offer, you probably don't have a very good case for lowering it to be honest.

But there is nothing stopping you from trying it. I wouldn't be happy with the lack of lintels and would probably pull out, but that's partly because I have no idea how much it costs to have brickwork done.

I would get quotes for anything you could not reasonably have known about at the time of making your offer and reduce it accordingly or ask the vendor to fix it before you exchange contracts.

For example, you knew the ceilings needed replacing, but not that they had asbestos. So get a quote for asbestos removal and add some for the fact you will have to move out while its done (but our lounge only took half a day to do so its not too bad). Get quotes for 2, 3 and 4 (I check water pressure by turning on all the showers when I do second viewings so I would have known about the water).

It would be hard to value 5 and I wouldn't bother especially given all the other things there.

You could get costings for the work and then either ask them to get the work done or reduce your offer by that amount. Perhaps before you do that talk to the Estate Agent and ask them to sound out the sellers to see if they are open to these suggestions - if they're not then there's no point proceeding.

It does sound like a huge amount of work though - (brown water - mmmmm! nice!) and I'd guess that the structural work of replacing lintels will result in cosmetic damage to the rooms - and may have affected the roof, depending how far the brickwork has sunk? If it was me I'd be running far, far away, but if you really like the house then perhaps you can negotiate a bargain price and end up getting all the work you want done included. :)

The lintels is a big job potentially - you need a quote or three so you can renegotiate properly. A good surveyor should be able to price this for you too. The rewiring also should be fairly easy to price

Surely you can't renegotiate on the basis of the electricity substation - that should have been self-evident at viewings. I'd be most concerned about the lintels and potential asbestos in the artex (do check , it is often a "possible" rather than a known fact. Can you afford not to live in it while these things and wirign are done ? You should n't need to change the bathroom to rectify those problems and new suites are pretty cheap.

Were there other interested parties? I think negotiate a little but be prepared to lose it too or have it go back on Market - seller has that choice of course

Walk away or renegotiate big time. Rewiring will be very expensive and the lintel thing is alarming and very expensive as well. The house sounds totally neglected.

Hello everyone and thank you for your comments. They gave me something to think about. I spoke to our surveyor about the problems, he seemed to think it could cost about 5k to make the place habitable. We've pulled out of the sale and are a little bit wiser about what to look for now.

Casuenut