As a vendor is it reasonable to ask to see relevant parts of survey for renegotiation purposes?

[JulieAnderton]

Our buyer recently had a survey done. I think it was a Homebuyer's Report, but originally the estate agent had said it was a full building survey, so I'm not 100% sure.

Our buyer wanted to bring a plumber over to look at something specified in the survey. No problem at all, except that she turned up with three of her friends, two of whom may or may not have been qualified plumbers (they didn't show any form of ID or business cards etc).

They spent half an hour or so having a general look around - both inside and outside the property and at our garage en bloc which we are also selling.

The following day I had a call from my estate agent saying that the buyer had contacted them and mentioned the following defects:

• Damp found in a wall, most likely caused by cracks in the grouting between tiles and water seeping through. The buyer has said that the wall needs replastering. We have actually rectified the problem (by regrouting) and the wall on the other side is completely smooth and not bubbled up.

• Rubber seals around the double glazed windows to be replaced.

• Unspecified work to the garage.

For this our buyer wants £10k off the price! But she is willing to "meet halfway", so £5k.

Am I being unreasonable to think that there is no way on earth the work she says needs doing will cost £5k (let alone £10k) so would like to see what the survey says? Before going any further with negotiations I'm also going to insist on specialist quotes written on headed paper so I can be sure she hasn't just plucked figures from thin air?

[specialsubject]

the survey will say that it is in confidence and not to be shared with anyone else. Surveyors can and so get it wrong.

anyway, return serve by saying what you think these works will cost, and which are unnecessary. Then tell them what, if any, price drop you will give.They take it or leave it.

your call how much you want the sale!

[NonnoMum]

Depends how desperate you are to move.

If desperate - say, you're right, let's take 5k off can you move asap.

If not, say, we have to stick to the original price, we'll give you a week/day/hour to think about it or the house goes back on the open market.

[handcream]

Julie - now you have stated you are in London - is £5k a big reduction? You sound like you have a property that is is demand? Great position to be in and with house prices in London being so high is £5k (or possibly offer £2k reduction) something you could consider to get things moving.

What I hate when moving house is people tramping into your house. A good EA will help weed out the time wasters but often people do get through.

[HaveToWearHeels]

Jesus, I hate FTB, they have no clue what they are doing and panic at the slightest thing. I personally would say no to price reduction knowing the area you are in. Just what does "Unspecified work to the garage" mean !
When I bought my first house the Survey said that the roof was at the end of it's life. Some 8 years later I put the house on the market and got a roofer round to give me a rough price so I knew what I was dealing with. His words were "if it aint broke don't fix it, as long as it is water tight don't worry". FTB put in an offer and had a full structural survey, nothing was mentioned about the roof at all but a few other things were picked up.

[JulieAnderton]

It's a maisonette with a (previously) agreed price of £215k, so although a £5k reduction isn't huge, it's not insignificant either.

I think the FTB panicking thing is what's going on here. I spoke to my EA again yesterday. He confirmed that she'd had a full structural survey carried out, so that was bound to have picked up every single minute thing that may need attention at some point in the future. I get the feeling she's got the idea that every one of those points needs sorting out immediately otherwise the whole building will fall down! Every time she speaks to the EA she seems to mention something different that requires attention.

Good news is that although our buyer doesn't want to actually give us a copy of the report, she has sent one to the EA and said we can look at it with him. Going to the EA's office tomorrow to take a look.

As an aside - we're not sure how good the surveyors were. When they were looking at our property they said between themselves that it was a 1970's building; we had to correct them and say it was actually built in the 50's. We know (through our buyer) that they also seem to think that the garden that backs onto ours has Astroturf, which could cause problems with flooding (i.e rain water running off their garden, down the slope into our garden then into the property). Even if that was likely, I'm fairly certain they don't have Astroturf as the owner is out most Sundays mowing his lawn!

[HaveToWearHeels]

Julie the surveyors were just covering themselves with the astro turf thingy. We have looked at this fake grass stuff that is around now and the water does not run off, the base material has holes in it for drainage.