Hi everyone,
We're currently selling our house, buying a new one. We've just had a hiccup with selling and I'm in need of some advice about how to negotiate the next stage.
Basically the buyer's survey valuation came back 5k less than asking price. We went through a lengthy process of agreeing a new price, as we were not made aware of the valuation, their solicitor just sent us quite a rude email saying they would get quotes for some things flagged in the survey, and demanded that we made some repairs and to let them know when it was done. After over a week of them getting quotes, us negotiating around what needed doing (all through EA at this point), and us eventually lowering price to match valuation, they agreed to the lower price but also insisted the repairs they wanted us to do were done. I'm not really sure why they didn't just approach us through the estate agent and ask for a reduction in line with the valuation as we would have been happy to do that, but they seem to want this work doing more than getting a discount.
So we agreed as they are very minor things, one of them is to clean a 'stain' off the wall in a bedroom. When I looked all I could see was a scuff mark which I cleaned off with a cloth (the buyer didn't know what the stain was, and is now needing to clarify with surveyor about what it is, so I think they just picked some random items from the survey, I'm still not sure why). They also requested we filled some holes left from when we removed a shelf from the cupboard under the stairs. The others were to fix a loose shower fitting (5 second job of tightening up the covers), repair a tear in loft felt ( the tear is approx an inch long, we used some roofing tape as recommended online), and to increase loft insulation by 10cm (it's a small house so will cost us roughly £60 to put another layer down and about an hour of our time). I'm not sure why they couldn't proceed with sale without these jobs being done, they seem incredibly minor and as the house is nearly 30 years old they are certainly not the only minor repairs needed, so the list seems arbitrary but then everyone is different.
My issue is now that they want to come and inspect the work we have done and I'm not sure how to play it really. Me and husband discussed and just said we would be super nice, invite them in but then let the EA (who we would show repairs beforehand) go with them to inspect while we wait downstairs and leave them to it. However, my Dad says I need to take a more stern approach and tell them in no uncertain terms that if they don't agree that everything is fine that the house will be going back on the market that day, and that they are totally playing us for fools having us running round doing these minor jobs as some kind of power play.
I am just so stressed about it all, we've had such an awful 2 years with losing a baby, losing my FIL and a relative having cancer. I just want to move on and do this in a stress free manner but can see my Dad's point, I think they do know they have upper hand here as they are FTB and no rush to move out of parents, whereas we are moving to a new home. What approach would people take? Me and DH have agreed that if they do request more work or more money off we will let them know it's going back on the market, (that's not really about money, but trying to find a buyer who will cause us less stress and will be vetted more thoroughly), but I don't want to say that unless they do express they are unhappy with the repairs. For all we know they could come to inspect, then say they are 100% happy to proceed and we can all move on towards exchange. Also, the memorandum of sale was rewritten with the new price and statement about said 5 repairs being done but no other work would be carried out. My Dad is now panicking me saying they sound like they won't honour the new agreement and will start stringing us along, and that we should just get it back on the market. Am I being naive in thinking things will all go swimmingly after this weekend or is my Dad right?
TIA