Selling a flat but there's a catch

[TheNemesisOfLame]

Quick advice.
In the process of selling my mum's flat as she's moved.
Offer accepted but now residents committee have advised there will be exceptional expenditure for a lift replacement. It will cost 2400 for mum's share. They've just got quotes at this stage - don't know when works will commence.
We offered reduction of half the cost to the buyers- but they don't want to pay any of it as it's a ground floor flat and they won't see the benefit.
Should we just suck it up?

They don't see the benefit but the repair cost would be theirs if they had already taken possession of the flat. Like when a block of flats need the roof repairing - the cost is covered by all the flat owners regardless of if they are ground floor and won't 'see the benefit' of a new roof. So I would say it depends how easy it was to sell this flat in the first place. If you are confident you could sell it quickly enough again, go back to them with your generous offer and if they say no, go back on the market. If it is a more difficult place to sell, then you may have to suck up the cost now and put it down to unfortunate timing to shift the flat.

I can see their point, they haven't even bought it yet. If you'd exchanged then I'd see your side, but for me I think this is your cost and not fair to lumber them with it.

I'd also say even if you tried to sell it again and said oh by the way can you pay half of this, any new buyer would probably also tell you to sod off. I would.

I disagree with pps on this - presumably the buyers have seen the documents which detail how the block is managed and what is covered? To say they won't see the benefit is daft: flats in a block with a lift are likely to be worth more than those in a block with just stairs for starters. In the scheme of things it's not a huge amount of money. OP you need to decide whether it's worth losing the sale for £1200.

If they'd exchanged the buyer would be committed at the agreed purchase price and would be penalised for withdrawing from the transaction so they would have to decide whether to suck it up or lose their deposit.

I think you need to suck it up or likely lose the sale. It's bad timing but they can easily walk away.

I think it entirely depends on how easily you think you'd get another offer, plus remember they may be at the top of their budget. I personally think splitting it is fair, but it all depends on whether you'd otherwise walk away.

If no exchange then it simply comes down to negotiation,who is in stronger position. Flats with lifts always have higher maintenance costs
It is not necessarily a selling point(unless purchase is old/infirm)

Thanks all.

The flat sold very quickly (2 days after going on the market). It does need work - but was priced accordingly.

All I wanted was to be fair on the sale (hence advising buyers early on rather than at the point of completion).
I suspect we'll end up sucking it up mainly because mum wants to get rid of the flat - she gets anxious and it's just another worry for her now.
I think I'm more peeved that they dont think the charge should apply to them as it's a ground floor flat. It's the residents committee (which they will become part of) that will be sued if the lift causes injuries...
Thanks for your input all

Generally I've seen sellers agreeing 100% of the cost when a major works notice / scheduled repair comes about during the sales process.

Although they sound like total tools "we won't see the benefit" it's a SOF flat... doesn't matter if you get use out of it! About as dumb as that post omnibus aIBU from some woman not wanting to pay for the roof on the block of flats.

Your neighbours wont thank you for saddling them with these people!

We have major works scheduled OP, and are trying to sell our flat, we have 10K (roof, electrics) due in between five-ten years time and it's just an estimate at the moment. We've had two buyers fall through and are in the middle of trying to purchase our dream home, we've accepted 15K off the last offer we got for a quick sale/because of the works. TBH I'm exhausted by the whole thing and just want to get rid of it now, a neighbour across the street with the same scheduled works was selling and they didn't take a penny off and their buyers just accepted it!! I guess it depends on the buyer, as you can see here by your responses, different people will see it as either the buyer or seller's responsibility or both...

We are having cyclical works done on our building at the moment and are due to exchange this week. We've agreed to split the cost 50:50 with our buyer. He will benefit from the works and the next lot won't be for another 7 years so I think it's fair.