Lowering our offer after survey?

[lemonsandapples]

We're in the process of purchasing a house. It was marketed at £196k, our offer was £197k which we upped to £202k for best and final and our offer was accepted.

That was back in August, sellers were slow getting paperwork to their solicitor and our solicitor was on holiday for 4 weeks.

We've just had our survey back and it's pointed out a few issues. The bath/shower is leaking into the living room and it's clear that the sellers had redone the plaster in the days before the survey and painted over it to cover it up. The surveyor said that it was wet plaster and wet paint with a clear patch right under where the bath and shower are. This rang alarm bells for me. We have spoken to our builder who says we'll need a new shower & bath unit, plaster below to be hacked off and area dried then skimmed again.

The roof verges also need redoing, possible asbestos in ceilings and the attic is riddled with woodworm and the front door is broken and apparently doesn't close properly. The roof will require scaffolding which isn't cheap and ceilings will need sealing and skimming.

My DH is saying we should revert back to the original asking price, reducing our offer by 5k to allow for the works. The roof work needs doing asap, there's huge gaps on the verges and the front door needs replacing as it's broken. (It was open when we viewed it so couldn't have known).

I am stressing as I want this house. Haven't given that away to the vendor or estate agent but I feel cheeky lowering offer. Then the rational part of me says the vendor is clearly trying to cover up the leak so they obviously know about it! The asbestos did worry me as we have young kids but our builder has said we can get it sealed and skimmed and it's all in good condition so shouldn't be a problem.

Has anyone renegotiated after offer?

Any advice would be gratefully received :)

To add - our mortgage is approved, no chain and searches are all back. The vendors are moving in with his sister so they don't have a chain either.

Leaks are not a big deal, I'd go around and have a hunt through the bathroom, chances are it's some sealant that has failed. You can also do a completely new bathroom on around 5k.

Front door- did the surveyor say why it was no longer fitting? Obviously it does close, but chances are it's swollen/something has moved which isn't unusual. Most of the time it will just need re-hanging.

Woodworm is more concerning, but as it's in the garage, it's not the end of the world.

I would ask for a reduction around the roof repairs though. Worst that can happen is they say no and you have to make a decision, but based on what you've said about the area, I wouldn't be too concerned about doing some work. What was your original house budget anyway? Is it well priced for the area?

Thanks for the replies, all try to reply to everyone at once.

Builder definitely hasn't 'seen us coming'. He's a family friend who we've been using for years. We've also had a leak in our current house that he dealt with so similar work required.

If they had plastered having fixed the leak they would have surely waited for the plaster to dry before painting it? They had painted straight over the wet plaster.

It's not us that's been holding up the sale, I've chased every other day but their solicitor is useless. Our survey was booked in 3 weeks after our offer was accepted but has had to be rearranged twice as the estate agent kept giving the vendor the wrong details (estate agent is also useless!). It also took the seller 8 weeks to send the contract pack back to their solicitor and ours couldn't apply for searches etc until that was received. It was during these 8 weeks ours was on holiday so the firm didn't chase as much as they would have done had she been there.

We're still within the 12 week estimated time frame for house sales, it's just frustrating when other parties take ages to fill in a form.

We've reduced our offer this morning to asking and send snippets of the survey report along with the pictures of the water damaged ceiling, broken door and woodworm. I'll update when we hear back! Thanks for all the advice, it's useful to bounce these things off someone who's not as emotionally involved.

The builder hasn’t even seen the house or the cause of the leak yet but he already knows exactly what work needs doing - ok yeah, he must be good!

Organising a survey has nothing to do with waiting for solicitors or contracts. You do a survey immediately after your offer is accepted, not three months later. You've messed the sellers about. It will look to them like you've delayed this long to have a better chance of knocking the price back after they've taken it off the market so long ago.

Exaxtly - both our bath and shower have at points leaked through the kitchen ceiling. We replaced the waste on the bath and resealed the shower. Dried it all out then repainted the kitchen ceiling. Cost us £100 tops (while we save up to have the very old bathroom redone).

We had a survey in the summer and the surveyor was available afterwards to go through the report. He went through everything and gave his opinion on all minor and major issues. He said he wouldn't hesitate to buy the property himself, gave us a timeline to get certain things fixed and an approximate cost and said to contact him any time. Is yours available to do this? It certainly put our minds at rest.

I would expect most of these issues when buying a non-newbuild.
Tbh I'd want to fit my own bathroom and all roofs have a limited lifespan.

I'd be properly annoyed if I'd asked for best and final and then the buyer I chose then reduced their offer because of the above issues.

All surveys pick up on something...i@ve literally never heard of a survey which hasn't mentioned roof works.

I doubt it needs a new door- it's more than likely swell from the winter conditions. If it was anything else surely it would be really obvious even when open.

Tbh I'd agree with the pervious poster who suggest you buy a new build instead.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Depends on the cause of the leak. If it's a cracked showerbath, that means a new one, and/or if there is a pipe leak quite possibly new tiling, which may have to either match the old tiling or have to be completely redone throughout if it can't be matched. Could be a big job.