Buyer demanding work as a condition of purchase

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We're selling my father's flat, which is in a sheltered housing development. We have an offer but it's conditional on removing some cupboards and shelving and a sort of hoist belt in the bath - a bit like this one, and they also want us to make good. Taking the cupboards out will leave a gap in the carpet, but the prospective buyer says that's OK as they will be replacing the carpet anyway.

Our problem with this is that we obviously wouldn't do this before exchange of contracts, because we don't want to be left high and dry with gaps in the carpets if for any reason they pulled out of the purchase. However, if we have to do it after exchange we won't have much time, and round us it can be difficult to find tradesmen willing to come out for just one-off small jobs. Also, what if the buyer decided to dispute that the making good was up to standard?

I thought the norm in this situation was for the purchaser to do any works after completion/when they move in? After all, if they're taking cupboards/shelves out out they might well want to put in power points or wall lights where they were, or to choose a different colour for the walls. We've said we'd be happy to reduce the price a sensible amount to cover the cost, which can't be more than a few hundred pounds, but they buyer seems to be holding out. What's normal practice here?

The only time I've come across this is when the buyer intended to use the property as a rental. Of course we couldn't be sure about this but the EA knew them. Anyway, we said no and got new buyers. A property is sold as is, whether you've made changes or not is up to you.

Entirely your choice, personally I would say no, sold as seen etc.

You could suggest instead of doing works yourselves prior to completion that you put money on your solicitor's account for them to claim against for the works afterwards. We did this with our buyers who were being funny about works.

It would be a hard no from me. It'll be an ongoing issue and it'll never been done to their standard. Houses are sold as seen, do what you want to it afterwards.

Check with the Freeholder before you do anything. Minor internal works like this should be OK but it's a good idea to check first.

Dont do it, tell them sold as seen , tell them to hire a project manger to do the jobs when they own it. Some buyers do try and take the piss a bit :)

Wouldn’t be doing it. They either want the property and can sort it out themselves or they don’t and you carry on selling

I would say no. When I sold my aunt's house I had her chair stair lift removed, and the walls made good, as part of the house clearance but didn't remove any built in cupboards/wardrobes.

Get a quote from a professional to do the work. Tell the buyer you're happy to have the work done upon exchange of contracts, but it will cost them a non-refundable fee of £. And make sure that you get in writing what 'made good' will be - carpets will have gaps where cupboards were, holes in plaster walls will be filled and painted, holes in ceramic tiles will be grouted but tiles will not be replaced.

Remind them that the property will remain on the market and you will be taking viewings and considering alternative offers up until the exchange of contracts (and make sure that you are doing this, and that the EA is doing this).

@DogInATent I'm just curious, but why would you do this, to keep the sale? I can't get my head around taking this on when it's unnecessary. Not challenging you just genuinely interested as to why.

Would probably compromise on the hoist belt but not the cupboards

Sold as seen, standard for them to price any works and factor in to offer if they wish.

Have you had any other interest?

@DogInATent

Get a quote from a professional to do the work. Tell the buyer you're happy to have the work done upon exchange of contracts, but it will cost them a non-refundable fee of £. And make sure that you get in writing what 'made good' will be - carpets will have gaps where cupboards were, holes in plaster walls will be filled and painted, holes in ceramic tiles will be grouted but tiles will not be replaced.

Remind them that the property will remain on the market and you will be taking viewings and considering alternative offers up until the exchange of contracts (and make sure that you are doing this, and that the EA is doing this).

And then when you do and they pull out you have less cupboards and stuff that another buyer might not want. And have wasted money.

What the buyer should do is say 'I need to do X work on it so I'll offer Y less and then the seller can accept or decline the offer.

@HollyBollyBooBoo - tbh I'm not sure I would, but Mumsnetters in general seem to be overly-invested in maintaining a good relationship with every buyer/seller when it comes to property.

I'd just keep marketing the property until a sensible buyer comes along, unless I thought it was a particularly poor market for selling or the offer they were making was exceptionally good (aside from the odd request).

You could do everything I've suggested without even getting the quote - just tell them that a professional quote and non-refundable payment is the only way that you'd entertain their conditions.

At the end of the day it's a transaction. And in E&W nothing is binding until EOC, so you keep marketing, keep taking viewings, and keep on considering offers until you get to EOC. The whole conveyancing system is borked, and rigged to take advantage of whoever is nicest about things. So keep it neutral and business-like.

As others say - things like chair lifts and hoists remove but certainly no inbuilt cupboards - they can do that themselves on completion of sale.

And then when you do and they pull out you have less cupboards and stuff that another buyer might not want. And have wasted money.
Worst case is that everything that's been done has been paid for, and all it will cost you is £100 for a cheap carpet. But if it's rigged so this only happens upon exchange (which is how I suggested it), you're actually up on the deposit (less the carpet).

What the buyer should do is say 'I need to do X work on it so I'll offer Y less and then the seller can accept or decline the offer.

Yes, this. You doing the work is just asking for trouble if t's not done the way they want it. They should do it. If they feel that the cost is prohibitive, they should lower the offer accordingly. So if I was you, I'd figure out how much you think it would cost and then offer to let them have the property at the agreed price minus what you believe the cost of fixing things to be.

Job done.

Are you wary of upsetting them as there was a lack of interest?

Sheltered housing can be very difficult to sell because of the associated restrictions.

Though in my mind, they want to make changes to what will be their property and that's on them. But if that means a lost sale then I get your reluctance.

As FTB who have offered on probate properties that need this kind of thing doing, it wouldn't occur to us to make it a condition of the sale. You offer on somewhere factoring in the changes you want to make surely? I think they're being very unreasonable and the most i would do in your situation is lower the price slightly so as not to lose the sale, I wouldn't be doing the work myself.

Is this a retirement property where purchasers are few and far between? I know that in our area these properties won't sell when everything else is gone in a day. If not doing the works means you will be stuck with the flat and possibly big service charge for some time to come I'd suggest you have a word with your solicitor about how to do the works but keep safe from the point of liability.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I don't think there's likely to be too much of a problem in finding another buyer. The manager has said in the past that they usually have pretty steady demand, and the flat has advantages (e.g. the view) over others in the block. For some reason, however, he's pressurising us to accept these conditions, which makes me concerned that he might not promote the flat to other potential buyers. On the other hand, it's in his interests for it to be occupied, because new owners would almost certainly be paying for other services they offer.

The bath belt maybe but nothing else.

Usual practice is for the buyer to buy the property and then make the changes. I’ve never heard of the seller doing work to the buyer’s specifications - too much risk on the seller that way.

Unless you have an incredibly difficult to sell property, I’d tell them that the property is sold as seen and that any work will have to be done after purchase.

Absolutely not, sold as seen. And I think for what it's worth you're bang on to be cautious of needing to source tradespeople to do small jobs. We're in this position with our doer upper and it's a nightmare, taken us 2 months to get a plumber to even quote and then do the work, even longer for an electrician. We had 7 people agree to come out and quote and the experience we had was a combination of either people not coming to quote at all, coming out and then never providing a quote, or in 2 cases people giving us a (very high) quote and then when we said in desperation that we still wanted them to do the work we had radio silence and then both pulled out saying they couldn't take it on. Trust me, you don't want all of this lumbered on you during the selling process! Plus you can't know how much people will charge to do the jobs.

I would get rid of the bath hoist thing as it could be seen a quite an intimate thing that's not really part of the fixtures and fittings, but the other stuff they can sort out themselves once they are the rightful owners. They can demand as much as they want, you 100% don't have to acquiesce!