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Original poster

Unreasonable seller!!!

34 replies

TinaTinaTina · 02/09/2022 18:58

So im moving house. My mortgage Valuer has been and surveyed it and stated there needs to be a damp and timber report done and all remedial work done before I'm allowed my mortgage. ( I'm porting my existing mortgage, only 14k on a house worth 178).
So after said survey there's a little work to be done costing £960, half a days work.
The sellers agreed to pay half on completion BUT they won't allow access to have this done!!
Estate agents been on to them explaining that this will come up in other valuers reports if they pull out anyway. But no....they've pulled out and are hoping for a cash buyer ( even though they too could have a survey)
My house is sold and I'm desperate to get out with my little girl.

Any advice please as I think it's unreasonable and a bit crazy.
She's apparently fed-up of workmen in her home, she's had things done recently like plastering and electric works. I do understand that but jeez...I'm now in a bad situation 😕

OP posts:
Lastqueenofscotland2 · 02/09/2022 19:11

Honestly I wouldn’t have negotiated over less than a grand. I’d have just done it when I moved in..

Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 02/09/2022 20:19

Hi. I'm not negotiating, it's a condition of my mortgage...remedial works have to be done before I'm allowed my mortgage.

OP posts:
Holidayinginmymind · 03/09/2022 00:28

Offer to pay for all of the work and give her £100 to go out for a nice lunch to make up for the inconvenience? I think the vendor is being unreasonable but if it get it done? But only after exchange of contracts.

Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 08:52

It's a condition of my mortgage. No works equals no mortgage

OP posts:
Halstead · 03/09/2022 08:55

My gut feel is that that’s not a reasonable reaction from the seller and she’s trying to hide something much bigger.

It would worry me immensely.

Ultimately you can’t make her allow the work… you need to start looking elsewhere.

HappyAsASandboy · 03/09/2022 08:57

I would offer to pay her a few hundred pounds to go out for the day while they do it/go out for dinner to recover from the stress and see if that makes a difference.

I'm not sure I would offer to do it after exchange. If you exchange and then she refuses access, you could find yourself unable to complete and have to pay £££ to pull out from the purchase Shock

ArcticSkewer · 03/09/2022 09:00

is your whole mortgage £14k? Why bother with a mortgage at all in that case? If you want the sale, get a loan.

I would be suspicious she was hiding something, but then again, we are in this situation and just negotiated for buyers to do it when they move in. I can't be bothered with the hassle and would just stay put if I was having to put up with the work anyway.

AndSoFinally · 03/09/2022 10:30

You're often not allowed a loan to pay off a mortgage. It's usually in the T&Cs

commonsense61 · 03/09/2022 10:33

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Fairylightsongs · 03/09/2022 10:34

What’s the question, they have pulled out you said. It’s game over you need to find someplace else.

Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 10:42

But ive had an indepth survey so I know exactly what I'm dealing with

OP posts:
Underscore21 · 03/09/2022 11:00

Borrow the £14k for a 'car loan'.

yanxy · 03/09/2022 11:05

My gut feel is that that’s not a reasonable reaction from the seller and she’s trying to hide something much bigger.

It would worry me immensely.

I agree, it's not normal behaviour

Underscore21 · 03/09/2022 11:26

If you've had an in-depth survey, then unlikely the seller can 'hide' anything.
I don't think the seller is unreasonable tbh to not allow this work prior to you actually owning the house. Maybe she can't be bothered with it
Your best way forward, if the seller will still sell to you now, I'd get that £14k another way. Get the £960 worth of work done as soon as you get in and port your mortgage as planned.

ChateauMargaux · 03/09/2022 11:33

I'm guessing with the numbers involved that the OP does not have the ability to finance £14k in some form of short term loan at interest rates higher than a mortgage.. meaning higher repayments.

I am sorry op... can you look at other lenders who might overlook this work given the loan to value?

User12398712 · 03/09/2022 11:36

Your mortgage will be less than 10% of the value of the house - that is incredibly low risk for the bank and yet they are insisting on work done which costs less than £1,000 so can't be that major. I suspect it doesn't sound at all believable to the seller and they have massive alarm bells ringing and that is why they have pulled out. (I'm not saying you aren't telling the truth, just that it may well sound like you aren't.)

PragmaticWench · 03/09/2022 12:19

I don't think the vendor is unreasonable at all, this is your problem with your mortgage lender and not the vendor's problem. They have no obligation to let your workmen into their home.

Fairylightsongs · 03/09/2022 13:03

I also agree this is highly unusual for a mortgage company to behave like this for such a small sum and so little work, and I also suspect the buyer doesn’t believe it and that’s why she’s pulled out.

I had a buyer that wanted everything fixed, proper pain in the arse, one thing after the other, it was constant, eventually I simply told her to do one, it was over something minor like guttering cleaning too, and pulled out. it was just too much.

The woman didn’t have the sense she was born with. The agent was mortified to be honest at her constant list of demands and having to keep phoning me. When I pulled out he said he didn’t blame me at all.

Halstead · 03/09/2022 13:41

PragmaticWench · 03/09/2022 12:19

I don't think the vendor is unreasonable at all, this is your problem with your mortgage lender and not the vendor's problem. They have no obligation to let your workmen into their home.

Of course they have no obligation.

It’s the fact the seller has acknowledged there’s a problem and pulled out this late in the stage ‘hoping for a cash buyer’ . They’re jeopardising a sale (any sale) for the sake of half a day and a few hundred pounds.

More red flags than a Chairman Mao conference.

stayathomegardener · 03/09/2022 13:41

Or recent remortgage has a list of 20 conditions that need to be met prior to releasing funds including adding an additional hand rail to the stairs.

Fortunately it's our own BTL but we've never had this before and it is inconvenient for the tenants.

Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 14:51

They know its true because I've sent the valuers email to the agent. Why would i lie?

OP posts:
Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 14:54

How am I to know what mortgage valuers would overlook it without applying for a different mortgage and going through this again

OP posts:
Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 14:55

Well if my mortgage Valuer found the issue, surely others will so what's she going to do? Keep refusing everyone? She's even saying she'd pay half on completion

OP posts:
Original poster
TinaTinaTina · 03/09/2022 14:57

I've sent the report to the agent to show her, we organised the company together. She's even said she'll pay half on completion

OP posts:
BlueMongoose · 03/09/2022 16:40

As a seller, I would never allow any work to be done by a buyer or their workmen on my house before a sale- suppose they muck the job up, or damage things? In this case, even more so, as I suspect most dampproof companies of being at best incompetent, and at worse, crooks. If it's something not very intrusive, like woodworm treatment on a garage roof, that may be okay, but I'd still not allow it to be done by any buyer before I sold, though I might have it done myself at my own cost before a sale if I was sure it was necessary.
We were once told (as buyers) by a lender that we had to arrange to have a house rewired before they would lend, as it wasn't up to currrent regs. It was a totally insane requirement. OH pointed out to them that their own office, which we were sitting in with them at the time, would itself not met current regs, because the regs had only been changed six months before, nor would almost every property they were currently lending on. They gave in and allowed us to have the work done after we moved in- they just held back that bit of the mortgage until it was done- I think they called it reserving or something. Once the work was done, they coughed it up. Might that be an option?