Walk away from house purchase?

[Triathlonmummy]

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

We’ve had an offer of £340,000 accepted on what we think will be our ‘forever home’. It had an asking price of £350,000. The seller had an asking price offer and one slightly above asking but went with us as we’re not in a chain.

When we made the offer we knew the house would need modernising and thought £50,000 would cover it.

However we’ve had a couple of surveys done and we now know the house was underpinned in part about 20 years ago, it has some damp in one room, some woodworm and there are a few other things. The major issue is that practically every wall and ceiling has been boarded with asbestos cement board. It’s all in a good condition so not harmful to health in its current state but we’ve been advised not to drill into the walls or ceilings. We have had a quote to remove the asbestos boards and we’re looking at £20,000 to remove it, re board and re plaster. We asked the sellers if they would reduce the price at all given the above and they refused to offer any reduction. We accepted this as we do love the house.

Now we’ve just had our searches back and the house may have high radon readings (10-30% of houses in the area have high radon). Our solicitor requested a £3,000 retention which would only be deducted if the levels of radon are unacceptably high. We would complete on the purchase and then test for radon in the coming months. The sellers have refused this also.

The sellers are totally unwilling to offer any reduction as they’ve already agreed to our offer at £10,000 below asking. I can see where they are coming from but the house has many issues that are not insignificant. So we either back down re the radon retention or I can see the deal falling through and we’re about a week from exchange. Are we being totally unreasonable asking for a reduction, their agent is basically saying that we are! We don’t wish to be unreasonable, we’re trying to be sensible and weigh up the risks and costs.

If you got this far thank you!

I’d walk away purely because of the asbestos, you wouldn’t be able to put up any pictures or shelves. It’s also not something you can see so it’s not like it’s already built into the offer that you made.

Sorry but I would walk away and would take with a big pinch of salt they claim to have 2 higher offers.

Never mind the radon, the asbestos problem would be a deal breaker for me - honestly, I’d walk away.

I would walk away

Walk away. It isn’t right for you and you will find a better house. Prices are stable at the moment so you won’t lose out by pulling out and buying elsewhere in a few months. One day you will be glad they didn’t reduce their price because you have to walk away. Asbestos at £20K to remove plus all the other work you want to do to make it how you want it makes it too much money, too much stress and years of headache if you go ahead. Walk away.

The asbestos issue would have been the deal breaker for me tbh. That's a huge problem, that you're going to have to address, and tbh are you going to want to move in, redecorate (minus any pictures, shelves, mirrors, even curtain poles may be risky) and then in a few years have the stress of a complete renovation, which is what it will feel like having the whole house turned into a shell for a costly sum too. No. It you buy it, for your own health, safety and sanity, address the asbestos immediately. The radon gas... Maybe speak to any neighbours and see if they have any info before you pursue the purchase, but it would be th asbestos for me that would make me walk away. Sorry op, what a stressful situation.

Radon is very common and i wouldnt worry about it. You will need to decide about the asbestos if this is really your dream house.

Walk away!!

I'm another one saying walk away...who needs that hassle?

Run, don’t walk away! I wouldn’t buy that house off you in a million years - think about re-sale too

We had a survey back on our last house that had similar issues with radon. We were advised by the solicitor that it's very common and it wasn't a problem when we came to sell, so that wouldn't worry me too much.

The asbestos though...what a total nightmare. I'd be running for the hills. There must be other houses surely?

With the asbestos and the cost of fixing it, I wouldn't walk, I'd run!

Walk away! They accepted your lower offer because they felt your chain free status was a benefit, not because they were doing you a favour.

If you viewed a house then a week before exchange wanted a reduction because the kitchen is outdated that's unreasonable, £20k of asbestos work would make most people want a reduction, especially in this market.

I know you like the house but there will be others.

Their agent acts for them not you so they are bound to not be happy with your position. The whole point of searches and surveys is to give you more information with which to proceed - or not. Walk away with a clear conscience. It’s not a good buy for you, you’ll find another house and the sellers are losing nothing if they really have had other offers.

Been there...and walked away. We didn't even ask for a reduction we just weren't interested in buying a house that had been underpinned and had rotting wood. We had costed what the house was worth and what it would cost to put it right, but once we had the underpinning news realised the house was never going to be worth what we had spent.
I also couldn't live with the thought that something was wrong with it, more could happen, if it was in that state what might happen next.
But that was me, after four more 'sales' and back on the market the same house has sold, the new owners haven't addressed any of the issues, not sure if they are even aware.

The downside for us £2,500 spent to not buy it..fees, surveys etc. The upside I don't have to worry about what else I might find, what might need doing, costs or any struggle with resale.

You only have to worry about what's reasonable for you, not for the vendors or their agent.

All the issues you mention with this property will come back to bite you when you sell on, and you never know when that will be, sometimes circumstances dictate sooner than you expect.

I wouldn't proceed.

We had asbestos removed in our house, very expensive and extremely intrusive as the whole house is completely sealed it's like a bloody crime scene.
In the traditional MN saying, when someone shows them who you really are believe them. This house is showing you what it is, either get the price reduced or walk away

Thank you for all the helpful replies.

I think we have been a bit swept away by the fact that it is a lovely house with a couple of acres, great location etc. I’ve been wrapped up in thinking about my DD enjoying the lovely garden and having all that space. In reality we would need to spend £70,000 to get the house how we would want it and we would need £20,000 of that now to sort the asbestos. We don’t have that to spend straight off so would have to remove the asbestos room by room as and when we could afford. It’s all just become too stressful and being made to feel like we’re money grabbing by the seller has just tipped me over the edge (and probably made me see sense!)

I'm not sure if it would be possible to have it removed room by room nor live in it whilst it's done. The £20k quote is surely having it done in one fell swoop with you moving out?

Run away!