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Original poster

Home Buyer wants price reduction after survey! Help!

46 replies

Emmamortali3105 · 02/03/2021 15:09

My buyers have had a thorough building survey completed on my house and have since come back asking for a reduction in price based on what the survey says.

I’ve seen the survey and it lists damp as needing to be investigated (there are no signs of damp to the naked eye) so this is very vague. They’ve also listed that my property has a flat roof which can cause leaks (I’ve had no leaks in the 15 years living here)

The buyers who had 8% (£35,000) already off of the asking price are now saying they were surprised to know it has a flat roof (it’s a bungalow and you can see the flat roof from the garden 🤦🏻‍♀️) and that I need to get the damp sorted.

I’m desperate for this to not fall through but also cannot afford to lessen my price any more.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice please?

Thank you

OP posts:
StephenBelafonte · 02/03/2021 15:14

Could you negotiate a discount on the house that you're buying to help offset the discount that your buyers are asking for?

Claphands · 02/03/2021 15:18

I’d just tell them no, are they really going to pull out now?

Lovelydovey · 02/03/2021 15:19

I’d ask for further details on what damp they have uncovered. And I’d tell them to go whistle in the flat roof - there is no evidence of leaks and they were aware prior to the survey of its existence.

Atalune · 02/03/2021 15:20

Just say no. They are taking the piss.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 02/03/2021 15:21

I'd suggest they arrange their own independent damp and roof specific surveys with the relevant trades and you will facilitate the trades visiting to inspect.

Fulmar · 02/03/2021 15:26

Home surveys often say damp needs investigation just as a "cover your arse" response to the fact that the surveyor can't see everywhere that they need to check for any obvious signs of damp e.g. behind kitchen units. Tell the buyer you are happy to allow access for a specialist damp inspection but they have to arrange and pay for it.

Flat roof - already factored into the price as it's a TBO feature of the house (Totally Bleedin' Obvious).

ChateauMargaux · 02/03/2021 15:27

Remind them that the price reflects the age and condition of the house. Remind them that the purpose of the survey is to inform them of any issues that are not evident on viewing and identifying future areas of potential deterioration as well as areas requiring immediate attention. The survey has not uncovered any areas requiring immediate attention and has merely advised that they carry out a full damp survey. Confirm that you have not seen any evidence of damp and that the roof has not leaked in 15 years, has been adequately maintained. Remind them that all buildings need on going maintenance and reiterate that the survey did not find any evidence of past or current leaks.

Springingintospring · 02/03/2021 15:29

They are trying it on. Say you're not able to but reassure them you've never had issues. That way you can say no but nicely, keeping the conversation cordial so they can back down without losing face.

Anordinarymum · 02/03/2021 15:30

@Emmamortali3105

My buyers have had a thorough building survey completed on my house and have since come back asking for a reduction in price based on what the survey says.

I’ve seen the survey and it lists damp as needing to be investigated (there are no signs of damp to the naked eye) so this is very vague. They’ve also listed that my property has a flat roof which can cause leaks (I’ve had no leaks in the 15 years living here)

The buyers who had 8% (£35,000) already off of the asking price are now saying they were surprised to know it has a flat roof (it’s a bungalow and you can see the flat roof from the garden 🤦🏻‍♀️) and that I need to get the damp sorted.

I’m desperate for this to not fall through but also cannot afford to lessen my price any more.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice please?

Thank you

They are being cheeky. I would refuse. I've been in this situation where people have unfairly nit - picked on my property in an effort to bring the price down, but also because they were having difficulty getting the mortgage they wanted. I had made an offer on a property and it was accepted and now they were getting silly over all sorts of 'unnecessary' which fell through due to their stupidity and inability to sort a mortgage out, and I ended up selling to someone else.
justanotherneighinparadise · 02/03/2021 15:31

If you say no they’ll just wait until just before completion and threaten to pull out unless you drop the price. I can almost guarantee it I hear it so often.

StephenBelafonte · 02/03/2021 15:32

You need to remind them that they have already had £35k off the asking price (what was that for by the way?)

Also @ChateauMargaux response is really good.

DeeplyMovingExperience · 02/03/2021 15:32

We had this from our buyers and told them to piss off. They had already negotiated a big discount from the asking price, and we were not prepared to lower the price any further.

They made a bit of a fuss about it, but did not back out. They want to buy your house otherwise they wouldn't have gone this far. Tell them no.

species5618 · 02/03/2021 15:42

We've just been through two months of this. Buyer came in with an offer
£80.000 under asking before even viewing the house!
We said no (obviously). So they then viewed and it's been a relentless barrage of stupid offers even leaving notes through our letterbox after we declined to deal with them any more. Basically it came down to the fact they wanted us to fund their new extension. We even had our own damp survey done including cost estimates from a reputable firm so we knew what was involved
In your case OP, if you've reduced the price already to a sensible value you just have to stand firm and say no.

Igmum · 02/03/2021 15:51

The survey should have a valuation as part of it. The buyer's mortgage company will be looking at that. What's the valuation? If it reflects the price offered tell them no, if it says the bungalow is overvalued you may have to grit your teeth and accept it. Good luck OP it's ridiculously stressful when these things happen (when it happened to me I said no because the valuation was fine, ended up selling to another buyer for full asking price i think)

Original poster
Emmamortali3105 · 02/03/2021 15:55

Thanks for the advice all. It’s so stressful honestly 😭 they didn’t have a valuation done as part of the survey as they are cash buyers.

I’ve just had a damp specialist come over and measure the damp and he’s said that it’s non urgent but if he was to do the work it would be £1500.

OP posts:
PresentingPercy · 02/03/2021 15:58

A flat roof more than 15 years old probably is a liability. You might not have the problem
OP, but someone will! It depends whether other people are queuing up to buy it. If not, try and negotiate. If you want to tough it out, they could walk away. So be realistic about the flat roof? How good is it really?

Midlifephoenix · 02/03/2021 16:03

@ChateauMargaux
I couldn't have said it better! My house is 160 years old and I expect a few things will come up in the survey. It's not a new build and no one should expect it to be damp free (not many Victorian hotses are) and in perfect condition.

Salome61 · 02/03/2021 16:10

I had a buyer constantly chipping the price down and I'll always kick myself for not asking to see the relevant 'extracts' from the survey.

I also had damp and the timber/damp 'specialist' tried to sell me completely unsuitable solutions - and the buyer's mortgage lender threw the survey out as useless. My buyer quoted me £10K for fixing my damp - my plasterer quoted £1000 to hack off and replace with lime.

Ask to see the extracts from their survey, and see if you can get any trades to come and quote.

DogInATent · 02/03/2021 16:38

It's not unusual, and all offers are usually Subject To Survey (under English law).

We walked away from a house we'd had an offer accepted on after the survey came through. We'd have needed to have dropped our offer by £5-6k to cover the remedial work required (plus a contingency) and we decided we didn't want the hassle.

You either accept or reject their proposal. If you reject it, add a bit of an edge. Tell them they either confirm the originally agreed offer within 48hrs or the house is back on the market at the full sales price*. If you accept it, tell them it's conditional on a rapid Exchange (again, set a time scale - this time before the newly agreed discount will be refused).

*assuming you made the usual error of taking it off the market when the offer was agreed. There's no reason to do this. Leave the For Sale sign up and instruct the EA to keep marketing the property until Exchange. It's in your interest as Seller to do this. Of course, as a Buyer you'd want to discourage that sort of thing...

purpletrees16 · 02/03/2021 16:51

Our buyer said no. We’ve just started what was originally £7k but now £12k due to further issue worth of roof works. Our survey said £30k but the roofer said a few could wait. Our sellers attitude was that he told us the roof hadn’t been dealt with since 1930 constitution (true) and it was priced to include this. He also said that it was water tight (also true).

I’d say no. My plan on selling the house (in 10 years, haha) is to ask for the offer to be made sure that it includes all issues the buyer could reasonably have assessed by eye in a similar way - it was actually so much easier than all this back and forth.

Let them send in the people to do the quotes but you don’t need to move on price, unless they back out... think how few homes are coming on, the stamp duty... unlikely I’d say

Original poster
Emmamortali3105 · 02/03/2021 16:52

@DogInATent thank you! My bloody agent said that they had to legally take it off the market!!

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 02/03/2021 16:55

Depends if you think another buyer will come along and offer what you want. Do you think the price is low enough. I don't think one answer suits all circumstances.

WombatChocolate · 02/03/2021 16:56

The norm here is for the buyer to pay a specialist surveyor or company to come out and look at the situation more fully and say if the work is urgent or not and to give a price for it.

Until they have done this they can’t really ask for money off. You should return to them and ask them to go ahead and get clarification from experts.

There is a chance there is an issue. If there is and it is supported by experts and priced up by more than one workman, you might have to be prepared to lower price. Saying you can’t afford to doesn’t mean genuine issues that require a cut in price can’t appear.

Of course, you can pull out, but if there’s a genuine issue it will crop up again.

But at this stage, there’s no enough info. Say you’ll be happy to consider once they have had further surveys completed.

At this stage it is just trying it on. If they think there is a serious issue they will go ahead and pay for further specialist survey and get quotes from workmen to support their claims.

Put the ball back in their court.

DogInATent · 02/03/2021 16:59

[quote Emmamortali3105]@DogInATent thank you! My bloody agent said that they had to legally take it off the market!![/quote]
In England it's not Sold and nothing is binding until Exchange. It's a broken system, but make it work for you.

You'll need to twist the EAs arm almost to the point of breaking to get them to continue to market a house that's had an Offer. But never, never let them put "Sold" or "Under Offer" on the For Sale sign. Make sure the sign stays up. And remind them they're contracted to market the property until Sold, which is the point of Exchange.

Selling a house isn't about making friends with the Buyer.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 02/03/2021 17:00

I'd respond with "happy to meet halfway on the damp proofing, but we will not reduce further for the fact that the property has a flat roof, as it is (1) perfectly evident from the particulars and (2) in good working order"

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