Buyers survey - what should I do?

[Tigerlilly17]

We are selling our home we own outright ( inheritance) and it was valued at £78,000. We wanted a quick sale as had an offer accepted in another property so put it on market for £65,000. We had two offers at asking price and now the buyer has had his survey it says it recommends an electrical certificate as the fuse box is dated. Whilst I understand them wanting peace of mind, they also know they are paying £13,000 less than it’s worth to start with. The problem is, they are insisting we pay the £100 to get a certificate for the fuse box, and our estate agent agrees with him and says it has to be done as his solicitors will insist too. I feel we shouldn’t have to pay for the buyers checks as we have to pay our own on new property. I’m worrying too in case it actually shows something and he tries to knock more money off. It was fully rewired approx 26 years ago and we have genuinely never ever had an issue with electricity in our home. I’m not sure who is right and who isn’t . He is getting a bargain as it’s had a full bathroom refit and new boiler in last 5 years which is serviced annually. Can anyone advise? This is our first time buying and selling xxxx

Agreed! Buyers!! 😤 Ours were pushing to exchange because they’ve sold and are staying with friends but then they come up with their list and will exchange when it’s complete. They’re the ones with nowhere to live and we’re chain free!!

Good luck with yours. Hope they’re satisfied with a check!

Tea have you had your chimney swept in the last 12 months? In which case, your invoice/certificate from the sweep should suffice. And again with your boiler service- if you can show it's been done in the last 12 months, that's all they can really expect surely?

I'm replying from the position of the buyer whose vendor refused to do any of these things- and they cost us a fortune to put right. Electrics we knew about, but things like the chimney was completely blocked with a nest and wasn't lined, so cost £2000 to bring up to regs. We offered to pay for the inspections and the indemnities but they wouldn't budge on it.

By the way, Drains, fence, anything they would have seen on a viewing I would say no way. The property is sold as seen and it's the buyers responsibility to make sure everything is right, which is why the solicitors work so hard to check everything.

Some People are cheeky- we weren't when we bought, but we were going to be living there with young children from day 1 so wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with with regards to safety issues. Our seller was very cagey and left us loads of mistakes to put right, loads of rubbish to clear and that was a very stressful few weeks in a new house!

Bear We haven’t had a chimney sweep or boiler service for 2 years because we haven’t been at the property very much. Personally I think asking for a chimney sweep is cheeky, especially as they haven’t raised any issues about the chimney structure following their survey. When we bought the house, the owners hadn’t had the chimney swept or even used the fireplace. It didn’t occur to us to insist this be done before exchange! It’s a cost to bear when you have use of the fire in my opinion.

Perhaps your buyer does think its a bit good to be true with the undervalued price and that there might be something big wrong with the house.

You of course know otherwise.

I'd be telling my estate agent to sort it out - and not that I'd be paying for any reports at all - or you will remarket the property with another agent. I'd tell him to tell the buyer the same.

You specifically marketed the house at a lower price to ensure it all went through smoothly and that's not what seems to be happening. You have plenty of other buyers interested. Don't let them mess you about.

We had to pay for our own electrical checks and certificates.
It's an old house the previous owners were here for donkeys years so we expected work to be done. It was obvious that the electrics were old and would need work and we felt that was reflected in our offer. The checks were just so we knew exactly what needed doing.
I would just say no as it's opening a can of worms as to what you will pay for to get the sale. If they want it they pay. If they don't then you will go to one of the other offers. Re-iterate that the condition / age of the house is reflected in the price which is competitive to allow for a fast sale, you are not interested in haggling.
Mortgage company are unlikely to care if the asking price is less than their valuation.

Tea yes that makes sense. I assumed you were living there yourselves which would make sense that you'd have done those things anyway. If you're not, then I can see your not wanting to do it

Our vendor had been using her log burner with a huge jackdaws best in it, it filled a bin bag when the sweep removed it. It's a wonder there was even a house left to sell!

At the end of the day with all these, there's no legal requirement is there? So it's all negotiations. Some buyers (like us) will buy anyway. Some will walk away. It's a bit of a cat and mouse game to see who will give in first. We just wanted our house so much I think we'd have bought regardless, but did as much of the safety checking ourselves (which probably made us seem like very needy buyers and did hold things up)- sometimes for a quick sake it's easier to just get the checks/certificates and say you're not prepared to negotiate on anything further.

Really appreciate everyone’s responses on here. Thank you so much guys. Xxx

Ok
Quick update. Got a local trusted electrician out yesterday to look at fuse box and said in all honesty, because it’s an older fuse box it won’t confirm to today’s regs, but it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with it, it just just have current rcd switches. He said it would cost £100 for a certificate to say it recommends a new fuse box to meet current regs, or £325 for new fuse box with a certificate and guarantee. The guy was great and said it all looks ok, and that he is willing to chat with the buyer and tell him the same.
Now, at the price we have sold house for ( 13k under market value), I have decided that we will not be paying for this to be done as it’s reflected house price and honestly, we need every penny ourselves for our own move and things that need doing. Does this seem fair to you guys?

Good decision op.

I think you should pull out and sell it for a higher price.
If you need every penny for your new home, why are you giving this stinge bag buyer your money?

All for the sake of a few weeks wait.

Pull out!

Now, at the price we have sold house for ( 13k under market value)

By definition, market value is what the house sells for.

We just calculated what we could afford to let the house go for in order to cover all fees and give us a chunky deposit against the Home we want to buy. We assumed selling at such a good price would ensure a quick and smooth sale. We have never had a mortgage as my husband grew up in this house and it was left to him by his dad 15 years ago when he passed away. I’m now thinking my assumption was perhaps wrong. We thought by selling for this price, and only having a £75k mortgage on a £135k home we would be doing well and mortgage is really affordable .

I mean this kindly, but that's an absolutely bizarre way to think about property.

You'll be paying interest on £10k more than you have to for many years, for one thing.

I totally get what you are saying, but we didn’t want to it in on much higher and then deal with folk trying to reduce cost and picking faults etc. We kind of wanted to know exactly what we would be getting and in a quick turnaround. We took mortgage over just 18 years instead of normal 25 year term. We were originally using a cash for houses company but they are crooked things once they think you are hooked. After number crunching and knowing what we wanted, we listed at a deal that would ensure buyers would be knowingly getting a bargain but giving us the funds we needed for fast turnaround x

Definitely cheeky. Buyer know the house is undervalued.

Tell estate agent that the price reflects the condition of the property and find another buyer.

But buyers are programmed to negotiate on the price. So starting at the bottom you haven't saved yourself any grief.

Ok, an update.
Buyer has been back out and I explained what the electritian said etc, but he’s not bothered about it now as he realises it’s just the surveyor covering his back. He brought someone with him though to do extra checks and damp readings ( we get condensation sometimes, but no riding damp). Let’s just hope he doesn’t try to reduce offer now and all should go smoothly. We all have our mortgages in place so shouldn’t be too long now. 🤞🏻

The electrics will be dated. Even electrics fitted 3 years ago won’t pass because they will be out of date. But an electrician can if they are safe or not.

Id let him pay for the gas and electric certificates. As buyers we did

Don’t actually think he is bothering now after I told him what electritian said. I even offered him the guys number to phone him but he wasn’t bothered. He knows he has got a bargain and seems happy. Hoping to exchange in next couple of weeks 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Tell the buyer to get stuffed!