"Buyer unsure how to proceed"

[homeandstay]

Chain of 4, FTB buying ours, have today said they're unsure to proceed following survey, absolutely gutted.
We were suppose to exchange this week and complete next week.

They only did the survey 3 weeks ago, so very late into the process.

We live in the house and not aware of any issues, they've not told us what the issues are or what they're concerned about.

Absolutely gutted, and just need some words of encouragement or if you have been in this situation, how did things pan out?

As others have said offer £1.5 or £2k off. If you agree to the whole £3k they will wish they'd asked for more.

Have they really had a survey? If so then at least they have already invested some money in the process so may be less likely to walk away.

Seems like a standard shakedown. They haven't had any quotes done so they are just making up whatever figure they think they can try. (Do roofs even get 'repointed'? I thought that was brick). Have they supplied the survey that presumably says some time in the next 50 years everything might need to be done?

I'd be inclined to get my own builder to look at it and quote if there's anything showing.

Just take into consideration if you do agree to 3k less and it comes off the property price they will likely have to get a whole new mortgage offer/mortgage in principle. They may find with mortgage rates changing it isn't the win they think it would be.

Well I'm buying a house that's just had a survey and shown the flat roof above the dormer on the loft conversion needs replacing as it's pitched badly meaning water is pooling. Ingress is anticipated within 3 years. Also chimney needs sorting in a similar sounding situation to your buyers. I'm going to ask for £8k reduction because we'll need scaffolding put up to fix it all too. TBH if seller doesn't agree to negotiate (I might accept 5k off but no less) I WOULD be happy to pull out. We've had a valuation done and it's lower than the price we offered. I WAS ok with that because other than decorating - of which it needs a lot. Every single room is dated - I thought the house was in very good repair. And it is mostly. But I'm not going to pay over the odds for a house that needs complete redecorating AND some structural stuff done.
I'm not that desperate. So really it depends if you want to risk your sale for the sake of £3k. Because you could be.

Take out insurance for them so if there's a problem they can claim on it.

I would offer to meet them half way with a 1.5k reduction.

Surely it depends on how big the house is, which everyone on here is clueless about. And how much you want to risk compromising the sale which everyone on here again is clueless about.

If it's a 50K shack then 3.5K is a lot of money.

If it's a 1.5 million mansion then probably worth it just to save the hassle of getting your own builder/roofer in - they can be notoriously difficult to deal with.

I’m amazed how many people here are saying to just cave into their demands and give them £3k off. I’d be asking for a copy of the survey and a quote for repair as a minimum, before considering my response.

A friend of mine once had buyers telling him that £10k of plumbing work needed doing and demanded £10k off the price the day before exchange. What they had failed to realise was that he was a plumber! He told them none of the work needs doing, exchange at the agreed price or it goes back on the market. They then exchanged at the original price.

You do repoint roof tiles. At the edge of the roof on some houses. Or along a ridge as in the picture. It’s to stop water penetrating under the tile. Chimneys can get damp if they are not sound. This will need scaffolding and I expect the surveyor has a ball park figure.

Well that's not really a similar situation is it? Demanding £10k off the day before exchange is absolutely nothing like looking for a £3k reduction on receiving unexpected survey issues.

It is the same. Both reductions requested based on unsubstantiated survey findings.

I am not talking about the buyers. I am talking about the sellers. Just sell them the house with a discount. I (personally) would not take the risk of losing the buyers for such a small amount of money.

agree with this - it is only fair to be provided with the evidence of the issues that they want discount for. With any survey I'd want to know if this is about actual issues that have been identified as an urgent problem or if this is buyers over-reacting to some low-priority comment about ridge tiles probably needing repointing within the next 5 years. Until they provide you with proper detail, then you can't know if this is a stick or twist situation.

Well yeah fair enough ask for the survey. But I doubt they're lying when it's so easy to check.

You’d be surprised what some people will do. As PP suggested, it could also be the seller misinterpreting the survey and the urgency of the repairs rather than being dishonest. So always worth seeing the survey.

My buyers once completely got the wrong end of the stick about something when I was selling. Luckily I was home when the surveyor came, and he explained all his findings to me (not sure if he should have done!). So I was able to put the seller straight about what the surveyor actually meant.

If it’s only 3k I would agree to it. You’re too close to the finish line and in a chain of 4

Most sellers do know when their house is being surveyed! It’s hardly a secret. Of course the op knows it was surveyed. She could ask for evidence and to see the report. Or just get the binoculars out.

Who is saying she doesn’t know it was surveyed?

@Doris86 Several people on the thread have alluded to a surveyor not turning up at all. Therefore suggesting the faults are made up.

I agree that FTBs often got panicked by the arse-covering 'could-be problems' thrown up by surveyors.

We sold a house built in the 1980s 20 or so years later and the buyers were concerned because the drainage didn't meet the latest regulations. Nothing whatsoever wrong with it - the builders just didn't have a time machine!

Some will, of course, seize at anything in order to demand money off. This will naturally include the ones who get rid of the competition and get their feet in the door by making the significantly highest offer, with full intention of paying much, much less - blamed on whatever pretext - once the process is well underway.

Also, I think some buyers need to understand that a 'used' house - i.e. not a new build - is just that. Obviously, nobody wants a wreck without a commensurate price; but you can't expect a 30/50/80/150-year-old house to be 100% factory-perfect, with no repairs ever needed.

Being very pragmatic, if your buyer pulls out, how likely is it that your onward purchase will fall through? You have probably incurred £3k or more of costs on that which will be lost if your chain collapses. In that case, whichever way you look, you are likely to lose out.
The buying process in the U.K. is just rubbish

It's one way of looking at the problem, but from the buyers viewpoint there is another.

Sellers often cover up major problems and then scream it's sold as seen when they are discovered by a buyer. So it's hardly surprising that in a world of increasing regulation and massively increasing trade costs buyers are getting a lot more savvy in terms of sniffing out problems and being wary of sellers who are trying to mask issues.

Also I think most people would agree that property in the UK is massively overpriced. So you can't really expect buyers to not want the best they can get for their money. Very often buyers have to stretch themselves to the limit in order to afford property and have little money over for expensive rennovations, so they want to be clear about what they are getting into when they actually buy.

Why is it rubbish ?

I mean if a seller wants to they could commission a full survey and rectify any issues that were brought up on a house before it comes to market. That way anything major that would potentially cause issues would already be fixed.

Or alternatively they can not do that, then complain that the process is rubbish when the sale becomes at risk because a buyer discovers at the last minute (which generally is when the survey is done) that there is a major problem and wants to renegotiate the price.

So if sellers don't want last minute hitches, best not to try to cover up major problems, or do something proactive about resolving them before they become issues.

Basically in house sales in the UK you can define any process you want. There are some generally accepted forms/procedures that are used in conveyancing but at the end of the day you can impose any conditions you want on the process. Whether you will find a buyer/seller that agrees to that process is another issue ...

It's a piddling amount of money on the scale of a mortgage. I'd let them have the £3k it will cost way more than that to find a new buyer. But if they were on here asking what to do I would also be telling them to stop quibbling about £3k and get on with the same because it's not a big enough sum to worry about.

However I would recommend you ask yoir solicitor to suggest a way to agree the £3k as a separate transaction to the actual sale. We had a similar situation where the sum of money was larger but agreeing to it threw a new spanner in the works.

Say a sale has been agreed at £240,000 and the FTB has saved a deposit of £12,000 (=5%) and has a mortgage agreed.

After survey a £3k problem emerges and the buyer negotiates a £3k reduction in price so that they have £3k in hand to fix the problem. But if they want to spend that £3k fixing the problem they are now buying a £237k property with only a £9k deposit (3.8%) and their previous mortgage agreement is jeopardised causing delays all around.

Far better for the sale to go through at £240,000 and for them to then get £3k as "cashback" from the vendor as a separate transaction.

Not answering their phone when the Estate Agent calls? Red flag.
They've changed their mind and know they've wasted everyone's time.

If the survey had brought up anything specific, they would be informing you immediately in the hope of getting it fixed, or a reasonable discount.

Spineless 💐