Sold as Seen?

[ILikeSofas]

Made an offer on a house last month for £20k under asking which was accepted, and now had the survey. It urgently needs a repair that wasn't apparent at the viewing, I've obtained quotes and the cheapest was £9k.

I'm an experienced buyer/seller and I am more than happy to overlook lots of issues and I've always classed a survey as a future To Do list, not as a way of reducing the price (as well as ruling out big issues like subsidence). But this is something that needs doing ASAP.

We've asked that the vendor fix the issue at their cost, prior to exchange.

They have refused, saying the house is sold as seen and they won't consider any reduction because we're already getting £20k 'off'.

It was on the market for a year before it sold at asking price which then fell through. We then saw it and felt our offer reflected the actual value in relation to other sales nearby and the condition of the house.

What would you do?

Oh god that sounds like a disaster. Despite what I said earlier, I would definitely have fixed it before sale if it happened to us!

Buying a house should be exciting. If you've lost heart already, cut your losses now.

We replaced the septic tank in our house and it didn't cost much at all, we replaced it with a modern one in a different material as the old one was rusted metal. I'm hoping my memory serves me right here but it definitely wasn't £9k!!!

It does meet current legal requirements as it goes into a soakaway (and not a watercourse) but still...it's not functioning and needs sorting ASAP...

It's their defensiveness that's just been so disappointing.

Actually ignore me I'm thinking of something else as the freeholder replaced the septic tank so I'd have no idea how much it cost!

Partly due to their bodged repair it needs relocating and there are extra costs involved with that, I won't bore the thread with the details but suffice to say the cost will be £9k, minimum. The soakaway could do with replacing too but we haven't asked for that, as it's not immediate.

I don't want the money off, I'd rather they did the work and had the hassle of it.
I was going to say that I would prefer to do the job myself, to make sure that it was done properly. Then you posted "the vendors bodged a repair at some point and are saying it's fine".
Get the money off for goodness sake! Or walk away.

I do feel gutted, it would be a relief to just walk away now, but I'm worried I'm being too emotional and I'll regret it.

I don't want it to end up being the house that 'got away'.

Have you posted about this before?
9 grand is a whole new system. Not a new tank and some pipes and you know this, they aren’t going to do it as it’s overkill.

just pull out the sale and stop bothering these people,

This is always a problem when making an offer prior to survey, the vendor feels that they have already reduced it once, now In effect you more off.
my advice is split the 9k between you.

It's normal to split the cost. I wouldn't want to do the work as a seller but I'd offer to reduce by £4,500.

If someone wanted me to do a 9k repair I wouldn't have that money available. Not everyone has savings sat around to do these things.

We had to replace a septic tank recently when we bought a house. We were quoted £10k initially but as issues came to light it cost us nearer £20k.

you need to decide simply whether the house is worth it with that extra cost. This is a financial decision and you are letting all sorts of emotions cloud your analysis and decision making.

This is a financial decision and you are letting all sorts of emotions cloud your analysis and decision making.

I need an emotion filter!

Our buyers came to us with an issue they wanted us to put right which to us was a non issue. It was to do with historic woodworm, they wanted us to take up the original floorboards and have them treated at a cost of 5k.

We didn't want to do that work to our house when we weren't even living near there anymore. They insisted and we said we would pay half in the end. They still said no so we agreed to put aside the whole amount for them for a year with the solicitor so they could do the work as they saw fit. Our only proviso was that they get 3 quotes before any work was carried out.

They threw their toys out of the pram and said that wasn't acceptable.

The point is OP, they had offered us 20k under our asking price so we already a bit annoyed with them. They kept booking appointments to see the house as they were excited and tbf were so smug.

We jumped through hoops for them in the end but when they first came to us asking for us to do the work ourselves we saw a major red flag. We thought it was stupid and selfish and were less inclined to help them out.

Last Thursday I had the complete satisfaction of telling them via solicitor I didn't want them to buy our house. Such a relief. The thought that they were good buyers but they weren't. Asking us to do something like when they knew we'd moved away because of family illness really knocked it for me.

You're never as attractive a buyer as you think you are, even a cash buyer can be a PITA to deal with and life's too short. I reckon you've already lost that house. Try and be a bit more humble next time.

The vendors have accepted the minus £20k offer you've made. Decide whether the house, as is, in its current state and condition, is worth that offer. And if it's not, pull out.

Caveat emptor.

Do you think they may have to sell and have no funds to go elsewhere? If they are in that position they could be trying to stretch the sale out? Perhaps?

I would walk away.

If they have done a bodged repair in the past, I would want to do any work using my workpeople, and under my own eye. I woudln't have them touching it.

That's a good point...

I'd be happy to find a solution/compromise, it's their lack of cooperation that's so concerning.

My solicitor has said he's rarely come across it - even on the property information forms they weren't filled in properly and were evasive so he had to follow up for answers.

The vendors have a few properties; this one was used as an AirBnB, there's no mortgage so it's owned outright, they've had it a while. They're planning to buy a property abroad as a holiday home with the proceeds from what the estate agent told me. So I'm assuming they have funds but of course I don't know for sure!

DH is wanting to walk away, I'm glad I posted to gather outside opinions!

I would fear it is the tip of the iceberg if they have bodged one repair that you know about.

We had to replace the tank here and it cost about 15k and that was without putting the garden back together. It was a huge and very disruptive job, as well as being expensive.