Buying a house and survey has found a good few issues.

[shushpenfold]

Hi, I'm sure that this has been done to death, but in your experience how does it usually pan out when, after a survey has been done and various issues found, with the price/cost of repair? Does the vendor usually reduce the price, or get the work done or do they stand their ground and demand the same price? We've found that the cess pit has roots in it (original and old), damp walls in 2 rooms, brickwork on one wall dubious, all chimneys mortar to be replaced and capped (have shrubs growing in them which won't help the damp!), electrics need checking and possibly replacing, tiles loose and broken on roof, no soakaway etc, etc. We're definitely not willing to pay for all of these hidden issues as we're paying top whack for the house already. We are willing to walk away at this point but are feeling decidedly sore about the £2k odd which we've already put into the purchase. Any tips for making the case? TIA

And yes, I agree that the chimneys and cess pit would be the main things to get looked at - didn't make that clear in earlier post. If you get a drainage co out though, I'd ask their opinion on the rainwater drain situation, as like I said, it's a very poor design and I've seen it cause damage in soft clay areas. It does kind of make you wonder what other corners were cut in the original build.

I'm in a similar position at the moment. Offered at asking price. Survey has brought up a huge number of issues.

Works are much worse than we could have known at viewings e.g. we thought roof and windows could be repaired, but actually needs complete replacement. It was advertised as being in very good condition whereas the survey has shown that there are years of neglect.

The house was on the market for a while and the vendors are keen to move asap, so feel in a strongish position. But I'm such a wimp at negotiating - I really feel for the vendors - a couple downsizing in retirement. But we can't afford to buy the house and do the works without negotiating.

I think i'm going to suggest covering the cost of the works 50/50 as a starting point. This would mean a price reduction of 5%. Does this sound reasonable?

Because mortgage company has been slow - they aren't due to do their valuation until later in the week. Should I negotiate before or after their valuation?

Vache - offering to share 50/50 is very reasonable - as long as you are only counting the real deal breaker works and not counting anything you could have reasonably seen on inspection or assumed about a property of that age (given the general level of maintenance you could see). So, rotten roof joist, yes. "Property may need rewiring", I wouldn't bite as a vendor.

What is the problem with the windows? All windows have a lifespan, and if you could see the age of them, it might be reasonable to factor in replacing them in the next 5-10 years. For example we are buying a house with 70s uPVC double glazing, they're all OK now, but I made an offer taking into account just that.

You mention a drop of 5% but I'm not sure what that means without knowing the price range you're in. Remember, don't feel too bad, if they are downsizing, they are probably making a big chunk of money, assuming their mortgage is all paid off. They haven't done anything to earn it apart from being born at the right time to take advantage of a property boom.

I wouldn't pay for the valuation until you know where you are with negotiations to be honest, you don't want to pay £100s then have the purchase fall apart.

We are finally completing on Thursday. The vendor refused to negotiate on our survey, we had to wait for the valuation. The estate agent didn't even put it to them, just said the price reflected the condition. They had reduced the asking price a fair bit prior to our offer but even so I was a bit .

We then paid for the valuation at which point our mortgage was refused. We knew the extent of the work required and ended up paying for a range of other surveys. The final outcome was just a 4k reduction based on the valuation given by the mortgage company. This was due to the drains issues that were found.

Apparently our mortgage company is notorious for being a PIA about issues in old houses (woolwich/barclays) so worth some consideration if your valuation will cost you.

tremolo - yes only counting the things that are deal breakers – needs a new roof urgently – from our inspection, we thought it was repairable but two surveyors have said it needs to be completely replaced immediately. Windows are rotten throughout – again we thought we could do a short term remedy (like you say think about replacing in 5 -10 years) but surveyor has said needs to be replaced now. Plus new damp course, repointing chimney, external rendering, and repairing damage caused by a leak – we couldn’t see this when we viewed as from the shower in to the kitchen but the surveyor picked it up. Other general stuff like fencing might need replacing, gutters might need clearing, possible rewiring etc…I’m going to mention when negotiating but not put a price next to them. These are things that I saw or at least expected so is reflected in the original offer.
A drop of 5% would be £20k. My estimate of the work is between £30-40k. The original offer is £415. I think that I’m going to go back with £390 and expect to get between 400-405. So actually less than 5%. Perhaps I should be starting with a lower offer?
If they didn’t negotiate to around £400 I’m willing to walk away.

That sounds pretty much what I would do Vache. Make it clear you're prepared to walk away. You can always say to EA 'can they let us know by X as there is a property having an open day then and we would really like to see it if this isn't going ahead'. Chances are EA will panic and persuade vendor to accept - they don't want any more work now.

New DPC - how old is the property? Did the surveyor elaborate on that? I would ring him/her for a chat if not.

Vache,

I think 50/50 is generous, personally. It depends a bit on whether you have 'reserve' left in your budget to actually do the work. When we negotiated, because we were at the top of our budget [we could have borrowed more, but being risk-averse we decided on a maximum monthly repayment we were happy with - mercifully, as DH lost his job just as i was completing my PGCE a year into the house renovation...]. we were very clear that we could only buy the house if we had the money to do the immediate work in full.

(We rang the surveyor to talk through the survey and to test whether they were being 'professionally cautious' or 'reasonably accurate' - the line 'Do you have children? if so, for goodness sake don't let them turn on the lights, drink the water, or go ANYWHERE near a window' has stuck in my mind ever since!)

are you sure it is a cess pit and not a septic tank? Where are you?

Septic tank.....sorry! We've put the main bits which we want to look at to the EA and are waiting with baited breath to see if the vendor agrees to let us investigate or says, 'nah, 1930's house so what so you expect'. Even if we do then get quotes, there are no guarantees at all. The EA didn't seem to think that we had much of a leg to stand on given that the survey valuation said the house was worth the money, although that didn't include any increased repair/maintenance costs (on top of the normal ones)

Sorry - Norfolk....lots of septic tanks around here!