Buyers trying to lower price after survey

[HepLaurenceLB]

We accepted an offer at 15k below asking. We had 20 viewings before the offer.
We are in no rush to move and were going to move into a relatives spare house until we found a house we liked.
The buyer has now come back asking for 15k following the survey. The only specifics they have given us is that two windows need updating.

We are thinking about telling her to take it or leave it. She would lose out on the stamp duty holiday which will cost her 15k on a new purchase. Not moving to a temporary home during a lockdown is a nice thought. Although what if we never get another offer?
Wwyd?

@Frazzle76 identical houses in the area are all 15-35k higher. We got 4 valuations and went with the second lowest.

I’d say no , if they survey came back with more urgent/ unforeseen problems then that’s different but 15 grand off because they didn’t notice 2 windows might need replacing 😆. All they are trying to is reduce the price further , Just tell them pull put it back on the market if they are not happy . We had this once , 9 weeks of haggling about studio things, we pulled out and put it back up sale . Good luck 🤞🏼

Check the email, it may contain more than the suggestion of replacing two windows as £15k is a significant cost for windows (includes stained glass?).

Sounds like she’s trying to get the cost or replacing ALL the windows. She might think that replacing 2 would leave the house looking a bit bodged without them all matching so she’s asking you to cover the costs of having them all replaced for aesthetic reasons and not for necessity. Counter off with the costs of the two windows reduced and refuse to budge any more than that if you want to be accommodating.

Sounds like they are chancing their arm. We recently gave a much smaller reduction when the buyers raised a couple of genuine (small-ish but need sorting relatively quickly) issues that came up on their survey. We met in the middle on the initial reduction they asked for, for various reasons, and they openly shared the detail in the survey on those items and I think both sides acted pretty reasonably.

That was nowhere near 15k though - the lack of detail they have provided makes me think they bid what they thought would get them the offer but can't really afford it/was never willing to spend that much and planned to try and bargain down on the basis that you might be tied into moving to a certain timeline. But maybe I'm just a cynic!

Say no and put the house back on the market. They have a lot more to lose than you do

Why would you accept such a low offer in the first place when you had 20 viewings?

Was that offer a reasonable one - did it reflect the market value of your property?

That true some people will offer more than they really want to get it off the market, then haggle later when they think the sellers are desperate to move on .

That would be a no from me too - you are not in a rush, and from the sounds of it she is chancing her arm on getting the whole set of windows replaced.

If you cave in, you can expect another demand just before exchanging contracts.

I agree with the general consensus on here. Tell them no and if they don't proceed on the original price you will the house back on the market.

Hi OP. We are London based and just replaced 8 windows and installed 2 composite doors for 8.5k. 15k is definitely a very cheeky reduction. I would refuse.

Do you actually have two windows that need replacing?

You need the detail of the survey (although the buyer doesn't have to send you the actual survey as they paid for it).

On our last house purchase we had an offer accepted of 10k under the asking price. The house needed some decorative work but at face value it seemed in good condition and it was being marketed as 'needing cosmetic updating but has been well maintained' etc. The surveyor found a whole range of issues which demonstrated that it had not actually been very well maintained at all - damp in the loft, some issues with the roof, drainage problems in the garden etc. We asked for a further 8k reduction and the buyer came back offering 3k off, and we compromised at 5k.

If there are actual issues coming up in the survey then you need to take them seriously, and they do reduce the value of your house as any buyer will need to spend extra to rectify any problems. Also don't assume that you would necessarily be aware of the issues - our vendor knew about the damp in the loft but didn't know about the roof or the drainage issues.

Depends if you can afford not to sell. Have you had other offers? Do you need to move?

You accepted an offer. That is the price for your house, as seen. Your asking price is irrelevant, it was just a guess by you and the EA at what someone might be prepared to pay, so the current value.

The big question with the survey results is do they raise issues that are not visible to a buyer viewing the house? Things that are hidden, or things that would not be obvious on casual, visual inspection?

So, window frames might appear to be ok (e.g. if recently painted over) but, if looked at closely by an expert, or prodded, prove to be rotting, loose or otherwise to need replacing.

I have been a buyer who asked for a similar amount off after survey, because there were rotting joists, potential asbestos in a roof and (I think, long time ago) rotting window frames. Pulling up the floor to deal with the joists would have delayed our moving in, so cost us extra mortgage / rent payments in the meantime.

That seller refused to reduce the price, we walked away. The house wasn't worth our (below asking but actually very generous) offer price, in that state. The seller's erroneously thought it was, because other, far better maintained, houses on the street had gone for similar or more. I don't they sold and eventually took it off the market.

Depends how keen you are to secure a sale. Personally, in your instance, I wouldn’t drop as you’ve already dropped the price once.

I feel they are chancing their luck. Double bluff them and put back on market.

As you are in no rush I would tell them to jog on

15k for two windows. They miss out on the stamp duty reduction, and you are not under immediate pressure to sell. I would be immediately calling their bluff on this, stating the you have sold £15k below initial asking price, are chain free and if they do not want to proceed you will put the house back on the market.

Unless you have gold framed windows and they are replacing like for like they are CFers.

Tell them thats the price and should you not hear from them by midday tomorrow you'll go back to market.

Are the wooden sash windows?

I would say 'The property was priced, and the lower offer accepted, with the likely need for some work in mind. We are therefore unable to accept a lower offer than that already agreed. They are just being greedy.

THey are bog standard wooden single pane windows. We put double glazing in at the front and on the downstairs ground floor but didn’t replace upstairs two back windows because they were fine and scaffolding in the back garden would have been a pain.

I'd ask for the EA to forward the email. It's not unusual for EAs to lie tbh - remember they work on commission so they won't want a further reduction in price.

Unless your house is listed, £15k is way too much for two windows. You could offer to get the windows fixed yourself instead of a price drop, but if you're in no hurry to move, I'd be inclined to not budge on the price and get the EA to put it back on the market.

I would deal with your solicitor with this. We had something similar happen. The house we went for put an offer in lower than asking price. I questioned the EA initially regard the valuation price as I thought it was high. After we got survey done the valuation was far lower. Not to do with condition just over pricing on EA part. We offered full survey valuation price and got it another 40k cheaper. I would ask for an explanation as to why the 15k lower offer but do it through your solicitors. If there is a good enough reason accept it. Otherwise you could risk going through the selling process again and it happening again.

Yup - buyer of mine once asked for a £5k reduction on the day of exchange in recognition of the delays in completing the deal (thanks to my shoddy mortgage company and vendors). This was despite the fact it was in the property boom period and if I'd put it back on the market it would have gone on for another £5k above their original agreed offer.

I told them no, I wanted to hear from them by 5pm that day or it would be back on the market in the morning. I didn't want to lose my own purchase but I didn't have £5k sitting around to top my own purchase up with, so I had no choice (not that I'd have backed down to their blackmail).

I had a call from my solicitor within the hour saying we'd exchanged. I asked what happened about the price reduction request and he said "what reduction". Stupid idiots hadn't told their solicitors who went ahead and exchanged anyway!

I then spent days thinking of ways to leave something for revenge for their greediness. In the end all I did was not bother cleaning the place as I left and just left a PA note of - sorry - didn't have time with your demands for a quick completion.

If you're in no hurry OP I'd give them an ultimatum and stick with it.

(Re windows though, there are some window replacement companies that will replace them from inside, rather than having to do scaffolding - my old house was a 3 storey townhouse and mine were replaced like this - not your problem now though - the price reflected it in the first instance)