Options when homebuyers survey reveals problems

[rodentattack]

I've had an offer accepted on a house and just got the survey. The property is only around 15 years old and there are no huge problems with it, but there are a few that need to be seen to (a few cracked roof tiles, leaking gutter, insect guards missing from a few windows, extractor fan in bathroom needs to be replaced, boiler needs servicing, garden fencing supports need replacing).

How would you play this? Do i ask via the agent for these things to be corrected before the sale proceeds? Or ask for the price to be reduced, or what?

Any advice gratefully received - I haven't done this before and am unsure of the best way to play it.

All those things are very minor, and if I was the seller I wouldn't be reducing my price.
Was this a homebuyers report, mortgage valuation or full survey? There is nothing there that would worry me, but I would ask them (the sellers)to get the boiler serviced as a condition of the sale if it hasn't been serviced within the past year.
When a survey is scratching for things to pick fault with (leaking gutter and insect guards for example), there is probably not much wrong.
When your survey runs to many pages and tells you the house is about to fall down, that's the time to back out. It happened to me a long time ago. I thought the house was wonderful, but the gable end was collapsing (old property). Money well spent on the full structural survey in that case.
A 15 year old property is unlikely to have major problems - rare, but not impossible; I will add that caveat.

You need to get your solicitor to speak to the seller’s solicitor about either correcting the things or the price being reduced but be fully prepared for the sellers to refuse (I would considering how minor they are). That puts you in the position of accepting it or them putting the house back on the market.

Also, ongoing maintenance is part of homeowning. It's a fact of life that gutters block, tiles fall off roofs, lead flashings deteriorate, etc etc. Keeping on top of these things is par for the course. Just because one moves into a perfect house doesn't mean it will stay perfect unless you look after the structure.

Apart from the roof tiles none of those things will cost a significant amount of money to resolve. You can ask vendor if they are willing to sort any of them but really you could just do yourself (or not bother) over time.

None of those things are worthy of asking for a price reduction or asking for them to be fixed.

If I was a vendor I'd be really annoyed if a buyer asked for this and I'd question their committment and worry about what other stunt they might pull nearer exchange.

Very, very few surveys (if any) show up with no problems at all. Remember the surveyor is PAID to find problems.

As others have said, you don’t play it. You leave it and file it away as @stuff to sort at some point” in the back of your mind

The only thing that might need further investigation is the leaking gutter, if that has led to damp within the house. But I’d expect the survey to mention if it had. I don’t think you’ll get any money off for any of the other stuff. Are you in the UK though? Insect guards aren’t a standard expectation in the UK and if you’re elsewhere there might be completely different expectations about how to negotiate.

This is just normal shit. You're not buying a new build. Of course it will have minor stuff, as a pp said, the report is telling you thr house is fine. The rest is minor stuff to sort as and when you get round to it.

Agreed - please don't ask for money off for any of this. It would seriously piss me off if I was a seller and you did. It's all minor stuff that comes under the usual annual house maintenance stuff and is what you take on when you buy a house.

Yes don't ask for money off for this, it would be ludicrous and any seller is going to to think you're having a laugh.

Be happy. The report is telling you thr house is in great nick.

Proceed as you were.

As per PP all minor things which are fixable and low cost and not unexpected given the age of the house

You could ask for a discount but you might look a bit greedy - depending on whether you'd already negotiated hard on the asking pricing and got it for less than the asking price - but be prepared to be refused as the seller could just turn around and say they'll do the works themselves

Thanks everyone! This is reassuring, I had been assuming that the surveyor was mentioning things because they needed to be sorted. I noticed that the surveyor's email said I could phone to talk it through with the surveyor who looked at it so I think I'll do that tomorrow, and ask her/him for a realistic view of what is urgent.

I can't imagine anything in that list is urgent. Seriously. It's just general maintenance crap

And surveyors mention everything. When they are down to the level of insect guards they are reaching.

I agree that none of these are in any way worth asking for money off - if I was the seller and you did, I would honestly be really annoyed and would think you weren't serious about buying the house (and therefore you risk them putting it back on the market).

We had a first time buyer who asked us for money off when selling our flat, for similar reasons. We refused, as to me it was just cheeky (although now I wonder if they actually just didn't know what they were doing). In the end we put it back on the market and sold to someone else within a couple of weeks.

The purpose of a survey is to reveal any fundamental structural issues with a property (think subsidence etc). If yours doesn't reveal any, count yourself lucky and continue with your purchase!

Thanks all ... I spoke to the solicitor about it, and he suggested asking if the vendors would be willing to get the cracked roof tiles replaced and replace the bathroom extractor fan (bathroom has no window so quite Important), and ignore the more trifling stuff. The vendors are apparently already planning to get the boiler serviced. Also planning to speak to the surveyor next week to try to get a more informal feel for how important he thinks each thing is.

I'd be annoyed if my buyer asked for this.

In fact our buyer asked for a whole new roof as there were a few tears in the roof felt. I told her to take a look around our street and see how many had new roof, 5 out of about 80 houses and that's because they've extended. You are not buying a brand new build!

If dangerous electrics or structural issues, I do get that, but the rest I dont.

I'd never buy a house with an internal bathroom.... mould mould mould.