Is this buyer being shifty?

[ifeelprettyorange]

Accepted an offer on our house early August. Buyer had viewed twice before offering.

Everything has been going through solicitors, no issues raised as far as we have been made aware. Property is only 7 years old so no real issues to report.

We thought we were getting close to exchange but have just had a call to say buyer wants to have a full survey carried out to the property. Worthwhile adding that she is a cash buyer so no requirement for a survey due to mortgage...

I accept most people would have a survey and did wonder why she hadn't. She had indicated to the estate agents that she wouldn't as the house is so new. But I am now wondering whether she's left it so long knowing we are so far down the line with our purchase up the chain that she can now find a way to put us over the barrel to reduce the price.

Please tell me I'm being paranoid?!

You're right to be skeptical but not much to be done about it. I'd ask your agent to check that it is a proper surveyor not just a friend who knows a bit about houses.

It sounds like it but if there aren’t real problems then there will be no reason to lower the price. Are there any reasons to think the surveyor might find something significant?

Thanks @bookgirl1982 that's a good point. I did just check myself as the agent gave me the surveyors number to arrange. They are a legitimate company, but a sensible reminder to check!

Not necessarily

I wasn't going to have a survey but had one done just a few weeks before exchange as I found out a friend of mine had discovered huge problems with the house she was buying so I panicked and had a full survey done.

Agree, survey is something you arrange at the early stage of the transaction.

@Lifeandjoy no, the house is in pretty perfect condition besides the obvious signs of life that they would have seen at their viewings. House is sound structurally and no issues that I can think of...just strange why she's left it so late in the day.

Could be that it's getting 'real' and while she initially was happy not to have one, she has now changed her mind and is booking it for peace of mind.

I'd give the benefit of the doubt for now, but very frustrating!

Yeah thats shifty.

Maybe someone has talked her into it? Possibly someone who is a bit risk averse or bought newish house that turned out to have issues.

@ApolloandDaphne I guess so, it all just seems a little suss given that only yesterday solicitors were talking about exchanging...
gosh I am worrying now I hope the surveyor doesn't find anything that we aren't aware of! Moving house is such a big heap of stress ey?!

Our buyer just got a survey 10wks after we accepted her offer! We were a bit surprised she did it so late too, bit we think in our case the results if the searches prompted it. We're in an ex mining area and an old mine shaft is 20m from the edge of the property, totally normal for the area and hard to avoid, and also very unlikely to cause a problem with the type of mine it was, but entirely reasonable it would prompt a survey to check for signs of movement or problems. Could the searches have brought up anything similar for your buyer?

I had this with one house where the survey was an afterthought. Be clear to your buyer that regardless of the result you are not reducing the price

Thanks everyone.

@user1471538283 should I say that before the survey do you think?

Feelprettyorange, only say that if you mean it. For someone like me that would be a red rag to a bull and I’d walk away. To me it would be an insult. If there is something wrong that neither you nor the buyer could have reasonably known about and it affects the value of the house or requires a lot of money to make right the problem, why on earth do you think it is right to shaft the buyer?

It doesn’t sound like there will be major problems so think carefully about pissing off this person. They are clearly worried about something and playing hard may confirm their fears. Can you afford to lose this buyer?

Is it definitely a case of them suddenly deciding they want a survey, or more that that’s the earliest the surveyor could do and she’s only just thought to update the solicitor? I only ask as we’ve had a nightmare trying to find a surveyor willing to do the survey before our mortgage valuation came in, and most were quoting super long lead times. We finally found one that can do early November but it’s taken weeks of back and forth to get there.

I did this. As another poster said, I was waiting for the outcome of searches before I ploughed another £700 into a survey.

We had this. Turns out the buyer used the survey to try and reduce the price of our flat. We refused - the survey turned up nothing new and he was clearly trying it on. He bought the flat anyway.

Be clear to your buyer that regardless of the result you are not reducing the price

If a vendor said that to me I think I would withdraw from the purchase immediately. What if the survey revealed unexpected significant issues that were going to be costly to fix?

@LolaSkoda

I did this. As another poster said, I was waiting for the outcome of searches before I ploughed another £700 into a survey.

Is that the normal order of doing things or region specific?

@unmarkedbythat

Be clear to your buyer that regardless of the result you are not reducing the price

If a vendor said that to me I think I would withdraw from the purchase immediately. What if the survey revealed unexpected significant issues that were going to be costly to fix?

Agree with this. I think it gives the impression you know of an issue and you're pre-empting.

She could be trying it on or she may have changed her mind. Either way, she is within her rights.

@RadgeGadgess I haven’t a clue tbh! I didn’t have major concerns about the house, but I did have concerns about the seriousness of the seller and the area as it had been heavily mined in places.

Perhaps I was inadvertently an arsehole, but I wanted to ensure the land it was sitting on was fine before the house inspection.

Searches were back within three weeks of the offer acceptance though, and the survey the week after so perhaps it didn’t seem shifty to the sellers!

Like the OP’s scenario, I was a cash buyer. As it was my own money I wanted to be careful with it.

I think having a survey this far down the line, the buyer will try to use it to reduce the price.

Probably someone has advised her to get one. I wouldn’t worry just be helpful and see what it shows.

A well timed thread.. we are buying a 4 year old house & had never even considered anything other than the valuation ‘survey’. However, our solicitor has just recieved our mortgage offer & written to us to explain we are now in a position to exchange bar the fact we haven’t had a survey & she would highly advise we get one first. So now, a couple weeks or so from completion, we are suddenly wondering if we should get one! It’s certainly not to try knock money off, we feel we’ve got a reasonable price. I guess we just pondered actually, should we double check! But then, we’d only be interested in a Homebuyers & having watched the one carried out on our house and seen the report, I’m not convinced we’d gleam much from one really. Will continue to milk & decide tomorrow.

But I promise, we aren’t being dodgy! It’s just been brought to our attention & now I’m busy googling 😂

*continue to mull, not milk 🙈