What do you negotiate on after a survey?

[Goodwordguide]

Regular here, have NC (not because of this thread though!). Survey back on house, which is 200+ years, so was never going to be in tip-top condition (though it's not listed).

I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing and am wondering what do you do with the survey eg, should we forward it to our mortgage lenders (who have already valued it) - will they insist on a SE report because of the movement? What are the typica;l areas that you would negotiate on following the survey? Excluding most obvious decorative stuff, it needs:

-treatment of woodworm in cellar (not used)
-new guttering, which would also entail structural and decorative repairs to walls
-new windows throughout (large sash ie, expensive)
-monitoring of potential movement in an extension (it's probably historic and doesn't need further work. If it's not, we will probably pull out anyway)
-minor-ish repairs to external walls

I wouldn't expect to get money off for say, the windows (obviously old when we looked round) or even perhaps the guttering (also obviously old though we didn't realise it would be that bad). It's very difficult for us to go round the house with eg, a builder as we're nowhere near it. I don't want to irritate the vendors but also don't want to be too naive about the process plus we are buying at the top of our budget so any money off would help with immediate repairs required (I assume that woodworm at least is quite urgent?).

Does the price you offered already reflect any work that needs doing compared to prices of similar properties.

I always take the approach that you should ask the vendors to pay for anything which is (i) immediately necessary (as opposed to desirable and/or might be required in the next x number of years) and (ii) unexpected. Surveyors typically highlight everything which could possible ever need doing to a house, so you need to consider what is important to you.

From your list I would ask for the vendors to arrange and pay for the woodworm to be treated or for a retention to be made so you can do so after completion - I did this with my existing house and it cost the vendors approx £350 from memory. You will need to instruct a structural engineer to look at the potential movement - but again, raise it with the vendors first as it's possible they have already had someone look at the issue and they might have a report they can pass over to you.

You don't need to forward your survey report to the mortgage company - they will have already reached their own view on the property's value from their valuation survey. The movement could be relevant from a buildings insurance perspective though so definitely raise it with the vendors.

Absolutely nothing to compare it with in terms of size or location - pretty much a unique house in a town where the property market is completely flat (we've been watching it for over a year). We offered below asking to take account of decorative work needed. I also suspect that the vendors are very keen to sell (I'm guessing it's a forced sale for personal reasons and they've already had one sale fall through.

Lack of other properties would make me reluctant to pull out as there's nothing else on the market and hasn't been for some time.

Thanks mycat, that makes sense. I just wish the vendors would raise these things upfront - eg, if they have a SE report (quite likely as they havent' been there that long), they could have mentioned it to the surveyor? Or does that type of transparency just never happen?

You need to know if there is movement, so if I were you I would get a structural survey done. Then if there is movement get a quote for how much it'd cost to fix. Then you can make an informed decision.

Plus, if you like the house and have been watching it for so long I would renegotiate the price in light of whatever the structural survey shows. If they're smart, with the market being sluggish and having already had one sale fall through, they'll accept whatever you offer as long as you don't go mad.

And don't worry about irritating the vendors! If you want to send a builder round send a builder round. We sent builders, electricians, all sorts round when we were trying to decide whether or not to buy our house. If they want to sell they'll have to suck it up!

Thanks kindness - we've had a full structural survey carried out by the surveyor - do you mean one by the SE?

I think I'll ring their EA tomorrow and see if they/the vendor knows anything about the 'movement' - if they only bought 6-7 years ago, this must have cropped up then as well, surely.

We own a house that's over 150 years old so had to deal with the same sort of questions when we bought. Of your list the only ones that would give me any concern are the woodworm and extension. I would pay a structural engineer to give me an expert opinion on the extension and get some quotes for treating the woodworm. Then consider asking dropping the offer to cover some, or all, of the cost.

The vendors might be aware of historic movement but not have mentioned anything because they believe it not to be an issue - this happened to friends of mine who didn't expect it to be raised on the survey when they sold because they'd had work done to fix the problem. I wouldn't be too suspicious about that but certainly raise it.