Price Negotiation after Survey

[Owlgirl14]

I'm just wondering if this is normal practice. We are trying to negotiate the agreed sale price after a homebuyer survey flagged some issues and down valued it.

The estate agent is saying they can't use the homebuyer report and their valuation to negotiate, they require the banks valuation and their reasons for the down valuation.

Surely this is why people get homebuyers reports to flag any issues and renegotiate the price.

What has the survey flagged up?

If I was the seller I would want the banks valuation.

How much are you trying to renegotiate.

No the valuation says what the value of the property is in its current condition. You can ask for a reduction but the seller doesn't have to agree it. But at the end of the day the valuation is what guides the price.

The survey is usually to flag any thing that needs doing or might need doing and depending in the age of the property it isn't always had to reduce price but alert to maintenance issues that may arise.

Yes it's definitely normal practice to renegotiate if the survey has thrown up something expensive and previously unknown.
It's not up to the estate agent what is required.
You need to think about how expensive the work would be (may need to get quotes), how urgent it is, etc.
Have you had a bank valuation for mortgage purposes yet? Apparently, there is quite a lot of down valuation going on at present but this would likely depend on your LTV.

Presumably the EA, acting on behalf of the sellers, is saying that they want to see the bank’s valuation and not the homebuyer’s report.

You can try to renegotiate based on whatever reason you want and a poor survey is a common reason.

I wouldn’t bother arguing with the EA about it, just say what your new offer is, if you feel like the survey justifies a lower price. Of course the owner does not have to accept your lower offer so they may reject it or they may suggest a different figure. Hopefully you will be able to agree a new price with the owner but you need to decide how much the property is worth to you and even be prepared to potentially lose the property if the owner won’t negotiate at all & you now feel like you overpaid, based on new information in the homebuyer survey.

Yes we've had the mortgage valuation which was the same as the homebuyers report.

We've also had our mortgage offer accepted, which the EA mentioned. So maybe assumed it isn't an issue.

Thanks, is it usually only Red urgent items that can be used to renegotiate and not the yellow 'maintenance issues'

A big cost is going to be replacement windows that we didn't foresee.

Thank you, this is exactly it. I just feel like they were being a bit difficult, and wouldn't even negotiate with the sellers with what I have provided.

Happy to provide the banks valuation which is the same as the Homer buyers report and the reasoning is all in there but they wont accept that for some reason and want the lender to state why they have valued it as that. It's like they're totally ignorant of the survey.

We did, got a full structural survey which showed £15k approx worth of work that needed to be addressed within a 12 month timescale. Asked for a reduction, seller agreed to split the cost of the works so gave a £7.5k reduction on the price.
Someone had dropped out previously after survey (we don’t scare as easily!) so that probably played out to our advantage.
Unfortunately we’ve found homebuyer reports don’t seem to be as well respected as full surveys, so you might not get very far. Good luck!

What you have to remember when the EA seems difficult is that they are working for the Seller & that their aim is to sell the property for the highest price possible for their client.

It sounds like they are trying to intimidate you to back down on your request for a price reduction, thinking you are a FTB & inexperienced with their ways.

If you require a price reduction in order to proceed then you shouldn’t take what they say too seriously. Just repeat that this is your new offer and you won’t be paying the original agreed price because you are concerned about the bank’s valuation and also now realise there will be unexpected costs such as replacing windows. In your shoes I would be prepared to do some renegotiation on price if the owner comes back with a counter offer. But not to pay the whole difference between the original agreed price & the bank’s valuation.

It will depend a lot on what was the original asking price and what you have offered. Most people and estate agents take condition of the property into account in the first place. Houses that need work are priced to reflect that and so some/all of what comes up in a survey will already be accounted for. You can't expect to put a lower offer on a property that needs work and then get a survey and demand even more off unless anything is revealed that is genuinely unexpected. If windows are so bad that they need replacing within a year, I feel sure that would have been visible on a viewing and the valuation. That's not a hidden surprise.

The key is you can only expect a reduction on each issue once - you can negotiate on survey for things that weren't reflected in the original sale price. You can, of course, try and get more, but there's no reason for a seller to agree or even continue with a buyer they feel is not acting in good faith.

You can ask for a reduction in price at any point for whatever reason. You don't need any report to back it up though of course a survey or report of any kind will give you a bit of back up to what you're asking.
All they can say is no, pull out and put it on the market again.

In fairness I wouldn't reduce the asking price for window that may need replacing in the next 3-5 years, because that is just something they write in homebuyers reports to cover their arses. The windows were clearly visible when you viewed the house, and they haven't changed since then.

Offer what you are willing to pay, and be willing to walk away if they aren't happy with that, as always. Do it without delay, because we are in mid May and if you and they are having to start over, sooner is better.

It’s totally up to you until exchange to alter your offer. You can do so because of the survey, mortgage offer, you notice there’s more traffic than you had seen at viewing, planning for new buildings, or whatever reason. And the vendor can say no. It’s not up to the ea to tell you some
arbitrary rules to stop you from negotiating.

I have often bought with cash and have also frequently renegotiated the price after a survey. Usually for stuff that needs doing NOW, and it's common to split the cost as the buyer is benefiting from the work. And on occasion I have not needed to do the work - damp was highlighted by one and I got a specialist report. After getting a reduction, when doing other work discovered the issue and it cost hardly anything to fix. Works the other way too though, sometimes the issue is much more expensive to resolve. I only share the specific parts of the survey though, and it's never been questioned (and I find Homebuyers can be just as thorough as full surveys).
I've had things highlighted from a survey on houses I've sold, and I am surprised how surveyors look at a 100 year old house but expect it to be as good as a new build. I push back on that.
My current house the windows are not up to current code and I hate the look of them but they function, so that's not a negotiable issue. If they were failing and needing replacing urgently (leaks, damp) that's different. My surveyor also didn't like the roofing of the back extension- tiles are in a line rather than overlapping. But they are not failing so again non negotiable.

Thanks all, we can accept the windows and other bits but there is one main issue which has been identified. I'm going to speak further to the surveyor and solicitor and then get back to EA with our position.

@Twiglets1 Yes exactly this, first call was quite nice when I asked about negotiating on price but then just felt a bit attacked and totally different after I'd sent all the evidence over. Really not impressed to be honest.

I'm going to speak to the surveyor, bank and solicitor and provide any further evidence and our stance and see what happens.

The property is going to be our forever home and we originally paid asking price which we thought was overpriced but we accepted this. But we do need an issue resolving between us all which may involve building work for something they didn't get regs for initially. The fact the valuation has come in under as well, I think we have reasonable grounds for negotiation.

Putting aside valuation of property, if something has come up on survey that buyer genuinely wouldn't have had enough knowledge to know something needed doing, then it's quite reasonable to renegotiate price, eg if you look at a property it's obvious if bathroom, kitchen need doing, and most of us would know an old fuse board spells seriously old electrics etc, but if it's something like a structural issue, roof issue unexposed leaks, buyer wouldn't know if lead has worn, cement under chimney worn etc etc.

You do.

I know this is an old thread, but how did you get on with the price reduction request?