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Original poster

If you found out house you were buying needed £20k of work ...

32 replies

RollingThunder · 20/05/2013 18:33

Buying house, survey came through, had quotes, looks like house needs around 20k of work.

What would you do. Should we expect all that money off? Half and half with seller? Don't know where to start negotiations.

Any advise?

OP posts:
MisForMumNotMaid · 20/05/2013 18:36

Before survey which bits of work had you anticipated/ should have been obvious?

The first couple of percent of the property value is to be expected - surveys are always scary reading.

In the property details did the agent elude to work needing to be done implying that some of this should already be taken into account in the price?

Original poster
RollingThunder · 20/05/2013 18:47

The main thing is that in the short term the entire roof will need replacing, current estimate £15 to £17!!! The rest of it (though waiting for a couple more reports to come in) is probably down to age if propert!

OP posts:
Original poster
RollingThunder · 20/05/2013 18:48

I.e what you would expect buying a house of that age, but roof not anticipated or hinted at!

OP posts:
ImTooHecsyForYourParty · 20/05/2013 18:49

I'd probably just back out, tbh.

OnTheNingNangNong · 20/05/2013 18:50

Is the house priced to reflect that works need done or is it priced high?

ImTooHecsyForYourParty · 20/05/2013 18:51

sorry, that's not what you were asking Blush

If I wasn't going to walk away, I'd start by saying that I'd ideally like the price dropped by the amount it would take to fix the roof. Take it from there.

jammietart · 20/05/2013 18:52

I think anything which is not apparent from a viewing/agents details and is essential and will come up on the next survey if your offer falls through is worth negotiating on and I would be happy with 50%. But I would start with asking for 15k off and go from there.

M25Meltdown · 20/05/2013 18:52

Run Forrest, run....

Spero · 20/05/2013 18:52

My view is if the work impacts on the structural integrity of the house - dodgy roof, damp etc - then the seller ought to reduce the asking price by amount needed to put it right. That kind of thing will be a problem for any buyer.

But some people are weird. My seller is quibbling about knocking £4k off to deal with damp and replastering. I am quite prepared to walk away. Replastering is messy and inconvenient, I won't be able to redecorate for months.

It may depend on how much you love the house but my starting point would certainly be to reduce the asking price.

Bowlersarm · 20/05/2013 18:52

Negotiate on the price for having the roof done.

The other stuff, well if it's old you must have known there would be a certain amount of work to be done? (There always is)

jammietart · 20/05/2013 18:53

Don't walk away - its only a roof!

Original poster
RollingThunder · 20/05/2013 19:03

In answer to various questions. We have got house for fairly good price but was def not priced to take account of roof!

Would def show up on next survey and while not currently leaking will need replacing in next couple of years!!

Don't want to walk away at all but whole move I'd about reducing mortgage, freeing up money so its all really price sensitive for us!

OP posts:
ILikeBirds · 20/05/2013 19:30

When you say the entire roof needs replacing are you talking structural stuff as well rather than a simple reroof?

Straightforward roof replacement shouldn't be anywhere near 15k.

OnTheNingNangNong · 20/05/2013 19:36

Were looking at getting our 80 year old roof replaced- new slates, felt and batonning. The highest quote we had was for £7k and they were a lot higher than the others. It's a fairly big semi detached house for comparisons sake.

formicadinosaur · 20/05/2013 19:51

The sellars should pay for the roof, not you in this situation.

SwedishEdith · 20/05/2013 19:58

What does it actually say about the roof? How old is the house? Surveys always say you need a new roof if still original roof and house is over 50 years old

Original poster
RollingThunder · 20/05/2013 20:34

The estimate is based on builders quote. He agreed with survey, said whole thing needs replacing! Waiting for full quote!!

OP posts:
nocake · 20/05/2013 20:38

Remember the survey also tells you what the surveyor thinks the house is worth in its current state. If he/she has valued it at the price you're paying then you're already getting the house at the right price.

Triumphoveradversity · 20/05/2013 20:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MisForMumNotMaid · 20/05/2013 20:42

If you want the house how do you feel about paying 50% of the roof cost - would the sums still work?

Will your mortgage company (assuming you have one) put a restriction on the full loan amount until the roof work is done - effecting your cashflow/ ability to buy?

Have you mentioned this to the estate agents to give the sellers a heads up? Sometimes estate agents can be quite proactive at progressing sales and may even get the sellers to table some sort of suggestion as to best way forward.

expatinscotland · 20/05/2013 20:52

They reduce the price by the cost or do it themselves.

Spero · 20/05/2013 22:20

The estate agent in my case was surprisingly helpful. He sounded really impatient with the sellers and said they should have seen this coming. He certainly didn't think I was being unreasonable.

Ask them to knock the cost off the asking price - if they won't you have got to consider how much you love the house and whether you can afford it.

Original poster
RollingThunder · 21/05/2013 06:18

the survey says - worth the price if we are prepared to take on the work. We are in the lucky position of having a fair amount of equity (are downgrading) so the mortgage company aren't making an issue - as they know their money is secure either way.

The real question is whether the sums stack up for us - which depends on how much the vendor takes off the price - we are making serious sacrifices in other areas (i.e. DH's commute etc), to enable this - as we really need to free up the money, so its not a simple decision.

OP posts:
wonkylegs · 21/05/2013 08:53

That sounds high for a straightforward roof replacement. Is it listed or in a conservation area, requiring the use of expensive slates or techniques?
Our current large Edwardian terraced house cost £4.5k and that included insulation and re-siting and flashing the incorrectly fixed Velux windows, cowls for chimneys, new leaded gutters & new plastic gutters.
The house we are buying is a huge Victorian semi - the quotes we've had are £7k for Britslate, £10k for real slate.

QuintessentialOldDear · 21/05/2013 08:58

We were quoted 3.5k for our 3 bed end of terrace. Our old neighbour paid 5 k for his large 4 bed semi. 17 k sounds like a lot. You need to find out what the work involves.