Possible Gazumping What would you do?

[Cola133]

What to do?

We're buying a house that has signs of a water leak above a lounge bay window (we know there is a rip in the roofing felt we noticed on viewing). There is also a water leak above an upstairs back bedroom window - we don't know the cause. Our offer for the house was accepted 10k under the asking price (huge new building estate starting in 2025 behind the property and loads of properties for sale in the village as the locals don't want to be near the new estate). The estate agent phoned us today to say that although they've accepted our offer, someone else put in a higher offer after ours was accepted, but the sellers are going to stay with us.

We were waiting for the surveyor to go in next week to do a RICS Level 3 survey, before we mentioned the leaks just in case anything else crops up, but now I know they will not lower any further should anything else be highlighted on the survey, as they have the higher offer in their back pocket - I kind of feel that the Estate Agent shouldn't have taken anymore offers once they accepted ours as they can now just switch to the other offer and make more money
My issue is, if the survey doesn't find anything else wrong (god willing), we can't complete/get into the property before December (as that's when our tenancy ends) then the leaks have had a whole Autumn wet season to get more damaged, so it will be even worse than it is now. We are also on a very very tight budget, we made sure to have 7k left over to make changes so that the property fits our needs better, but a large chunk of that will now have to go on leak repairs on the 2 roofs.

Basically whatever is found on a survey we will have to 'put up and shut up' with as the sellers could easily go with the other offer and be around £5k+ better off even if they ask them for a reduction for the repairs.
I don't know whether we should walk away at this point. The survey is £800, the only money we've spent so far is on a Mortgage Broker who got us accepted with NatWest. I don't want to waste the £800 so I'm undecided whether to go ahead with the survey or pull out completely now

I just feel like we will lose money and get gazumped if we challenge about things that are wrong with the property and then we will have lost £800 which when you're on a shoestring is a huge amount of money.

They would have switched to the higher offer if it was proceedable. You don't mention if you are outside a chain, which would make you more appealing. In any case, don't proceed without a survey.

The higher offer will be cut when they see the leaks.
It s an offer same as yours and those buyers might cut when they see leaks. You cannot predict the difference

You can move before December but clearly stuck with paying tenancy til end of contract
Depends how much you like the house. But if roof leaks probably much more to repair

Believe nothing you're told. They refused a higher offer ... really? Won't reduce the price no matter what you find wrong with the place ... really.

Have a good think about how much you want this place. Would be interesting to find out what would happen if you pulled out ... or just lowered the offer by £10,000 because you're bored with this nonsense.

Is this house really the only one you'd consider moving into?
If your survey finds significant damage I would absolutly offer lower.

I'm vaguely remembering something about they'd have to mention it to future potential buyers as well? Is that true?

Don't take on a house that's just going to be a money pit

If you're on a shoestring then a leaking house doesn't sound like a great idea?

If your survey finds significant damage it could lower the value anyway for your mortgage provider.

If you are on such a tight budget, don't buy a house with an obvious leak in the roof and probably other expensive to fix problems.
You say there are loads of other properties for sale in the village. Why not bide your time and offer on one in better condition at a competitive price.

Ignoring the tight budget aspect, which would be my greatest concern, estate agents lie. If there was really a higher proceedable offer, the sellers would likely take it at such an early stage in the process. They are probably not proceedable or are not chain free, like you, or there is no offer. Naturally, the agent would have 'forgotten' to mention any of these things to you. They deliberately reported this to you to make you feel pressurised. Ignore them and do what is best for you (pulling out).

Sorry op but from buying a property with roof problems myself I don't think 7 grand will be enough for the work you likely have coming your way. Water damage can costs a lot of money. So you really want this property? Is it your dream home? If so then proceed. It expect things to cost a lot more than what you anticipate. If not I'd be Inclined to run a mile tbh

Dream home could rapidly become nightmare home if costs are much higher than anticipated, especially on a tight budget. Not a good time to stretch yourself and take big financial risks.

I kind of feel that the Estate Agent shouldn't have taken anymore offers once they accepted ours

Legally, that's not a decision that the estate agent is able to make, irrespective of what you feel. All offers must be reported to the vendor, regardless of whether an offer has previously been accepted.

You know about the leaks and made a lesser offer based on that, you can't ask for more off based on something you already where discounted for.

I would proceed to the level 3 survey - but if it shows up more unexpected problems it's still fine to renegotiate. Don't worry, the other offer hasn't been accepted so that means something is in your favour and you should ignore it.

@DrySherry thank you so much, this is what I've been thinking too. I really appreciate your comment thank you

Are there other houses that would suit your needs? This one sounds like a money pit.

A new roof was £20k when mr neighbours had theirs done. I wouldn’t buy if you don’t have it.

we moved into a house that seemed fine. Then the boiler packed up, the roof turned out to be leaking, they’d left enough rubbish to fill 3 skips, plus there was other work we needed to have done. Immediate costs were £15k+ and since then nearly every double glazed window has blown too.

I love the house but if I hadn’t had the cash to repair it’d have been awful.

The HA is legally obliged to pass on any offers to the vendors.

Yes, but I feel that they continued to seek other offers after my offer was accepted. They should have told anyone enquiring that 'the property is under offer accepted and for now they are not taking anymore offers, just taking contact details, should the offer accepted fall through'. It's just really bad of the Estate Agent, so untrustworthy and low.

Our house was completely drenched when we bought it. You would be surprised how little the roof cost to fix. About £500 for repairs!

Obviously there was other damage to fix like plaster, electrics and carpet. But that needed doing anyway so made no difference really price wise.

I think gazumping is low. I also think expecting to reduce the offer from a survey is also low. Fair enough if it’s something drastic. But if it’s that level of drastic I would probably pull out the house.

So I do think YAB a bit U sorry.

@Inlaw That's quite reassuring to read, thank you. Sorry for my ignorance what does "YAB a bit U" mean? I tried googling but nothing came up. Thanks again

You are being a bit unreasonable

The agent may not have sought other offers; it might have been a previous viewer deciding to make an offer. They are legally obliged to pass all offers pre-exchange, to the vendors. That's in England. But gazumping is nasty, as is gazundering.

Do the survey, make an honest appraisal and offer the price you could afford with repairs. If they refuse or you pull out you can offer the survey to the estate agent for the other/next offerer. You will re-coup most of the survey money and they don't have to waste time waiting for their own survey to be done. They may come back to you again if others pull out after finding out the extent of work needed or you may find your dream home elsewhere. I've cried over lost property only to find much better shortly after and been entirely grateful in hindsight.

Do you know that or is it just your “feeling” though?

I don’t love EAs but it’s actually not their fault if someone else makes an offer on a house already under offer. They are obliged to pass it on and it is the Seller’s decision what to do with that information.

In your case I wouldn’t bother with the most expensive survey as a level 2 would still point out plenty of problems including the roof clearly leaking. Unless this house is very special I would probably walk away at this stage. Because it’s concerning the owners have let the roof leak into the property causing damage. Makes you wonder what other issues they have neglected to address with the house.