Negotiating price reduction

[Zoo33]

I'm (hopefully) buying a house that needs about £10k of work - not all of it urgent (maybe £5k straight away and the rest in the next few years). I haven't had quotes - this is what the surveyor has estimated.

Should I ask for a £10k reduction for all this, ask for more (in the expectation that they'll maybe meet me halfway), or should I get quotes or what? The last place I bought needed no work so I'm a bit new at this.

You say "maybe £5k straight away and the rest in the next few years". That says to me that the portion of the works which isn't needed now is part and parcel of owning a house and I don't think you should attempt to renegotiate the price on that basis. I.e. a lot of surveys will say things like, "The roof is original and is showing signs of deterioration... You should budget to replace the roof in the next five years". This is typical backside covering stuff from the surveyor as there are probably no leaks or issues, they just attribute a lifespan to rooves.

Only urgent work which affects the integrity of the house should be used to renegotiate the price.

What the surveyor estimates can be different to actual costs so if you want to negotiate on price I would get some proper quotes.

However, you will generally always find work that needs to be done and unless it actually affects the integrity of the house, as wow said, it’s not necessarily grounds for negotiation. If I were being asked to pay a premium for a ‘done up’ house then found issues I would consider renegotiating.

As Magstermay says, if were going to pay a premium for a 'done up' house but now it turns out there are things like remedial roof work or damp treatment needed, then negotiate.

If it's you average, reasonably maintained home, then it is to be expected that it will need ongoing maintenance and improvements (e.g. a new boiler in a few years if the current one is a few years old). It would be unreasonable to now negotiate on the grounds of it not being all perfect and the sellers might think you aren't serious about buying.

Most vendors would want quotes from professionals before agreeing a drop in price. Assuming that the property wasn’t priced accordingly for the work needed.

Thanks all. I guessI need to figure out what's "normal routine" maintenance stuff and what would reasonably cause a renegotiation and take it from there.

Also look at the price of the same type of houses nearby and what they have sold for and in what condition. If vendor is asking for the road's ceiling price but his house is a wreck and that was a show home then absolutely point that out in your price negotiations.

Zoo, also depends on the property too - most period properties would prompt the surveyor producing a long list while a 5-year-old flat would be very surprising to throw anything up.

If you want to share what the actual issues are, then we could help you decide if/what to negotiate.

Hi @JoJoSM2 I haven't had the report back yet so this is all verbal feedback from the surveyor. I'm waiting for the lawyers to sort the paperwork out which might confirm / sort a few things too. It's stuff along the lines of:

1. Investigating and treating rising damp in the kitchen
2. Introducing a roof cavity tray as there isn’t one (I'm told the Building Control officer should have requested that this be inserted as part of the garage conversion) so this might need doing as part of getting retrospective sign off anyway
3. Replacing the lead flashing because it has split badly and might be letting water in
4. Moving the gas meter (he’s doubtful that Building Control would have signed off on the conversion with the gas and electricity meters being where they are and not properly insulated) - again this might need doing in order to get retrospective sign off
5. Putting ventilation into the loft as there is none and therefore there’s a serious risk of condensation and mould - he said I shouldn't use it for storage until that's sorted out so it seems to be a pretty urgent thing to sort out
6. Replacing the flat roof - I think it's one of those "in a few years" things so I guess that comes under house ownership maintenance
7. Joining the two drainage channels at the front of the house and replacing some of the damaged brickwork where the water isn’t draining properly
8. Removing the decking which is waterlogged and has warped as a result, and inspecting for damp against the wall of the house.

@duriandurian That's a good idea, I'll need to check.

Jeez that sounds like a lot of stuff and a load of hassle - I still have the scars from moving a meter . ( not physical ) the fact it involves stuff building control should have approved makes me a bit anxious too .

@Eddie1940 You should have seen the report for the house I tried to buy before! Min £30k of work, most of it either urgent or structural.

Sounds like quite a few bodge jobs especially with the garage conversion. And some bad water problems here and there. I think I'd double think of whether to proceed.

Speaking from experience, our current house has some obvious bodges when we viewed it (DH is a chartered surveyor) but we proceeded anyway. We have since uncovered and had to set right a multitude of sins: draining issues, missing foundations, uninsulated walls, dodgy floor joists etc. I wasn't getting stressed as DH wasn't getting stressed but it did take a long time and quite a lot of money to put things straight.

To avoid the some of the stress, you could ask the vendor to put some things straight - especially the bits that don't comply with building regs. And then get quotes from damp specialist to negotiate that off the price.

Things like the flat roof in a few years could be just something that the surveyor put in there to cover his back as flat roof are a bit notorious for causing trouble so I wouldn't worry about that too much at the minute.

@JoJoSM2 Once the lawyers confirm if there was / wasn't building regs sign off then I think I will ask them to get a few of those bits sorted - if I don't buy then they'll have to fix them for another buyer anyway. I do want it though...

I will double check the house prices nearby though.