Repairs higher than expected. Renegotiate?

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Hi. I had an offer accepted at 5% (16k over asking). The report came back as requiring 12k total repairs and a valuation lower than asking. The estate agent was really pushing me for a response regarding the survey results so I just used the surveyors estimates to reduce the price. I really like the house and asked to negotiate only on the big things (roof and window repairs 6k, not the valuation value. 6k off was was accepted. I’ve just had the roof quote and it’s about 2k more than the surveyor estimated.

i don’t want the vendor to think I’m just constantly trying to shave the price. But I can’t really afford the extra repairs. If you were the vendor would asking for more off seem reasonable?

The thing is with quotes from workmen is that material prices are so unstable it’ll change again by the time you complete… I’d not keep going back chipping away, they’ll get pissed off. It’s a sellers market and personally I’d not risk it

This is a difficult one. I am not sure where you are but where I am the demand is more than the supply so sellers are unlikely to reduce the price knowing that they can find another buyer very quickly. Depends on how much you like the house. You should ask anyway. Worse case scenario is they will say no. If they are in a hurry to move they may just say yes

How much lower was the valuation than what you have offered and how urgent are the repairs? Obviously not the roof, but would it have been obvious to you when you viewed the house that the windows needed attention?

@Lastqueenofscotland2 What concerns me most is the cost of materials and trades doesn’t look like it will go down any time soon with the war and inflation. So if house prices slump soon, or dip, the repairs might still cost more than now and I’ll be doubly stung.

@Kmj2018 i can’t tell what the demand is doing. Things seem to be selling but maybe at a slower pace. When I was viewing, things were being marked as sold within a week of listing. All the ones that were listed before Easter are listed as sold. All the ones that came up after aren’t.

@TwigTheWonderKid We settled on 15k over the valuation. So a reduction of 5k is still 10k above the valuation. The problem with the windows is that it’s on the upstairs outside, above the extension. So it might have been clear to someone with experience and/or binoculars. The repairs were recommended to be done within a year.

the other thing that’s come into light is that none of the works that have been carried out have building reg sign off. The surveyor didn’t point out anything wrong with those things (like the extension) but I’m a bit nervous about paying over asking when there no full documentation on lots of things AND repairs are going to be high.

We have just purchased a property and currently getting a lot of work done and everything is 25% more than I thought they would be. Our builder says cost of materials will go up again next year. Not sure how true this is.

If I were in your shoes i’d find out what position your sellers are at. Divorce, financial, found dream house, school catchment ect. Then you can gauge how quickly they want to progress. If they really need to/want to move then a few grand isn’t going to matter I’d probably ask for a few more grand off and see what they say.

@Kmj2018 annoyingly I don’t think they’re in a rush. This one’s chain free. The last house I tried to buy was in a long chain and it took months for the chain to form and then it collapsed and house prices had gone up. So I panicked and jumped on this one after seeing it was chain-free. Not sure it was the best idea now.

So vendors already agreed £6k off and now you want them to agree another £2k? I think that's what you're saying - op could be clearer.

I think you'll be lucky unless the market is unusually flat where you are.

Are you willing to lose it?

If not just go with it now, unless you will struggle to get a mortgage due to any of this

In the grand scheme of it all 2k seems neither here nor there. Are you sure you can afford to move?

I think 2k further is quibbling and you’ll annoy the vendors. In the context you describe and if I were the vendor I wouldn’t entertain it.

I can’t help but agree with @demotedreally building and materials cost are so expensive atm so definitely don’t over stretch yourself

Thanks everyone. I can afford to move. It’s more that I’m already paying 15k over the valuation. And the repairs are more than anticipated. I’ll have to pay £8k for those things, and if the windows are also more than the surveyor anticipated that will be more. So in the first month I’ll be paying quite a lot over the valuation, and more than I had anticipated when I offered over asking because I couldn’t see these repairs.

the addition of not having any building certification is another worry as I worry that will make it more difficult to sell in the future.

I understand how the vendor could feel this is cheeky but the extra roof information and the lack of building regs is new information since renegotiating. I think the estate agent pressuring me to inform him and the vendor of what was in the survey was a tactic. And I should have held off and got proper quotes in first.

I would ask them to get building reg sign off as a condition of your purchase. It should be straightforward if the work was to standard and if it isn't easy for them to get then it wouldn't be be for you!

It sounds like you feel uncomfortable with the price you're paying - do you feel you'll regret not trying to reduce the price further?

@maydaysarecloudy my solicitor has raised further queries but I don’t think they can get building regulation sign off now without significant work. From what I’ve read, for the extension especially, they’d have to strip the entire thing back to its foundations.

the building survey said there are no cracks in the extension but to get the building reg approval and completion docs.

I’m not really comfortable with the price I’m paying now because there are more repairs than I had anticipated, and those repairs cost more than I had planned. I still like the house. But the extra costs are pushing it beyond my comfortable ceiling price. Combined with the way things have changed since the war in Ukraine and everything is more expensive than when I first offered. There were lots of things I’d compromised on -location, garden, rooms are quite small, which I chose and was ok with. But no building regs and these extra costs I had not and I’m less comfortable with.

oh dear! I was in a similar situation, survey came back with a long list of problems such as dodgy electrical work, replacing windows and doors , roof, cracks in walls which I managed to get a few quid off but it was the lack of planning permission for a double storey extension that made me pull out. Some things can be fixed but i want to see planning permission and building regs . This is non negotiable for me

@Kmj2018 funnily the lack of planning permission bothers me less as it will have be more than 10years old (according to Google maps). And the surveyor said it looks ok.

Among other things, the surveyor also recommended replacing some windows but as they weren’t urgent, I didn’t add them to the renegotiation.

i think I was quite soft in the initial negotiation, taking the compliance of the work/ house, and cost of repairs in good faith. but now theres the combination of lots of things that’s starting the niggle.

im a bit negative on this. Bought last year- had to because of divorce - slap bang in June in middle of stamp duty freeze.
i had to outbid other offers, so already paid over the odds. Then survey came back with fundamental issues. got quotes. Negotiated for discount for some of that.
I went back to builders last august after I got settled in, and long and short of it I have massively struggled to find builders prepared to do work. One that was recommended by people strung me along for nearly 5 months committing to do work only to pull out at last minute. In the 10 months that’s passed since then the quotes I have managed to get have gone up 30%. I am stressed, depressed and frustrated. I’m retired so it is a massive chunk of my life savings and scary. I am bending over backwards to be amiable and flexible with prospective builders who quite frankly treat me with disrespect or even contempt given the lack of communication and general rudeness - they can get away with it because right now the customer should simply be grateful if they can even get a builder.
i have seriously considered selling up and moving, but have seen no other potential houses in the area that meet my needs. I’m over a barrel land knowing I’ll end up spending money I don’t have on a house that is not worth that, simply because so much time has passed between my original discount and the price I will pay when building work finally happens.
my advice, don’t buy a house right now needing building work immediately if you can avoid it- maybe in a few years once supply chains are operating better, and someone has seen sense in letting casual building labouring over seas workers. Any discount you negotiate will be irrelevant by the time you can find and get a builder.

How much do you want to move? Are there many alternative properties on the market?

If I were the vendor, having negotiated the price down once, a second attempt would seriously piss me off, and if I wasn’t desperate to move, I wouldn’t entertain it.

I wouldn't touch it without building regs.

Most purchasers are going to want that sorted so you will probably have to get it done yourself before you sell on.

Plus that's a massive red flag for me - what kind of builder did work without getting building regs???!!!

@EmilyBolton im so sorry to hear you’re having such a bad time with it. That situation is what I’m afraid of. It’s the things that are needing to be done now that are more expensive. The things that aren’t immediate I didn’t price for in the negotiation but the immediate things (that are causing cracks around the outside) I’m more worried about.

@HeddaGarbled i do want to move. There are a couple of alternatives. One has a slightly smaller garden but much bigger upstairs rooms. The bedrooms in this house are tiny. The other two are bigger everything and terraced. All three are 20-35k less.

@maydaysarecloudy even if the extension is quite old? My partner said a dodgy extension would be quite obvious and probably collapsed by now.

even if you are not concerned with the lack of building regs and planning permission. When you come to sell it you may find others are. Just bear that in mind.

having said that people do buy properties without building regs and planning permission. I personally wouldn’t but if I absolutely loved it then I would want to get it a lot less than the market value knowing that I might have problems selling it in the future . I certainly wounds pay 16k over asking or pay more than the valuation.

• wouldn’t

If it’s just the final sign off for Building Regs it tends to be fairly straightforward (cost should have already been paid for too).
I would ask them to do this as a condition of exchange.

@Kmj2018 i think exactly this. I was happy to pay over the valuation but since renegotiation, more things have come into the light so I don’t feel like it’s ‘shaving off the price’ as there’s new information that was disclosed to me earlier, as well as the extra costs of repairs.