Lowering offer price after survey?

[Marmiteymuffin]

Can I ask what I hope isn't a daft question. When you get the survey done on the propety you've offered on, and the survey recommends to get other trades people in for further opinion- eg gas engineer for old boiler, damp specialists etc. And then you get all the extra info and quotes for work. I just assumed that most people would then renegotiate their offer - so say the property needs rewiring, which wasn't obvious when you originally offered, you revise your offer to be 10 grand less in line with the quote for that work? Or is this considered sneaky and like you're suddenly lowering your offer just before exchange? Even if there are valid reasons. I'm losing my way a bit here with this horrific house buying process!!

As long as the reduction in offer truly reflects the amount of work involved to bring the house up to the levels of safety/maintenance that would reasonably be expected then i would say thats fine, what we have done and whats been done to us.
Knocking 30k off for a £500 job needing doing would be out of order, but a reasonable amount, no. The vendor might prefer to do some remedial work than accept a lower offer, all in the negotiation.

Have the surveyors said what they think the value of the house should be? They used to do this but not sure if they still do it.

Also depends on the work - for example, it you viewed a house that looked quite tired, shabby windows etc, then the valuation would have reflected that and it would be unreasonable to ask for a reduction.
If the survey highlights hidden faults that would affect the value - then negotiate for either the work to be done or a discount to reflect work needed. They can still say no to this - it's not a given that a seller will drop their price.

Yes very common, as long as the reduction is an accurate reflection of the work required. And you’re more likely to get the lower offer considered for major work which was not obvious.

I think, as you suggest, it depends on the nature of the work required and whether it is something non-obvious. If it's an urgent issue, then, yes, definitely negotiate. But if it's something that might happen in the future (e.g. flat roof might leak at some point but is OK now), then no.

Ok cool thanks for replies. We are quite far through the process now. But our vendor has told the agent she will not consider any reduction - the house certainly doesn't look like a 'do-er upper' in that all in good decorative order etc so the old electrics and damp etc are well hidden. But it is an old house. It feels like the whole process is about to fall apart. We've been buying this house for a very very long time (lost our buyers some time last year).... aaaagggh.

Allow the vendor to see the parts of the report that recommend work is done. Point out that any buyer who has a survey done will find the same faults.

My house was in good decorative order, looked great, but the survey came back with dangerous DIY wiring, dangerous gas installation, and in need of new windows & exterior doors, plus a roof with a remaining life span of 3-5 years.
I negotiated 85k off the asking price.

Thanks. I think I just needed a confidence boost that we're not going against 'protocol' as such. It all feels so risky as we have our buyers pressuring us to exchange (at a lower price). I hate the whole process so so much.

If the rewire wasn't obvious, I'd say it was reasonabe to ask for a reduction. The vendor can refuse, you can also walk away, which she will have to bear in mind. If you rewire, you can take the opportunity to have more points, more oomph for places like the kitchen for modern appliances, and things like USB charging ports on the sockets- and all exactly where you want them. So that could be a sort of betterment- so maybe you could offer to split the cost? But bear in mind if the sprkies can't pull wires through, or you want extra ones, there could be some pathiing of plaster (and redecorating, but that you may be doing anyway I suppose?)