Price reduction post survey

[micshi]

Am in the process of buying a house that I have fallen in love with, which I knew needed renovation work, but have since realised that the house also needs significant structural work, post survey, and now need to negotiate a price reduction to make it affordable.

The house has a structurally unsafe loft room, which was advertised as a bedroom, and the cheapest way of fixing this would be to deconvert it; also has a knocked through lounge without certification, which due to the quality of the work, am not convinced was done properly; had extremely high damp meter readings to the whole of the downstairs during the survey, and can't see all the walls to check visibly for damp, due to wall coverings; and has a prefab concrete garage that needs replacing (and can't be repaired as originally thought), including the retaining walls holding up the garage and patio, to stop them falling into the garden (plus whatever else needs doing under the patio/garage slab).

I didn't initially want to reduce my offer, but now I've had time to get more advice on what work is needed, I'm not sure I have much choice?

What is the best way to go about this?

Firstly check as best you can how much of this was factored into the asking price - if this house appeared affordable because it’s way cheaper than others you might be best walking away

then find a builder friend to give you an idea the double it - it’s unlikely you will be able to get more than 10
tp 15% off so if that isn’t enough walk away

childofthe607080s looking at past house prices on the street of similar houses, I think the house was priced for renovating, not for the structural work on top. Was thinking of asking for 8% off my original offer, which is still a lot being London prices!

Would I need to provide evidence with actual quotes? As this is tricky to get on a house that I can't easily take builders to see, or find builders willing to quote on theoretical work given that I don't own the house.

idwally you have a mate in the trade who can help you then you can ask for another viewing on the basis of the survey

how much less would the same house be with one less bedroom and no garage ? I would have guessed a bigger difference than 8%

I'd seriously walk away, it's a money pit.

childofthe607080s unfortunately don't have a builder mate.

Estate agent claimed it was already priced as a house with one less bedroom (though advertised with the room as a bedroom and using it for total square footage), though at that time I didn't know all the structural issues with the room, and that the simplest thing would be to deconvert it, given it can't be saved, and can only be used for light storage anyway.

So planning on asking for a reduction on extra costs of fixing everything mainly helped by google and chat GPT!

MissMoneyFairy might have to!

The garage needs knocking down and rebuilding, the patio needs redoing, the damp could be blocked pipes and drains to rising damp from under the house or patio, the lounge walls haven't got certificates so might need supports, the loft doesn't sound safe, that's on top of anything else like rewiring, central heating, bathroom, kitchen, carpets, decorating, be looking at at least 100k to fix. Have you seen anything else you like. What does the surveyor suggest about buying it or the chances of getting a mortgage.

Your best option is probably to pull out. It sounds like a total money pit and the sellers sound like cowboys if they have allowed various, unsafe building work to be carried in their own house. It would suggest that you are likely to find more, expensive issues if you were to proceed.

If you are determined to look into it further, take some time and do your own research. Don't put things through Chat GPT. Compare the asking price with others in the area with one less bedroom, research your local market thoroughly, pay a builder to view the property with you to get some idea of costs and then add 25%. Work and materials have become very expensive. Think about the level of stress and upheaval that would be involved? How much would you want to discount for this too? Remember that you are in a strong position here. Any future buyers will find exactly the same issues when they have a survey. That doesn't mean that the sellers will automatically agree a large discount but they might consider it.

It sounds like an absolute donkey of a house. Each of those issues alone would probably be enough to make me reconsider. They are either a big deal to fix (damp) or signs of terrible previous owners (wall knocked through). You are going to keep finding more and more issues once you have moved in.

MissMoneyFairy already have a mortgage approved, but it'll only be small comparatively to the cost of the house, so hopefully the mortgage company will still be ok. And there is nothing else I've liked in the last 6 months, though I'm quite fussy. I'm downsizing, and like my house that I've spent years changing, and can see the potential of this one.

rainingsnoring hoping they do, but if they don't allow a reduction, then it's not the end of the world, will just keep looking! I've researched house values thoroughly, is just the cost of the work that I need to find out, and good idea to add 25%!

Bobbie12345678 I think only if they agree to a reduction will the house be feasible, as I need to have the money available to fix the structural issues, plus the heating, electrics, decor.......

On this occasion I would walk away. If you do want to proceed you can book a viewing or three to take trades with you. That’s standard practice.

I’m assuming it’s not an “old” house.if it is then a totally different conversation and set of criteria.

TMMC1 the house is around 90 years old, but the loft conversion was done in the 70s, though not to building regulations of the time. Not sure if that counts as old enough!

Providing the sellers allow a reduction, then I think the house is worth it still. If they don't, then it's certainly not, given all the structural issues found.

Not sure how to negotiate the reduction, if should start higher than I need and negotiate from there? I'm looking to reduce my offer quite a lot, as in by 50k to cover it all (for what building work should cost, plus 25%), and that's £20k to cover the garage (as can only really cover the cost of another prefab concrete garage) and external ground work, and £20k to cover internal structural work.

I’d walk away. There is too much that’s hidden that could be bad news.

If not you’d have to get a builder to look at it and quote for worst case scenario. For example, wall between living and kitchen knocked down, dont know if crap timbers or rsj was used, so will quote in the basis or replacing timber wirh rsj to ensure house is structurally sound type thing. Then knock this amount -+ 10% off for further unforeseen circs.

TalulahJP I did get an experienced plasterer I know to check some of the things. He wasn't worried about the damp readings as the visible walls all looked fine, and the high readings were on every wall. He was good at knowing what needed doing and pointing out issues, but less so for quoting for stuff.

I've got a lot of photos in the survey to show builders, which is good, so will try to carry on getting rough quotes for worst case scenarios!

When you say the loft conversion didn't have building regulations, are you sure they were actually in force in the 1970s? I have recently sold a house with a 1970s loft conversion which didn't have building regs because they hadn't been brought in at that time. It did have full planning permission and documentation showing people from the building/planning department had visited the site on several occasions and approved the staircase and doors for fire regs, though.

Our buyer got very nervous about this, but a builder came round with the estate agent and reassured him that the loft bedroom was solid. It's been standing since 1976 and went through the Great Storm.

Quite a few sellers have come up against this issue and it seems that a generation of surveyors don't appreciate that building regs weren't around in the 1970s.

Abra1t from what I've read, national building regulations were in existence at the time. This loft extension didn't have planning permission (though I appreciate that it may not have been required), doesn't look to have floor support added, and the ceiling below the bed is sagging. This is all obviously worrying, and so not sure it was built as well as yours!

I'm selling a house currently. My buyer read her survey report & asked us to fix things. Our chain chaser went back to her & asked her to come up with a suitable reduction, which she has. She also sent parts of the survey to us, via the chain chaser, so I could see her reasoning.

Very civilised.

Abra1t from what I've read, national building regulations were in existence at the time. This loft extension didn't have planning permission (though I appreciate that it may not have been required), doesn't look to have floor support added, and the ceiling below the bed is sagging. This is all obviously worrying, and so not sure it was built as well as yours!

Chazbots that's fair enough, depending on how the house was priced in the first place

It's in a very different price bracket.

It was more just to say how we dealt with it as a seller. I was impressed she asked way before exchange, rather than wait and us feel forced into quick decisions.

You can ask, they can say no. But providing evidence is helpful, I think.

Chazbots my survey wasn't as comprehensive as I'd hoped it would be (though hopefully addressing this with the surveyors), so only realising things a bit later on, partly as the sellers are still not answering questions regarding building regulations and partly because they've given me more time to get nervous and start to think with my head more than my heart, by delaying the chain for a month! So unfortunately I will be going back to them some time after the survey.

Was it structural? Should be pretty detailed. I think, if you're worried, I'd find a good builder (I know, not easy) and take them around the house.

Chazbots yep, was a level 3 survey. They're currently looking into my concerns