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Avoiding a money pit?

11 replies

NeedANewNameBriefly · 25/07/2022 12:49

We are trying to purchase our "forever home", have gone madly over budget on something that isn't perfect, but we are happy enough with. Survey has come back and the work that needs doing seems to be quite a lot. We want to renegotiate the price and based on repair costs for the most significant things, so not just decorate issues for example we want to go lower by about 12% (that's what I've worked it out as being)

Not quite sure the best way to approach this and how much of this the vendor thinks should have been priced in to our offer, bearing in mind we were unaware of 99% of the issues prior to the survey. The 1% is an issue we believe they should and could still deal with through their buildings insurance.

For context here are some of the issues:

•Repointing of brickwork to the two left chimney stacks
•Replace a number of missing, slipped and damaged roof tiles (particularly to the front and rear slopes). However, given their age it may be more economic to recover the whole roof rather than continuing to repair.
•Carry out crack repair to the front elevation. •Replace a few double-glazed units to the conservatory__
• Porch – replace several roof tiles, decorate timber elements and carry out longer-term repair to the far right post
•Install additional air bricks and replace damaged air bricks to the right side
•Reduce the height of the external ground level at the front (or install a French drain) and cut back the timber decking at the rear
•Adjust five of the internal doors
•Rectify leak from the shower hose/replace shower in the family bathroom
•Hot water cylinder appears undersized/replacement needed
•Replace the waste pipe from the dishwasher and rectify leak from gulley surround
•Secure boarding to the timber decking and carry out timber repairs where required

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DelphiniumBlue · 25/07/2022 22:13

If the roof is leaking and there is damp, those issues will be both obvious and need urgent repair.
If the survey is just flagging up likely expenditure required in the next 5-10 years on an older house, which is what the majority reads as, then the seller is unlikely to reduce.
If you think the work is urgent, then get quotes. Without those, it's just guessing.
If any of this was really urgent, the survey would probably have recommended a retention.
Its also worth asking if there are guarantees, eg for the glazing. If you do go ahead, make sure that the guarantees are transferred to you, it's not necessarily automatic.

Shakeitshakeitbaby · 25/07/2022 22:22

None of this sounds particularly significant for an older house. Mostly just bits of maintenance, a lot of which doesn't sound urgent. You can ask for a reduction but don't be surprised of they say no.

nightshade · 25/07/2022 22:27

Have lived in houses like this for years...they will list every little detail in a survey because that is what they are paid for...

If you are a worrier and need to sort everything at top premium prices then don't buy it...

If you can live with it for years, chipping away as you go then put in an offer...

I had a house with 110yr roof on...the tiler fixed a few loose tiles..refused to re roof as he said it was pretty good for that age...the new owner still hasn't done anything 7 years later..

My current house has had one bathroom half chipped back for two years whilst we located a leak..

Good luck!

Trainfromredhill · 25/07/2022 22:31

Weve just bought our forever home. The survey identified about £30k worth of structural repairs. We didn’t renegotiate.
as pp has said a lot of the stuff on your list is general maintenance/cosmetic.
I think in the current market you need to consider if you might loose the purchase altogether. We went to sealed bids on our sale . At a 12% reduction of offer price all our other bids would still have been significantly more, and we would have just withdrawn our acceptance of your offer and offered it to someone else. I have read on prev MN threads recently that in the current climate there isn’t the luxury of renegotiating on price. I guess if the house had been on the market for a year and you were the only offer then you could try your luck. If it wasn’t on long and there were other offers then you are risking loosing it.

Suggestives · 25/07/2022 22:37

How many issues are rated 'urgent' or 'very urgent'? They are the only ones that should justify renegotiation.

"Rectify leak from the shower hose" .. did the surveyor take a shower to discover that one 😂

Diyextension · 25/07/2022 23:04

Almost all of the things you have listed are just general maintenance, a 12% drop sounds like a lot….. if I was selling the house you’d get a flat no !

if you want a house with no maintenance for the next ten years , buy a new build with a guarantee.

redfairy · 25/07/2022 23:14

It all sounds fairly minor to me. I wouldn't be seeking to drop the price.

NeedANewNameBriefly · 26/07/2022 02:13

Thank you all - I do appreciate the responses. And can see now this isn't abnormal list for an Edwardian age house. We have now had the complete report and I've discussed it further with the surveyor

Biggest issue for us was the house the fact was wonky/house movement - surveyor has said it's down to poor foundations and not subsidence.

The roof he said needed quite a bit of repair, so may be more economical to replace - we are now getting quotes for that.

The two urgent issues related the gas and electricity supply - also now getting an engineer/electrician to carry out a safety check.

We may try to get a bit off for the roof- depending on what comes back in terms of work actually needed. And we will hopefully be fine on gas/electricity.

The rest, I have excepted will be our "joy" to chip away at over the next few years.

Thank you again for your kind/helpful responses.

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Twiglets1 · 26/07/2022 07:45

Daughters survey showed loads of things. The most significant was that the Victorian house needed a new roof as it has concrete tiles (unsuitable as too heavy but also very old and already repaired multiple times). We negotiated 4K off the price which is likely to be roughly what her share of the new roof will cost ( she only has to pay 20% of the cost of a new roof as cost is shared between all the flats). This was in London.

Mizydoscape · 26/07/2022 08:43

The gas and electric always come back as "urgent", the surveyor is neither an electrician or a gas engineer.

Your solicitor should ask for certificates for these. If the vendor doesn't have an up to date boiler certificate (semi likely) or fixed electrical certificate (more likely) then its up to you to pay for these to be done. I mean you can ask the vendor to, but they might say no.

With the electrical cert, expect defects to come up as the regs change frequently.

NeedANewNameBriefly · 27/07/2022 16:58

Thanks yes - we have booked in both for both gas and electricity safety checks to be done this week now. We are paying for these ourselves.

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