Building survey shows water ingress. How to proceed.

[R2Dee2]

FTB here. Got a survey but there is a lot wrong with the property. There is water ingress. We are talking work in the region of 20% of property value. I still want to proceed but need the price reduced. How do I go about this without upsetting seller? Is it reasonable to get quotes and reduce offer by that amount?

Please help.

Your solicitor should advise you after they have seen the survey and they will be the ones approaching the agent. It depends if this is reflected in the current price or they are unaware. Don’t worry about feelings - this is a business transaction. Easier said than done but try to take the emotion out of it as it will make the process much easier.

Surely the sellers know about this and the price reflects?

Just wondering how there can be water ingress and the sellers don't know about it? Or they do know and covering it up? If it's the latter then I think a price reduction is fair.

If there’s an issue uncovered by the survey yes you can renegotiate. Don’t worry about upsetting anyone. It’s usual to go halves on any work - say it costs £20k to remedy they reduce by £10k, as you are getting the benefit. But be guided by your solicitor.
Any issues your survey flags up will be in any subsequent survey so it’s something the sellers need to address.

Thank you for the replies. It’s good to know. Prices in SW are steep as it is and I don’t want to lose the house.

I can only imagine what the market in the SW is like ATM. The problem you'll have in a manic market is if prices are rising so fast that the seller thinks the value has risen by the cost of the work in the time it's been on the market - so effectively you've already had a hefty "discount"!