I hate surveyors - and not really feeling the love for our 'buyer' right now, either

[lecce]

So my worst fears have pretty much come true - this is our second attempt at selling in 2 years (2 separate attempts - was off market between times). It's happening exactly like before - first viewer falls head over heels in love with it, offers a price we are happy with (this time around is £7000 less than last time though) and then..the fucking survey comes back.

Last time they ran a mile without even negotiating - despite us making it clear we were willing to go down. This time, she has said she needs a £10 000 off straight away, will pay for the further report that is apparantly needed but wants us to be open to go down even lower when she knows exactly what's needed. We are almost certain (as certain as you can be) that the crack that has been noticed is harmless as we have already had it looked at by a structural engineer. Unfortunatlely, for various boring reasons we don't have the relevant paperwork but we KNOW it is fine. (wtf we didn't fill it in I'll never know ).

Then damp. Well, we were told when we had our damp-proof course that they wouldn't guarantee it unless we covered up the exposed brick chimney brest. We didn't want to because we love it - our 'buyer ' loved it too. In the 8 years we have lived here we have never seen, smelt or felt damp yet everytime there is a survey it comes up. So some company can make another £2000 for nothing .

The rest is a load of wank, to be frank, and will cost nowhere near £10 000 to 'put right' - in the unlikely event that she even bothered to do any of it.

Anyway, we have seen the house we love, it is near one of the 3 schools in this entire city/part of the county that actually has a space for ds (Year 1 in Sept), great location - we want it and can still afford it - just. But someone else viewed it for the third time today .

So, we decided to agree to the £10 000 reduction but dh, for some reason best known to himself, decided to lay it on the line to the EA that there will be no further reductions unless there is something structural wrong. She came back and said she was hoping we would meet some of the other costs and said she's get back to us today (This was Fri pm).

She hasn't . I rang the agent this morning and said to say that we have thought again and are prepared to renegotiate again but she has not got in touch with the agent all day - didn't answer when the agent rang her.

I can't believe it - the whole thing is slipping away from us again just like last time. Even if we sell at the price we have agreed we will be losing £10 000 and if we have to go lower it's just ridiculous. But, despite this, we want to suck it up and get gone and are so angry that she has left us hanging all weekend- when we have agreed to a £10 000 reduction. If she says on Monday that she's out we've wasted a whole weekend when people could have sen it on Rightmove .

Well done if you have read to the end of what I know is a bitter, self-pitying rant - just wanted to get it out .

Very frustrating and annoying

Sorry to hear that lecce. I'm not surprised you're upset. No advice, just have a and on me.

Poor you. But won't she be getting her own structural engineer's report that will clear your house? My buyer got one to look at our harmless cracks despite me telling them we'd had the cracks cleared the year before ourselves. 10k for a theoretical damp proof course alone is bonkers.

Could I ask, did you tell the 2nd buyer about the results from the first buyer's survey? Had you already altered the asking price of the house to allow for the findings?

I am so sorry to hear about this but do try and put yourselves in the buyer's shoes- cracks? possible damp? Would it be possible to make some changes and then put it back on the market?

You probably don't realise this, but you failing to keep your own survey paperwork sounds slightly suspicious, as if you have something to hide. To you it was just a stupid oversight, but your buyer probably doesn't think so. They are simply doing their due diligence. They are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds, so you can't expect them to do the deal on a nod and a wink.

If this deal falls through, offer to buy the survey off her - it will give you a very good idea of your property's price and condition and therefore be a reassurance to other viewers, even if they then go on to commission their own survey.

Well, the second survey should not come as a surprise to you, it said the same as the first, and you had not done any remedial work in between, so what exactly are you so pissed off about?

That the chimney breast fairy and the anti-damp magician had not waved their magic wands?

Poor you.

At a distance it sounds as though the other house might go. That isn't this buyer's fault. It really isn't. Nor is the bad weekend.

You really must fill that crack in and paint over it. Do you have the damp proofing receipt/invoice?

You need to ask for a copy of your structural engineer's report - it will cost, but not selling will also cost. Get it, and give a copy to your EA asap. However geniune you are as a vendor, I'm afraid the buyer will be suspicious that you don't have it.

Can you do the same with the damp course? Have you the receipt for it? If not, get a copy and at least then you have proof that it has been done. If you can get the company to write a letter explaining why they haven't given a guarantee so much the better. Again it is bound to cost you.

We had a survey on the house we have recently sold - a medium size, 20 yr old red brick house and the bloke took 12 HOURS to do it. He was unbelievably picky and if I were the buyer I would have felt ripped off. He came back with loads of ridiculous questions, all of which we could answer and back up with paperwork. In the end the sale fell through for another reason (buyers were wankers!), but we could disprove all his claims because we had kept reams of paperwork, down to receipts for emptying the septic tank going back 6 years, new light fittings, etc etc.

I understand your pain, but I'm afraid it is a buyers market, they can and do try it on at every chance (and next time I'm a buyer I will do the same), and you have to be prepared.

Find as much paperwork as you can, consider having your own survey done if this falls through so at least you can research the likely pitfalls and whatever you do don't chuck anything away ever again! I hope it does go through.

Thank you for the sympathy. We are such idiots over a lot of stuff but the good news is we have found the structural survey - yay! Unfortunately, buyer has said she is pulling out because the bank has told her such a report wil cost £1000. We are hopeful she will look at ours and accept that but there is also the possibility that she was making an excuse.

I had no idea that you have to buy surveys off buyers- wtf is that about. Our last would-be buyers kindly gave us theirs. If she gives us hers we will ahve a good look and try and sort everything. Tbh, if it's anything like the first a lot of it will be undoable:

• period features make it look dated (no I won't be ripping out our 4 original fireplaces, wooden floors, coving etc

-cellar isnt sound-proofed - and your point is? Etc etc

But we will be positive and do what we can.

Quintessential wow - thanks for that. Where did I say the two surveys were the same? Other than the crack and the damp I don't know because I haven't seen the second.

Where did I say I've done no work since? We have continued to maintain the property well and, for the second time, it has 'nearly' sold to the first viewers - it looks good. I have had the crack inspected - it's harmless (and now I've found the paperwork to prove it). We didn't fill it in because we've had a new kitchen fitted and it is now right up against a cupboard and you can hardly see it - hence we forgot about it . I have explained why we haven't had the damp thing done - basically because the house isn't damp. I didn't think a fairy would do it, as I said it was a conscious decision to leave the chimney because we like it. Thanks for the kind words though .

You don't have to buy surveys off your buyer. It's just quite a smart way to get hold of a survey without paying to commission your own if the deal falls through because of structural problems.

You may even find a buyer willing to give you their survey for free; if I'd spent £600 on a structural survey that was wasted I'd be mighty upset, but it would be no further use to me so I'd probably do the same.

Well if you offer then £100 in cash that day they won't say no

period features make it look dated??? Wtaf? That's just ridiculous!
I must say though, as a buyer, I would be gutted at spending 2k on a survey if the owner knew ir would throw up probleems, and they hadn't. Told us in advance.

Gosh, don't know what size property you have paid out for surveys on before but the one our buyer got cost £350 - I know it's still a fair bit to 'waste' but nowhere near £2k.

Wasn't aware it was the done thing to warn buyers of what may be on surveys. The crack was the only thing we could have anticiapated and, I suppose in hindsight, I could have told her about it. She was put off though because the survey was full of a load of old guff we couldn't possibly have guessed he would write.

Full structural survey 2k we were told last time we bought (6y ago), though we didn't have that in the end due to a mistake.

we've budgeted the sam this time, we're looking at period properties only though, so full survey necessary.