Do we gazunder?

[Sophie4231]

I would be grateful for opinions as we’re in two minds what to do.

We had an offer accepted on a property in April. Our survey showed about 30k of work needed. Following this we negotiated 11k off our initial offer (house is a project so we were expecting some things but did 50/50 on unexpected findings)

Fast forward 6months and we’ve still not exchanged as there land registry dispute that could take a few more months to solve. We’re in rented and have extended our mortgage and house in probate (funds going to family friends) so no real issues here.

Since we renegotiated the price we have had a quote to do some of the work our survey uncovered - re plastering cob walls. Our surveyor £8k which we based negotiations on and the quote was £28k!!! We’re also having to pay for additional months rent and market has considerably slowed since we had the offer accepted.

I’m tempted to try and negotiate some more off - at least the 20k difference in quotes for work (in hindsight should have got quotes at the time rather than relying on our surveyor estimates. My husband feels this would be underhand.

thoughts? I know gazundering is frowned upon but feel we have legitimate reasons?

I'd cut your losses. You're still waiting for the legal issues to be sorted and the unexpected extra costs as well as the drop in prices over the time you're waiting will far outweigh the loss of money you've already spent.

Your posts scream sunk cost falacy. Cut your losses and pull out. The market has changed considerably and you can find somewhere you love that needs far less work.

If nothing is finalised, is it ok to pull out at this stage?

If so, then do.

I definitely would not ask for any more money off, just move on. All the best.

Thank you all for your comments. It’s really helpful to read and reassess! I think we need to go back to the house and make a decision (it’s been months since we viewed!). When we viewed initially we loved it and were happy to pay over the odds to secure it after so many disappointments in the previous few years. We need to decide if this is still the case. I’m not sure if I’m falling out of love with the house or just the long drawn out process I have no control over! Once we decide we need to be upfront with sellers and come to a solution with them, which may end up being just cutting our loses! We certainly won’t just demand to have x amount off though as I agree this does seem underhand.

Slightly off topic, but good to know if you are into older houses. I see a lot of people on a Facebook group talking about having to hack out concrete and replace with lime render on their homes. There's a shortage of skilled tradesmen who know what they are doing in this area, which is probably why your quotes are coming out quite high. I believe quite a lot of these folks therefore take themselves off on training courses and learn to do it themselves. Even the builders who say they will do it but have never worked with lime before may not do a good job. The group is called Your Old House UK - Repair and Conservation, and is worth joining.

The second thing is, never ever trust a surveyors quoted repair costs to knock money off a house. They always undershoot the mark. Get quotes yourself (even if just from recent experiences on here) before putting an offer in.

It yanks my chain that people sell houses before probate is granted. I wish it was against the law (or, if it is, actually enforced).

Having read your later posts I'd be tempted to do a slightly different approach, visit again by all means and then rather than say lower it or we'll pull out, say why you want to pull out, but say it would only work for you at x price, and not expect them to say yes and even be somewhat apologetic. As it's probate and effectively free cash they may take your offer to be rid of it, especially as the last offer fell through, but you haven't been arseholes though the process.

Thank you, yes we love the old part of house and all its quirks and really want to look after it properly. Will definitely check out that group! We’ve learnt a valuable lesson with surveyor quotes here which we will know for next time!

as for the probate I’m not sure if I’m just using wrong term here - the owner died well over 2 years ago (house was on market for several months, sold to someone else, they pulled out then we offered 7 months ago) so I assume most legal side has been sorted but I’m a little ignorant here! It’s the dispute with land registry causing delay (our house is unregistered and neighbours boundary is wrong)

Thank you, this is a helpful suggestion!

I think the first thing is to decide whether or not you really want the house. It sounds as if you are much less keen which, I think, is common when things are complicated and drag on for such a long time.
If there are several other options, why don't you look into those as well? You may find something much more straightforward that you prefer anyway.
If you decide, after viewing again, that you do want the house, by all means try to negotiate (it sounds as if you are over paying and will v likely regret this) but be prepared for them to say no and choose to re-market it.

Unregistered properties have a lot of potential headaches attached to them, even without a dispute with a neighbour about land and boundaries.

Legal mumsnetters will be able to offer advice but it would send me running for the hills as a layperson.

I loathe gazundering but I don’t think that is a fair word for what you want to do. As the bottom of chain in rented, their delays cost you money, and the standard period from offer to exchange is about 3 months.

Unless this is your dream house U’d write tothe estate agent saying that while you still eant to buy this house, the seller’s inability to exchange over a six month period has cost you £xxxx in rent, and the quotes of doing the work to get the property up to standard have [doubled], while the value of the house on the open market, has fallen, and that this situation can’t be allowed to continue to drift. Then make your proposal for a way forward which could eithet be exchange of contracts within £ days with completion 2 weeks later, or a new price of £X with exchange to be within 4 weeks and completion 2 weeks after.

Hnless the delays were your fault, I’d be very tempted to buy something else given how prices have fallen.