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Original poster

Buyers want to reduce price following survey

27 replies

HuckleberryGin · 19/07/2016 12:19

FTB buying our house. It is Victorian semi. They had valuation report with building society that came out at £1k below agreed price (due to not having off road parking). They have paid for damp and timber report and some extra coal searches due to things found on one search- all clear.

Have now had structural survey which has highlighted issues with roof. Nothing urgent- in the more immediate future need to spend about £600 on replacing some slates. Then long term will need more work doing which will cost £6k. The valuation of this is £5k below agreed price

Buyers have emailed estate agent saying they want to reduce price by £5k because of survey findings of roof. My instinct is to say no. Partly because nothing mentioned about roof is urgent or dangerous. It's an old house, it will need a new roof at some point. But that might not be for 5+ years. Estate agent agrees.

Any advice?

OP posts:
BabyGanoush · 19/07/2016 12:21

We did this when we bought a house.

The owner offered to fix roof tiles himself, if we stuck to agreed price.

So that's what we did.

Idea?

Earlybird · 19/07/2016 12:25

Is it possible they will have an issue with getting the amount of mortgage needed to buy the house, based on the results of the survey?

How long has the house been on the market, and how urgently do you need/want to move? If you have all the time in the world, you could say no and risk losing them as buyers (and have to wait for someone else).

I'd consider offering to split the cost.

OhNoNotMyBaby · 19/07/2016 12:31

I suspect the building society will refuse them the mortgage if you do not drop the price - otherwise they will effectively be paying more than the property is worth, and this is bad financial practice.

I think you need to drop.

Original poster
HuckleberryGin · 19/07/2016 12:31

No, the building society valuation survey was fine- valued at only just under asking price. So we could reduce it by £1k for that.

BabyGanoush we haven't got £6k to replace the whole roof as nearly all our money is in equity. We are happy to replace a few tiles, that's a couple of hundred. But not replace the whole roof that doesn't even need doing yet, but may need doing in the future.

the point for me is that the roof doesn't need doing now, just at some point in future

We really want to move, but don't need to. I'm just so pissed off with them. They've been a bit hysterical since the start.

OP posts:
Earlybird · 19/07/2016 12:36

But, won't this issue come up again if you decide to refuse their request and wait for other buyers?

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 19/07/2016 12:38

Meet them half way? If you were prepared to drop by £1k then for the sake of an extra £1.5k from you it might keep them happy.

Annoying though. At least nothing else should come up as they've now had both the valuation survey and full structural.

brodchengretchen · 19/07/2016 12:44

We were this position as potential purchasers, and that property is still on the market six months later because the issues keep being flagged up to anyone who gets a survey. The vendors keep changing EA and will not drop the price to a fair one even though (supposedly) they are very keen to sell.

Confused
perfecteyebrow · 19/07/2016 12:46

I think it depends upon how much you want to sell , the housing market is slow at the moment and it looks like prices are to drop slightly so might be better to cut and run with it , but try negotiations first to drop by less

perfecteyebrow · 19/07/2016 12:47

FTB are often a bit nervous anyway ! Your agent might help reassuring them

Clickncollect · 19/07/2016 12:51

We met the vendors halfway when we bought our 3 bed 1930s semi 5 years ago. The survey showed a whole new roof was needed so we sent 3 roofers round to do quotes, agreed that 6k was going to be the cost so we asked vendors to knock 3k off the price, which they did.
Older properties are never going to be perfect and I think your buyers need to realise that, within reason of course.

Original poster
HuckleberryGin · 19/07/2016 13:00

We've agreed to go halfway. Well that is what we have offered, will wait to hear back. I think I'm just annoyed that she has tried to justify the request with all the other costs for searches and surveys!

OP posts:
whois · 19/07/2016 13:25

You'll be lucky to get a new roof that conforms to latest building regs for £6k.

Can you offer to meet them in the middle at £3k off to progress the sale?

Queenbean · 19/07/2016 13:32

Think it's a bit harsh to say that they're "hysterical". Ftb are always fairly risk adverse and they'll be doing the best thing for them. You can't be annoyed about that.

FuzzyOwl · 19/07/2016 13:36

I guess it depends how confident you are at selling if the house goes back on the market. Bear in mind that potential buyers might well ask why the last people dropped out and you will have to be honest.

wowfudge · 19/07/2016 13:50

Hang in - the valuation is only £1k below the agreed price. Arguably you could get the loose slates fixed, but future potential work on the roof is one of those things which is part and parcel of owning a house.

Unless it needs doing immediately it should have no impact on the sale price.

peggyundercrackers · 19/07/2016 14:04

I wouldn't reduce the price by 6k - whos to say the roof wont last longer than 5 years? surveyor is just covering his arse by putting a timescale on it. I would reduce by the amount of the BS survey but wouldn't move for anything else. tiles come off roofs in old houses, even if you fix this issue now they will need to do it in 2/3/4/5 yrs again and continue to do it whilst they live there. they sound like naïve FTBs.

Original poster
HuckleberryGin · 19/07/2016 14:17

OK, the reason for hysterical- They found out we'd had a sale fall through previously. We weren't hiding it, it was because the financial situation of our buyers changed and they couldn't afford anymore. Before getting that answer from us (because I was at work all day) she did loads of searches and found that a house near us had made a claim for subsidence. Had a second viewing and claimed that all small cracks in 120 year old plaster cornicing was due to subsidence. Further searches have shown no issue of subsidence.

my view is that the roof doesn't actually need doing now, it isn't unsafe, it isn't leaking, it isn't going to collapse or fall off. The boiler might need doing in 5 years- that's not our problem either. All sorts of things might need doing.

I also take issue at her trying to use the fact they have paid for surveys and searches as a reason that we should drop the price. That's part of buying a house.

OP posts:
wowfudge · 19/07/2016 15:08

Quite - I would take a firm stance on this.

snowgirl1 · 19/07/2016 20:36

I think surveys of older houses usually say 'the roof may/will need replacing in the next 10 years'. I bought an Edwardian semi and the survey said something like that, I didn't do anything to the roof (I didn't try to negotiate a discount) and had no problems living there for 11 years. If I were you I'd have offered to fixed the tiles that need fixed and that's all.

CookieDoughKid · 19/07/2016 21:20

stand firm if you don't mind risking the buyers walking away.
Go halves if you really want a sale.

scaryteacher · 19/07/2016 22:07

Our survey said that for our house when we bought in 1992 (we were unhysterical third time buyers). The roof is still there, 24 years on and all we've done is replace some slates and had some flashings fixed. Our house was built in 1835!

Stand your ground and perhaps do the odd slates, but not halves off a new roof - that's ridiculous. You could also point out that off street parking wasn't a necessity when your house was built, as it was before motor cars!!!!

Coughingchildren5 · 19/07/2016 22:38

Oh wow this gave me a flash back as we experienced a very similar thing with our buyer. We told them that they were welcome to replace the roof in the future at their own expense and the house was available for sale at the agreed price, please confirm by the morning if they are proceeding or I'll put it on the market again.

They stopped trying to get me to finance their future new roof and the sale sent through as agreed.

LyndaNotLinda · 19/07/2016 22:55

Every survey I have ever had has said that the roof will need retiling within the next 10 years. Unless you buy a new build or somewhere that has just had a new roof, it's to be expected.

Don't drop your price any further. They're being jittery FTBs

missymayhemsmum · 20/07/2016 20:18

Sounds like they have spent so much money on searches and legal fees that they can't afford to do any repairs. (But probably also cant afford to walk away and start again?)
Maybe offer to get the slates sorted if they exchange pronto at the agreed price?

concertplayer · 20/07/2016 20:33

My friend bought a 4 bed Victorian house 8 years ago.
She had a full survey No mention of roof but since she
has had to replace half of it well, that is all she can afford
I would have sued the f ... Surveyor ..crap