Unsure to renegotiate in a sellers market

[BerryTiredMama]

We’ve been trying to move for about a year now to upsize and we finally had an offer accepted on a lovely house. There were 3 other offers to compete with, the area we are buying in is highly competitive with most houses having multiple bids (usually more than 5).

We got this house at 15k under asking but were the highest bid. We thought it was well maintained, and it partly has been, however the survey has come back with around 30k worth of work to be done - the likes of ?asbestos, possible collapsed drain, check subfloors. Theres also no paperwork for chimney removal, side ext etc because this work was done in the 80s! We will be asking for indemnity for these things.

We could just about cover the 30k but i am wondering if its worth renegotiating for the seller to meet us in the middle or just leave it due to the initial 15k reduction (although it was overpriced) and also the fact its still a sellers market in this area. The house is £750+ london suburb so 15k off is not a huge chunk.

if you were the vendor would you tell me to get lost or would you be open renegotiate?

Nothing you've put sounds important to me. Surveyors always say there is asbestos and work done 40 years ago doesn't need planning. Is the value for mortgage 30k under your offer or just a list of possible work. I as a seller wouldn't renegotiate on any of that tbh but you could try.

No just the list of work. Mortgage offer has already been issued and valuation came back as correct for what we offered. Yes it is all pretty standard for an old 1930s and i dont want to annoy the vendors but it just seemed better maintained than to have to shell out extra £

The surveyor has also recommended cctv for the drains and vents to check the subfloors for rot but i just dont see the point if we couldn’t renegotiate on it as we would still purchase regardless of issues found.

I agree with this, unless you were buying something marketed as newly renovated I’d thank you were a CF

Every older house has some minor issues and many old houses have asbestos.The problems raised are par for the course and I would be mightily pissed off if I were the seller and you tried to renegotiate based on this, particularly if there had been other competitive offers.

I'd tell you to get lost and pick one of the other people. I'd stop selling to you for pulling this sort of stunt because I can't be sure you wouldn't do this again at exchange. So it'd be back on the market on Tuesday if you asked me to do that

😂 @Lastqueenofscotland2 im not trying to be a CF but it just seems unfair as some of these things are maintenance issues for which the seller is responsible having owned the property for decades and the agent wouldn’t know by just viewing when valuing. Anyway its good to hear different perspectives!

Hmm every older house does have issues but many issues can be avoided by the house being well maintained, for example the vents are on the floor allowing rainwater to get in which could have been avoided and may mean the subfloors are rotten. There is a collapsed drain somewhere for which the seller should have sorted out. Rewiring issues, could go on tbh.

Surveys always sound horrific. As a seller I would just say no probs and goto the next person who had offered. Honestly, you need to take what the survey says with a pinch of salt - if the mortgage company are happy with the price you have offered then it will be fine.

So the subfloor may be rotten but you don't know. You can't ask for a reduction on a problem that only might exist.

@poinsettias oh no we would get a cctv to check drains and floors first before negotiating but i dont want to pay for both surveys and the sellers still not be open to negotiation if there are issues found.

"The valuation came back for what you offered"

There is your answer.

@misscockerspaniel the bank did a desktop valuation so i just wouldn't count it as the same but yes i see your point.

You have to shell out for the surveys and find an actual problem in order to renegotiate. Or you just buy it knowing you’ll have to sort it later. It sounds like any normal house purchase to me.

They dont need to get indemnity insurance for work done in the 80s. don’t ask as that’d just irritate me as a seller.

it is still a sellers market and the valuation matches the price agreed, so if you messed me around I’d move to the next buyer and block you.

I'd only attempt to drop the price if I was going to walk away rather than pay the full amount plus repairs.

If the work was done in the 80s, any problems would have been apparent. I'd be telling you the house is going back on the market if you tried that with me.

I might want to visit to check the subfloors, and I would want to know where they thought the collapsed drain might be to see if it was my problem or the water company’s problem (we have one on our property that because it services other properties, is entirely the responsibility of the water company). Other than that, I wouldn’t expect any change to the sale price.

I would withdraw and go with the next offer as I could not trust you
And indemnity policy would be pointless

@DazzlePaintedBattlePants thats good advice thank you.

The chimneys were removed from the lower floors with no support for the stack so we will be asking for indemnity for that as its structural and potentially dangerous.

Thanks all. Its good to know that asking would equal “CF, how dare you and we will be moving on to the next offer” and glad we have not attempted any sort of renegotiation. Its as I expected really, hopefully it will turn into a buyers market soon :) We aren’t walking away from it regardless.

Why an indemnity for the chimney removal if you have concerns it's dangerous? You do realise they only pay for enforcement action not repair?

@Andithoughtiwasspecial 😅was on the advice of the agents we were buying with but I’ve just done some research as yes its not needed i guess

@Andithoughtiwasspecial Would it not protect us if the stack fell down (highly unlikely i know) and the neighbours claimed or is that buildings insurance?

That's building ins and I'm starting to think someone somewhere is getting a kickback for this indemnity nonsense. I've just been asked to take it out on a wall moved in 1975 which has no building permission. When they pushed I just put it back on the market and they quickly changed their mind bloody time wasters

I think theres so much overbearing regulation now that to buy without any is daunting to some!

@tontostitus that's sad. The works predate the 1985 act so what possible enforcement action were they thinking of..... 🤔

@berrytiredmama it may be a lender requirement but a) likelihood of injunction tiny b) doesn't help you if it does fall down!