Background: we had an offer accepted on a 1950s house. It is a probate sale and has fallen through 3 times - mostly due to mortgage reasons. No previous buyers have performed a survey. The house is habitable and just needs updating. The garden is beautiful and is what won us over. We offered 50k over asking which was what we were told would be the minimum that would be accepted. They rejected several offers of 10-30k over. Previous accepted offers which fell through were 60k-80k over.
I had a quick call with the surveyor this morning who did the building survey. Lots of small issues and a couple of red flags. The general consensus is that the property was not well maintained. Recommendations for urgent/immediate repair are the plumbing/drainage needs to be completely replaced, removal of asbestos water tank and asbestos panels dumped in garden, and strengthening the roof with beams.
Things to be done soonish is the roof will need to be replaced, chimney repointed, asbestos walls, floor and garage roof removed. Other things on the never ending list are: half of the windows have misted, none of the glass doors have safety glass, replacing electrics and radiators. He has given us a rough estimate of 70k for the repairs. I will be getting quotes once the final survery report comes through.
Needing some advice on what to do now. We cannot afford the 70k. We are mortgaged up to our eyeballs with some money we have left over for replacing the old carpets, new radiators and buying a oven, fridge and washing machine. Do we go back to the vendor and ask for a reduction? Or ask them to address some of these urgent issues highlighted by the surveyor?