Would you give the vendor's estate agent a copy of your survey?

[princessgraceofmonaco]

Buying an old house (well 90 yrs old). Current owners had since early 1970s. Have had full building survey done which has thrown up a load of questions about various structural things and potential for damp (we had expected and budgeted for some but not for a lot of other things).

We could ask for a load of specialist surveys to be done which will take a few weeks. Our vendors are needing to exchange asap as they are moving into new build. We have time on our hands as in rented at present and willl be staying in rented while we renovate the house. So we have internet researched and suggested they bring the sale price down to reflect the potential cost of putting these issues right.

However the estate agent has now asked for a copy of the survey to show the vendors. We're happy to tell them the salient points but not to give the survey which has cost us a lot of money! Are we being silly or are they?

Thanks

I would photocopy the relevant bits and give them those bits of the survey.

I think your survey in its entirety is a confidential document. However, if I were selling to you I would want know what has come up and possibly to get my own quotes for work to decide whether I felt your reduced offer was reasonable or not.
Give the EA a list of what needs doing as highlighted in the survey, and your quotes (not guestimates!) for getting the work done. I would stick to things that you couldn't reasonably have known about when you put in your offer.

Can I be nosey and ask if you got your survey done at the same time as your valuation through the bank/ building society, or did you instruct somebody seperately?

Totally irrelevant to your original question, I know.

I would give them a copy of the relevant bits so that they can see the items flagged up are genuine and so you can negotiate the repair costs into the purchase price (fair negotiation). We have been in the same situation as you before and we supplied the agent with a copy of the survey and then negotiated 50% of the costs into a discount on the purchase price.

If it was a random request then Yanbu but as you are negotiating a price reduction based on the survey then I think it is a reasonable request.

We gave ours a copy of the survey and the specialist reports. They agreed to knock £7k off the original agreed price on the basis of what was a damning survey. I figured having the facts reported in a non emotive way would help the discussion along.

Hi op, our agent has seen buyers surveys but we haven't if that helps. This was because their survey bought up some issues we didn't agree with and we wanted proof. It turned out they were looking for excuses to lower the price. I don't think you're being silly I agree it's a confidential document just giving an example as to why we needed to see it. Good luck!

I would if I was then going to try and negotiate a price reduction. Then they can see exactly what the problems are. Might help your case.

It's your survey, your decision. I think though as it's impartial it doesn't hurt your position at all. We gave the salient points to the people we were buying from and would happily have given them a copy of the report if they wanted it, we just didn't want to offend them by offering it unasked.

no. The survey almost certainly says that it is confidential to you. You can tell people what it says, but not show them.

way round; go back to the property with agent and vendors. Go round and look at the issues. We did this, although in the other direction when a really bad surveyor had flagged up lots of things that weren't there.

I think the thing with surveys is that they are not be relied on by anyone else? I don't see the harm in sharing the relevant sections.

Your survey is confidential to you, but if I was a vendor I'd want to see some kind of proof that the works were really needed. As said either copy the relevant parts. If not, say you'll take the survey into the agents, point out what you're concerned about and ask them to read through those points so they can confirm to their client what issues have been raised.

We had this. Didn't want to give it them in full as we had paid for it and it was our bargaining tool. Arranged a sit down meeting with all parties and let everyone read it there but didn't allow it to be photocopied or taken away.

Would have happily given them a copy of they had wanted to pay half the cost of it.

Vendors were perfectly happy with this arrangement, it was the estate agents who were utter knobs about it. Saying we were being unreasonable.

All worked out fine in the end.

If you're using it to try and reduce the price then they doneed to see it, but you don't have to physically give them a copy to do this. Allowing them to read it would be enough I think.

Just another note too ours fell through after that and the agent showed all previous surveys they had kept copies of to new prospective buyers!

If you are expecting them to reduce the amount to reflect the survey findings then you have to give them a copy. How do they know exactly what the problem is and exactly what the surveyor thinks the extent of the problem is? You could, for example, be over-egging a simple fix. It's irrelevant that you've paid for it. Also the whole system of surveying is a little bit hit and miss. What one surveyor finds compared to another can be wildly varied. This has happened with us. First buyers surveyor found a 'significant' problem and second buyers said it is all fine. So it really depends on your gut feel for how the house has been maintained. Also damp can be a load of twaddle. Is the wall wet/paint peeling or mouldy? If not all old houses wick water away through the walls. 'Potential for damp' sounds like a catch all phrase which means nothing to me.