Vendor won 't negotiate

[2chipz]

Hello - 1st time vendor but just up the wall with the worlds worst vendor & EA. Keeping it short we agreed in July to buy a property as 1st time buyers - we offered lower than the asking price as the windows were rotten & needed replacing, house needed rewiring completely & new central heating system essential. The house was left to the vendor by his mother & has not been maintained for at least 20 years - also only a sink in the kitchen and 2 units - everything else has been removed.
EA came back to us & said offer was accepted on the condition that after a survey we did not ask for more reductions. I refused to accept this condition - we're not builders or anything like that so I could not be sure what else the survey could bring up - the house is very old! The EA assured us that the vendor meant we could not bring up the faults already discussed but obviously anything else could be negotiated on .
Received our mortgage offer after weeks of delay from santander & instructed an additional homebuyers survey in addition to the mortgage valuation.
Survey came back with serious concerns - namely the roof was rotten & needed urgent replacement & there was extensive damp to the whole of the ground floor - all the floors needed replacing plus damp to the walls .
Told the EA the survey was not great & I would like to send builders in to see the extent of the damage plus the cost to rectify.
Returned to the EA yesterday with a revised price taking into account the costs of this essential work - we're expecting our 1st child in January so couldn't take the chance of moving to a house with damp . Showed the EA the quotes & builders reports and made a fair offer splitting the cost of this work.
EA has just returned to say the vendor is disgusted by our offer & wants pointing out to me that when he agreed the price it was on the condition there would be no further reductions regardless of the survey ! I told the EA that I was told I could negotiate if the survey showed other concerns not previously taken into account .
What is annoying me is that I would not have continued with the sale if it had not been agreed that we could still negotiate- I would not tie myself into a price on such a condition . I feel as if I have been hoodwinked into contuining & spending money on the booking fee & survey under false pretences - regardless of what the survey showed the vendor had no intention of listening to us.
We received a memorandum of sale confirming ' subject to contract' - as far as I know this still allows negotiations - the vendor is just pig headed so I'm happy to walk away as the house is not worth what he wants with the structural problems the survey has revealed but do I have a case against the EA - my offer was implicitly made subject to survey & I was reassured I could still negotiate but now just been told according to the vendor he never agreed to this at all & so I have lost our booking fee & survey cost under false information.
What a nightmare !

I'm sorry you've lost your survey cost and booking fee.
It would be very hard to prove the EA misled you.

I think you're very wise to walk away. Would you really want that much work, even with a price reduction? Major building work with your first child would be hideous.

You can negotiate, but they don't have to accept. The property would have presumably been priced to reflect the condition plus you put in a lower offer. It's not EA fault, they're inbetween you and the vendor and as the vendor is their client they have to accept their instructions. I'd pull out and find something that needs less work if I was you.

Do you have it in writing from the EA? I doubt it. Yes they have misled you but you will have a hard job proving it. You could report them to Trading Standards and threaten them with Watchdog or Don't Get Done, Get Dom? Good luck!

walk away. The house is a money pit and the vendor is going to make life hell right through.

you've no case against anyone, sorry.

Yes walk away. Buying this house is going to cause you endless grief.

Echo the others I'm afraid. The EA is acting for the vendor and a buyer can offer whatever they want but the vendor does not have to accept. It may be that the property will be difficult to sell as these problems will come up again with future buyers. Perhaps the vendor will eventually see sense and either sell at a reduced price or get the work done. Sadly, the vendor is not interested in negotiating with you at the moment, so I would suggest walking away from it and find something a little less problematic. It is a shame you have paid out money for a survey and booking fee, but this is why surveys are done, so you know what you're getting into. The loss of a few hundred pounds is little compared to the cost of a new house.

A memorandum of sale is just confirmation from the EA to everyone (solicitors included) that a sale has been agreed on a property and letting everyone know the vendors details, buyer's details and solicitors for both side's details. Nothing is binding until exchange takes place.

You would have to be very clear as to what you were told by the EA and what, expressly, he said about renegotiation after the survey. When you say "things that had been discussed" do you have it in writing that none of the issues the survey has identified were ever discussed. Much as you'll feel hard done to, I think you would be throwing bad money after good trying to pursue the EA.

You say you've offered to pay half of the costs - is the other less than you stand to lose by walking away? It depends how much you want the house and whether it is worth losing the investment you've made already.

You don't have a case against the ea, sorry.

The vendor could decide to pull out from selling to you at any stage without any explanation. He could decide to put the price up if he wanted despite a terrible survey, if he thinks the market has moved upwards. The estate agent has little to do with it after the initial introduction of you to the property.

It can be frustrating, and it can be expensive with no property at the end of it. I hope you find something else more suitable.

Do you have any proof of what was agreed with the EA? Emails, letters, texts?

I suspect it would be costly and time consuming, and extremely stressful, to try to recover the money. If I possibly could afford to write it off, I would. I would also make sure I reviewed the estate agent online as prolifically as possible.

Sorry this has happened. I think I would also make a new and piss-takingly low offer for the house. Mostly because the EA will have to put it through to the vendor, which might piss them both off. Then I wouldn't return any calls etc from the EA and find a good one instead.

Hope you find a great house soon.

3 We had a similar situation with a property we offered on. Offered reasonably based on initial work we could see, but survey returned with extensive defects, rotten roof, woodworm across all floorboards etc. the bank then retained part of the mortgage until the work was done.. We pulled out. Lost survey fees etc but found an older property in better condition and the sale was totally hassle free.

Pull out, it's not meant to be

I suspect that the EA has told you want you wanted to hear with regards to negotiating on the basis of the survey in order to keep the 'sale'. However, there's not much you can do now and like others have said, I'd walk away.

Firstly, it sounds as if the vendor is not in a rush to sell so this means he might hold out for as much as possible.
secondly, I would put in writing a retraction of your original offer due to the survey results and building estimates. With this I would put your final offer on paper of how much you want to pay for a delapidated property, say you will hold this offer for 24 hours, 3 days or what have you (give a time limit) and meanwhile search for something else. it doesn't sound worth chucking money at to try and recoup some costs, save that money for the next survey on the next house. unfortunately this is called buying a house, you don't always win on something's . it's annoying and emotional, but everyone buying a house has had similar and sometimes more stress. perhaps view it as a lucky escape as it sounds like a money pit! :)

Definitely walk away, you don't need all that extra work with a new baby - it'll be months before the house is safe and comfortable for a LO and once baby is crawling all it takes is one stray screw and they've swallowed it and it's a trip to A&E. I appreciate that places needing work are cheaper to buy but life with a small child is hard enough in a safe environment, let alone a building site.

Fax and mail a letter retracting your offer. Call the manager/owner of the EA and explain what happened in very factual terms. Tell them you have formally retracted your offer however you are interested in the property but are only willing to pay x due to the amount that needs to be fixed. Tell the manager they can contact you if the vendor changes their mind in the future and you will consider making an offer at that time.

If they come back knock another few thousand off the price you are willing to pay because you will know the vendor won't have anyone else at the table willing to buy the place. It is stressful renovating a place with a small child but get the workmen to focus on one area at a time and use a playpen.

It is annoying but I don't think this sort of verbal agreement would be binding. And folk could say I'm open to negotiate but still not budge an inch. I'd just stick to your offer and hope they come back to you. It's all bluff and counter bluff because you don't know what's going on in the vendor's mind or how desperate they are to sell or what their rock bottom price is.