Negotiating after a survey

[crankysaurus]

We've had an offer accepted and survey just back on a house, it's flagged up some fairly urgent repairs so we're going to get some quotes/additional survey, nothing structural (as in subsidence or failing walls) but things that we couldn't have seen during the viewing.

What's standard with negotiating an offer post-survey? Is it usual to ask for the full repair cost, or part, and is it something haggled over? Also, are there any reasons we wouldn't pass on our survey report to the vendors or their estate agent? We've not been asked for it, not sure if that would be standard too.

If it’s things that are genuinely in need of doing (i.e. serious enough that if you weren’t buying the property the sellers would need to have done anyway) and couldn’t have been foreseen (the property wasn’t described as ‘in need of modernisation’) then I’d start with asking for the full cost but ultimately expect to meet in the middle and they reduce the sale price by half the cost of the repairs.

Your solicitor should have a copy of the surveyor’s report: if the sellers want to check that serious things did come up in the survey and you aren’t just trying to pull a fast one they can request confirmation.

Also worth being aware that surveyors ultimately arse-cover, and as a result many reports make a property's condition sound far more doomtastic than it really is. The work may not be as urgent or serious as you think.

Negotiate as hard as possible and only share the relevant bits of the survey not the whole thing. I didn't negotiate hard enough with our last house and shared the full survey. I think you also find out how reasonable the seller is then. Our last seller was awful and the house was a nightmare from beginning to end. I would never ignore my gut again

Thanks both, it's not sold in need of modernisation but while there's not water actively gushing in, it does need a large part re-roofing within the next year to stop water ingress getting worse quickly. Will see what we get back and what's reasonable to start a conversation on.

What has the valuation from the survey come back as?

We’re having a survey done this week by our buyers and quite frankly if they try to negotiate afterwards we are willing to walk away. The house is being sold as it is, there nothing wrong with it (although I’m sure any survey will find some fault somewhere).

Are the people who live there living in it with the roof leaking ?

Our buyers renegotiated after survey which really annoyed us because on top of the quotes they got from the repairs( which were higher than the ones we got but they insisted on using to reduce by the exact amount) they also asked for an extra thousand pounds for repairs in the future as it’s an old house.
We were very unhappy and almost walked away, if not for the house we wanted to buy very much.
They left behind NOTHING decent. We took what we legally could and left no notes for local area or instructions on appliances. I didn’t even bother cleaning up the oven or the place after the movers made a mess on the rainy move day.
On the other hand, the house we bought didn’t have a radiator in one bedroom( the agent originally told us it was behind the clutter in that room) and the chimney needed repointing, the quotes we got were a bit less than a grand so we didn’t renegotiate at all.
Our seller left the place spotless, left a collection of decent gardening tools, a pot flower as a welcome gift and a bottle of champagne, along with a notebook full of instructions and contacts.
I would say treat your seller with decency and respect and renegotiate within reason and they will do the same.

Normally split the cost. But I have an 150 year old house and I'm sure the surveyor will find something. But I know the roof is fine, I've damp proofed it and I had it replumbed and rewired when I moved in, so I'm not budging if they want money off. It's caveat emptor in this country, but I would never lie or mislead. In fact I've just replaced my dishwasher as it wasn't performing well, even though it was just about functioning. I wouldn't do that to the buyer.
I don't like surveyors as I find they are scaremongers. And any serious problems I've had after purchasing the surveyors never picked up!

We've filtered out all of the small stuff that bulks out the survey as we'd assume we'd need to do many small jobs initially anyway, plus a couple of things that were quite obvious at the viewing. It's only really the leak as this was the one significant thing that wasn't apparent when walking round, we're otherwise going with as-seen.

Every survey I’ve had has suggested wiring needs re doing except my current house. Bizarrely the wiring in the old stable and the grade 2 listed properties were actually fine and it’s my current home that was 12 years old when we bought it that needed extensive wiring work and then a new boiler. I’m very dubious about surveys so unless they really found something I didn’t know about I’d not be negotiating. We did negotiate years ago for damp proofing but we paid half.

I would tread carefully. Surveyors usually over state risks and you risk the seller walking away. If it's an older house it's standard that there will be a few bits flagged, but that's part and parcel of buying an older house and the character that goes with it. unless it's something structural the sellers are totally within their rights to walk away so think carefully about whether you're willing to risk the chain.

Will think about it, it's not even an old house though, about 70yo, the sellers have just neglected normal maintenance from what we can tell.

You could pass the relevant extract to the vendor's EA and ask them to ask the vendor to get a quote for the work. My buyer started quoting ridiculous prices for the work on my house and it really annoyed me, he was just a chancer. They probably won't pay for all of it to be done as they won't be benefitting, but may go halves with you.

Lots of people don’t spot that a roof is leaking if they don’t go into the attic. Or they just ignore the need repairs!

I think a leaking roof is something to be negotiated over. It’s not acceptable. It’s certainly not cosmetic. Are the rafters wet? What does the report say? My initial reaction is to go 50/50 regarding a reduction. If they don’t want to negotiate they could hold out for the full money but only you will know if that’s reasonable or not. Did the price refjdcg that it needs tlc? Have you got wriggle room?

If they won’t agree to any reduction, would you walk away? I probably would. Another buyer might well feel the same.

We complete tomorrow on a house. The surgery flagged up some damp and leaking garage roof.

We spoke to a builder and workers out damp cost averages online. £5k.

Vendor said they would pay £3k and we were happy with that. Turns out they knew the work was needed and had budgeted for it.

Same with my sale, there's a little damp we found when we moved furniture so I had a damp Guy round and budgeted accordingly in case the buyer asked for money off.

I have just had to renegotiate. The reason you pay for a survey is to spot things and a true valuation. EA value property and over value.

If it were me I’d suggest a reduction of 60% of roof repair issue. I’d also see if they want eg three quotes (they probably won’t due to hassle with appointments etc). I’d also set out that you are not pursuing any of the other small issues but that this one issue is something you were not aware of and significant.