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?

I would say that the offer was accepted because of the windows and there is no further reduction. Buyers sometimes try to squeeze you. But you have alot less to lose than them

@unbotheredbutbewildered

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.

But also their % means that a drop of a few thousand doesn't make much of a difference either really

Is this a new trend in house buying?

I have bought 6 houses during my lifetime and never met this before. Now it seems to be cropping up on MN a lot over the last couple of years.

To me the offer is the offer, unless there is some concealed issue only visible at survey, or the seller has misrepresented something.

I have bought houses where a survey has revealed woodworm, roof issues, electrical issues and wood rot. However, I have never gone back and tried to knock the price down.

I am beginning to think that house buying is becoming so difficult that I never want to go there again !!

Oh yes very common, we’ve had it with both of our last sales, the first 8 years ago £5,000 reduction just before exchange last time £20,000 reduction in July this year.
As a seller you often get held to ransom with this as you have so much invested already.
I do think the OP has the advantage of knowing their buyers will miss the stamp duty saving if they mess around so are in a good position to tell them to jog on!

One of my big regrets when selling was not asking my EA to obtain the relevant extracts of the buyer's survey when they were demanding money off. I lost patience with my buyer as I didn't like the language of his negotiation at all, and withdrew from the sale, I also left the estate agent. I think he was quoting the cost of redoing our roof in gold, his quotes were outrageous.

We had this, our buyers wanted a £20k reduction after the survey, we held our nerve and said no, lost the sale and the house we wanted but I still wouldn't do it any other way and don't regret the decision we made, if you can hold out and want to tell them no reduction then do it but be prepared it may fall through, you say your in no rush so might be worth taking the risk - good luck x

We have just signed a contract for 9 new windows and a set of French doors and it's £8k including vat, installation and removals (local firm in South East) so they are taking the piss with wanting £15k reduction for 2 windows....

Did the survey give a valuation? We reduced an offer on a house after survey. They stuck to their guns, we walked away. Took them another year to sell house for 10k less than we'd offered.

It's all horse trading. It's irrelevant whether there is 15K of work to be done, or whether you dropped the price by 15K to start with. You are offering a house at X amount. You are not forcing them to buy it, they can pull out at any point. They are offering you 15K less. They are not forcing you to accept it, you can pull out at any point. No one is right or wrong, or being unreasonable (at this stage - gazumping or gazundering on day of exchange is unreasonable!) as you are still in the negotiation stage. If you are not minded to accept, just politely convey this to them.

Ask the EA to reply to them quoting sold prices for similar houses, the asking price, the discount you already have offered, the fact that the single glazed windows were obvious on viewing and the estimate replacement cost based on what you paid do the front ones. Clearly state that the price agreed is a good price for the house and the discount should be more than sufficient to cover the cost of replacing the windows. Remind them that with the end of the stamp duty holiday looming you do not wish to reduce the price any further and require confirmation that they are prepared to proceed at the price already agreed by lunch tomorrow or you will be instructing the EA to relist immediately, before close of business tomorrow.

We had similar with our previous house. We refused to lower the price any further as almost all the issues raised in the survey were obvious to them during the viewing. They still bought, they were trying their luck.

Hello,

We had money reduced (not anywhere near 15k) following the survey on the house we were buying. There was some issues uncovered which weren't obvious when we viewed the house.

However, we weren't shady at all about the issues and gladly shared the results of the survey with the owner. We also got three quotes for the work that was required and then based on this, settled on an agreeable amount with the seller.

15k seems a lot, and i'd definitely want to know what they found so wrong with the house to warrant this. If it's genuine I don't know why they wouldnt be willing to share this.

All the best x

It depends. Was there a valuation and what did that say? On the face of it I'm not massively sympathetic to this and given the stamp duty holiday they may back off if you stand firm. But if the valuation has come in low this will affect their (and any future buyers') ability to get a mortgage so you may have to simply bite the bullet and agree. Ask for a copy of the survey and see what they say.

Are they sash windows???

If not then it's ludicrous and they are trying it on.

They have shared the full survey with us. It does not include a valuation. The 15k consists of 5k-8k for the Windows and a further 8k for repinning one piece of felt on the roof (a job we have had done a few years ago for £250). The other two “essentials” are fitting a third smoke alarm and putting in a seal on the bottom of the shower door. No structural problems, no damp.
Lots of the survey is inaccurate e.g referring to us neglecting to maintain, trees when we don’t have any.

Unless they don't have a mortgage there will be a valuation, it's a requirement of the lender. We had an offer accepted on a property but then the survey came back £8k below what we'd offered. The bank said we either need to increase our deposit by £8k (we didn't have an extra £8k lying around) or the seller would have to reduce the price. In the end, the seller reduced the price. It's not always the buyer playing hardball, often it's the mortgage lender refusing to lend above the valuation.

There's always a risk that another surveyor will judge the selling price as too high as well and you'll be in the same situation. You could offer to meet halfway?

Even 5k for 2 windows is absurd. The fact that it mentions non existent trees is very suspect. Is the surveyor a member of RICS?

I'd be worried that the report has been mixed up with another property or the surveyor just hasn't done a good job.
It's completely possible that the surveyor did not do a valuation as this sometimes costs extra so your buyers are just relying on the valuation conducted by the bank (often remotely unless it's valued at less than the buyers are paying).

I'm glad you have been able to see the full survey, and as you say, the quotes for such minor points are ridiculous. My buyer was quoting £3k for a chimney repair that I knew would be about £500.

I hope you can move forward.

Tell them to jog on!! You're not in a rush