Negotiating price after offer

[NotApplePie]

I offered on a house in September and they have finally found an onward purchase. Obviously this means that I’m now unlikely to complete before the new stamp duty charges come into effect. My accepted offer was 270k which was around 7k under the asking price.

I have also now had a survey done which has highlighted a few things that I hadn’t noticed at the time of viewing or wouldn’t have noticed. The main ones being there is a gap in the party wall in the loft and the small flat roofed area (about 2x2m) is in need of repair.

I’m considering reducing my offer to take into account the above but have no idea how to do this or if I should. I’m aware that they can say no and the market is very quiet in my area plus I don’t want to lose my buyer. I’m buying on my own after divorcing & selling the family home so everything feels a bit overwhelming. None of my family or friends have moved recently so whilst they are offering advice I’m not sure they’re in touch with the current market.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You've been exceptionally patient waiting for 5 months and so has your buyer (assuming that the same buyer has waited all that time). I think you would be very reasonable to negotiate both if the survey has thrown up some unexpected expenses and because they have kept you waiting for 5 months, meaning that you will now incur extra costs. Any sensible seller who has kept their buyer waiting for such a long time would realise that this was a possibility. Your own buyer may well try to negotiate with you too.
What you do and how much you reduce your offer buy depends on a few different things. First, how would you feel about potentially losing the house if they refuse to negotiate? It's not that likely as they have finally found a house that they like but definitely possible. If this did happen, would you consider renting so that you don't lose your own buyer or would you decide to keep looking and hope they waited? How tight are finances for you following the divorce, would the extra few thousand be a big stretch at present?
Thinking about the market in the area, how often are potentially suitable properties coming on for you? Do you have very specific requirements or are you flexible? It's very likely that more houses will come on soon because of the Spring and Summer selling season, something the happens annually from late Feb/March onwards.
If I were you, unless desperate not to lose this house, I would try to get some quotes for the necessary work and then reduce my offer by this amount and the additional SDLT costs.

I think if you're going to try to blackmail them, you have to stick to one thing. Either you are demanding stamp duty money or you want them to pay for (very minor) repairs from the survey.

You might have a chance with their delay increasing stamp duty but you'd look ridiculous trying it on for tiny issues that a survey should have highlighted 5 months ago.

I’m not trying to blackmail anyone but do feel they have strung me along and I had held off having a survey until they had found an onward purchase at the advice of the estate agent. So the survey has only taken place in the last couple of weeks (actually before they had secured a property but after being told erroneously by the estate agent that they had). I was at the point of pulling out and had viewed a couple of other properties which hadn’t quite fit the bill when I was told that the had finally secured a property.

As to minor repairs the gap in the loft party wall is surely a fire risk? The pictures in the report of the flat roof show signs of damage that aren’t visible on the original estate agent photos of the area of the property and look like they haven’t been maintaining it since my offer went in 5 months ago.

As I said I’m asking for advice on what I should do. I take umbrage at being accused of blackmail when I read plenty of threads about people looking for reductions after surveys.

Things are tight after my divorce and finding a few thousand extra for unexpected repairs and unanticipated extra stamp duty costs does feel a real stretch.

I don’t think my requirements are particularly specific but I have teenagers who need separate rooms and can’t change schools so I am limited somewhat in that.

I know how annoyed I would be at my buyers asking for a reduction in price but their delays have cost me money. Plus unexpected issues in the survey.

As to whether I would be happy to lose the house I don’t know. A couple of days ago I was all set to walk away but the stress of still being in the family home and trying to sell that is really starting to get to me and I just want a fresh start.

She is not trying to blackmail anyone. Why are you so triggered by this? It's pretty standard to negotiate after a survey which shows significant, undetectable problems. As to the SDLT increasing, there will be lots of renegotiations in April because of this cut off and chains falling apart if sellers are not flexible. In this particular case, @NotApplePie has been exceptionally patient with these sellers. She made the offer based on a lower SDLT and their huge delay means that she will now have to pay the higher rate.

How much is the extra stamp duty?

It’s 2.5k which in the grand scheme of things may not sound a lot but is to me and could’ve been spent towards other areas of the house.

I think you need to think through how much of a sacrifice it would be to have things delayed further if you lose this house vs negotiating firmly. Is the chain even complete or does the seller's seller also need to find somewhere now?! Why do you say you would be annoyed if your own buyers tried to negotiate, given that they are also having to find extra SDLT money? As I said, I think there will be lots of this situation in a couple of months.

I hate the thought of negotiating - that kind of thing makes me feel ill. I am resigned to my buyer negotiating over SDLT and yes I suppose I have no right to feel annoyed but it feels like an instinctive reaction to someone trying to haggle over something you care a lot about.

My sellers purchase would complete the chain so that is a plus point. I do feel that drawing this out any longer would be detrimental all round and unfortunately renting isn’t really an option at the moment although I have looked into it.

Then you need to weigh up how tight/ possible finding potentially up to 10k or so might be (your SDLT and your buyers) vs taking a risk and negotiating. If you do, put it in writing and be clear exactly what your current offer is and why. You may want to look at movinghomewithcharlie for advice. He's on YouTube and twitter and has a lot of advice on housing related things, including renegotiating.

Has the property been valued at a lower price than what you offered originally?

My buyer wanted £25k off, even though the valuation was unchanged and most of the 'problems' were just a young surveyor not really understanding older house extensions, which were compliant at the time they were built.

I said no.

Eventually I said he could have £10k to stop the haggling or the property was going back on the market next morning.

He agreed.

To be honest neither issue from the survey sounds like something negotiable. Were either shown on the survey as urgent and needing immediate attention? The wall is definitely just one of those things and common in lots of houses, and the roof - since it's a small roof and it just says "repairs" rather than replacement sounds like it's only a couple of hundred quids worth so hardly something that is logical to negotiate over.

On the other hand, 5 months is a long time to wait just to close the chain - but it's not clear how those stamp duty changes will affect you since the price you're paying is over £250k and you're not a first time buyer? Have your buyers asked you to reduce your sale price?

The homebuyers survey hasn’t commented on value of the property and was undertaken by the lead surveyor who has over 20 years of experience.

The mortgage company simply did a desk based evaluation.

I don't think you can ask for money off re the stamp duty unless they promised at the time you made the offer that they would find somewhere quickly. If your attitude at the time was more like "It's fine for you to take your time, I will wait until you find somewhere" then I wouldn't at this point introduce the idea of failing to meet the stamp duty date.

However, I would be asking for a small amount of money off re things revealed in the survey, despite the fact that surveys always reveal something! I would think it's appropriate to ask for about a 5k reduction to fix the issues that the survey has uncovered. Or you could phrase it that they either fix the issues themselves or give you a 5k reduction so you can get them fixed.

They may refuse but it's worth asking. Even if they offered to meet in the middle the 2.5k would at least cover the extra stamp duty.

I'm also buying on my own. I had to pull out of my sale after six months due to the actions of the vendors. I am buying number two house and I went in with asking price as didn't want to mess about or lose it. Rather disappointing as the survey has thrown up issues and the vendor is unwilling to reduce the price or do any work. We've gone back to see if she'll meet half way on one quote but ultimately it's a whole blinks first game. She will lose her fancy new build if I pull out whereas I'm fine where I am.

I feel like it’s worth a go, but I’d probably go for the stamp duty issue rather than the repairs, which sound really minor especially as surveys basically always throw up something.

Sounds like she will blink first if you threaten to pull out unless she meets you half way on the quote.

She's refused everything so far so I'm not hopeful. She's arguing everything about the survey while trying to get me to pay over the odds for some bits.

Worth a try though....she sounds a pain in the backside

I think she wants every penny, is spending more than her house has sold for and the inside is lovely. Shame there are issues outside and I also know now with some electrics. I have to weigh everything up. I've sold mine three times, divorced last summer and want to get away from being less than half an hour from ex h. Should have moved late last year so it's very stressful.

I think it would be fair to negotiate on the stamp duty unless as a PP said, you said you were happy for them to take their time. £2.5k is not a lot of money, it’s such a negligible amount on a multi-thousand pound house that as a seller I’d be happy to take the hit rather than lose my buyer or break the chain.

The survey stuff is pretty minor, I wouldn’t negotiate over that. If that’s all that’s come up the house must be in good shape.

You seem to misunderstand the word 'triggered'? I've suggested how the OP best approach getting a reduction if that's what she wants to try, by listing one reason for it and not muddying the waters with many.

Your seller sounds difficult but it also sounds as if she may blink first in the negotiations. I expect you are getting fed up!

No, I understand the meaning of the word. If you look at the language you have chosen to use eg blackmail and 'demanding', it does look as if you have been triggered.

Have house prices in your area risen since September?