Survey turned up £4500 worth of building work

[LukeSkywalkerBoots]

Hi all

The survey on the Victorian semi we want to buy turned up a number of things, but none of them seemed particularly pressing apart from pointing needing doing on the chimney, damp timber in the loft which means some roof work, and a French drain needing to be created all around the house to help with damp. The surveyor recommended some builders and we got one to quote- total came back as £4500!

The house was on for 400-425 but as they’d been on for 6 weeks with no offers and were desperate to go we secured it for 385. To accept that offer they had to work our a saving by negotiating down on the house they want also, so their budget is tight and so is ours. I don’t think they’ll be happy to reduce their price because of the survey. So frustrated and annoyed that it’s the end of the day and I can’t phone the agent and have the awkward conversation. Arrrrggghhhhh!

£4500 ? That’s not bad? Is that a typo!

I would expect 4500 worth of possible things to be picked up on most older houses surveys. don't think I'd be reducing my offer for that (and i would not accept it from a buyer)

£4500 for that amount of work, or in building terms generally, is nothing!

That doesn't sound bad. Did the surveyor only value it at 385 or at the original price it was marketed at?

It's not a rule that you have to offer less after a survey you know. It sounds like you're getting a good deal.

On the house we are trying to buy we found a whole side of the house might need redoing and it could cost anywhere between 30-80k. We didn't negotiate on the price as we knew others wanted it and we believed it to be worth what they were asking even with the work needed.

Agree. I'd be happy with that tbh

That’s interesting as our solicitor told us to renegotiate! Yes the 4500 is not a typo. Didn’t expect the house to be immaculate. What’s galling is that the paving they did out the back has created damp hence the need for a French drain

OP did you post last week about the survey results? Just wondering as I remember replying to a thread with similar issues, though that one didn't mention costs.

Anyway, I said on that thread that the issues raised sound pretty standard for a Victorian house. Having bought 2 period houses and sold one, I wouldn't have agreed to a reduction in price based on what you've reported, and nor would I have asked for one when buying. I would only negotiate if significant issues are identified, beyond the usual maintenance and upkeep that is ongoing for an older house. I can pretty much guarantee that a survey carried out on the vast majority of period houses would raise at least £4,500 of "issues", many of which wouldn't need to be dealt with immediately.

Honestly you can't expect a Victorian house to find nothing on a survey. I'm very surprised that was the advice given by your solicitor. I'm not sure I've ever had a solicitor share an opinion on things like that.

Considering you already drop by over 5 times this amount, I don't think you can ask them to take this on as well.

How urgent is the work required?

6 weeks is not that long at all around here. Where are you?

I actually agree with you all, I only thought we should renegotiate based on what both the surveyor and solicitor said!

I think the sellers will see you as a proverbial cheeky F if you renegotiate over this.
In the grand scheme 4500 is nothing, and in line with what you'd expect from an older property. If you can't stomach it look at some new builds with guarantees.
I think the solicitor may see this as a way of prolonging and capitalising his work with you. Beware those costs too!

I believe that you could renegotiate if you were really bothered, but it's actually a relatively small fraction of the cost of the house. I'd definitely negotiate if it was £45,000 worth of building work!

Considering what you've said about the budgets being tight for all parties, if you go back to negotiate for this amount, then I think you're running the risk of disrupting the whole chain.

It really comes down to whether or not you think it's worth it over £4.5k?

I have a Victorian house and would see this as a good survey result and cheap price for works. I think we ended up telling seller we would not haggle, but perhaps they could kindly leave the curtains.. They did, plus big kitchen table and the whole place spotless. Worth keeping good relations.

I’m nearly ready to exchange on a 1886 house and the survey costs came to £5700 of work required. (Also bare in mind they use a UK average genetic calculator) nothing was of a surprise, two things of sight worry if left but items I’d consider maintenance and they should have had guarantees for the works so I’m waiting for the vendor to respond.

A French drain is a pain but fairly simple, sounds like you got the house for a good price though.

As the others said that’s to be expected for an old property. None of it urgent. I’d be pretty happy if that’s all a survey turned up. It’s a bit depressing that surveyors seem to be justifying their fees with some kind of price knock down agenda. People seem to be starting to expect old houses to be new build ready. It’s odd.

Our valuation is next week and I have to say we’d be fairly happy if that was all that cropped up. We wouldn’t be trying to negotiate based on the survey, especially given you’ve already had a fair reduction on the property.

Thanks all. I’m annoyed now that we were given such an impression of doom and gloom from the surveyor and needing to reduce price.

Totally agree with PP, 4500 is absolutely fine and not an amount worth negotiating over. Sounds like the survey was good!

It's the surveyor's job to install fear of god but ignore that and you solicitor really is unusual to suggest lowering price.

£4500 is nothing. All houses need something unless brand new. You got the house for a good deal. If you came back looking for more off I would put the house back on the market.

Agreed, £4,500 is a good result on a Victorian house. Don't jeapordise the sale and chain.

For a Victorian house, I'd say you got off pretty lightly! A few years back we were trying to buy a Victorian townhouse. Survey came back with over £25,000 of work recommended. Seller wouldn't negotiate, house was towards top end of area value anyway. We pulled out.

Erm, just because one outfit recommended by the surveyor says 4500, doesn't mean it will be 4500. Roofing work can eat that up in a day with scaffolding etc. Not saying it will but get another quote at least

You need more than one quote to start with, plus the surveyor's recommended one may not be the most competitive. You should budget up to 1% on maintenance pa , so 4.5k is not excessive. Does it really all need doing immediately or over time? If you have scaffolding it may be worth doing other less urgent roof level repairs at same time.

You should have seen our survey - 3 years later and we are still working through the list 😂
We were aware of some of the work before offering, and used that to negotiate £20k off the asking price. The survey flagged up another £20k or so of work, which wasn't immediately needed but would be in the next few years.
We didn't push for any further reduction as ultimately the house is worth what someone will pay for it; houses were selling very quickly in the area & for us it wasn't worth losing the house over or losing our buyer over.
Is it just the survey, or is the house not right for you in other ways?