Sellers won’t budge after survey price negotiation

[Montysmoon]

Hi everyone,

We had our offer of £735k accepted on a £750k house a month ago. The house was on the market a while - about six months and had no proceedable offers in that time (other buyer were needing to sell). It’s a probate.

While the house is old (100 years ish), no major alarm bells rang during our viewings.

But our homebuyer survey flagged urgent issues like gutters in disrepair that are causing damp throughout the property. The electrics are 40+ years old so the house will need rewiring, and the boiler is also old. There are other minor issues too like decaying woodwork etc.

We have asked the vendors to consider taking £10k off the sale price as this is what has been quoted to us for the repair work to the gutters and damp. This does not include anything for electrics or anything else.

Vendors are refusing to renegotiate price. I want to push back because we simply won’t have the money to do this repair work otherwise, plus they’re not exactly inundated with other offers so they’d be silly to risk losing us.

I’m also selling so I appreciate that it’s not always straightforward just lowering the price, but given the obvious defects in the house I think it’s a reasonable sum. Does anyone agree/disagree? Advice very welcome 🙏

If I was the seller, I would not reduce further and I would be miffed that you asked.

Surely what you’re asking is obvious? You’re 100% within your rights to ask for a reduction, and they’re 100% within their rights to refuse to negotiate. The only thing to do here is to move on.

Not really.

I've either seen stuff on viewing and offered accordingly or the house was appropriately priced for the work needed, or in the case of our current house, was worth it even with the work needed and could sell 10 times over.

The only stuff that's come up on surveys we've had has been so catastrophic we've walked away.

I do wonder what business people have buying houses if they can't see a fuse box or boiler will need replacing on viewing.

Not really because the choice isn't a binary one.
The OP has said that, if she pulls out of buying this place, she will still sell and move in with family. She would then be in a very good position to view and consider all the properties that will be coming on the market during the Spring and Summer. There is always a lot of choice at that time of year and the poorest choice currently. This is a very good situation to be in. The seller may or may not find someone else willing to match the OP's offer. The OP will undoubtely have other potential choices.

precisely this

the fact OP made an offer without pricing in something as obvious as gutters, electrics and boiler is not their problem, it is OP's.
Walk away is OP's logical response...

Unfortunately I do think many people think they are buying a house that should be in perfect maintenance and expect to get money off for the works identified in the survey. It’s not common for sellers to agree to it though, unless they’re desperate or were expecting to need to reduce

Aside from this house OP, which clearly is too expensive for you, selling and moving in with family is a brilliant idea. That way, come the Spring, you will be in a much better position than buyers who need to sell, and you'll be able to snap up something more suitable for you.

When she’ll be able to get a much smaller house in a worse area for her £735k 😭 at least it won’t need new guttering though

You pay for a home buyers survey for them to find issues with the property, if the report was empty you would think it’s a complete waste of money. The property is old of course there are going to be times that need attention. You don’t HAVE to carry out the works so the quotes you have received are for your benefit if you wish, the vendor does not have to agree to them.

And she'll have to pay removal costs twice plus some storage fees too probably.

🤔

There's a lot to be said for having stuff in storage. It means, when you move into your new house, you don't have to move everything in at once. And you don't get that mad "Moving Day" nonsense of waiting with a removals van outside your new home.

I'm genuinely surprised that people seem to think it's cheeky wanting to renegotiate after a survey - surely that's part of the point of them?

I can see why so many houses are sitting on the market forever at present though - so many people are delusional about values, and don't seem to be taking into account that the market has tanked and that fixer-uppers need to be priced to reflect the massive increase in materials and labour over the last few years.

A sale price as set by an estate agent is a total thumbsuck, and some of them are wildly optimistic in order to win the business. As a PP said, they're only worth what someone is willing to pay - if OP is the only interested buyer, then what she's willing to pay is effectively the current house value.

You can't 'push back'

It's theirs to sell under any circumstances they choose regardless of how long it's been on the market

yes, of course negotiation on basis of survey is a given, but so is a seller's refuse to enter into such negotiation.
You either call their bluff and walk away or you swallow it up and pay on the basis you have a clearer idea of what you are buying. I never did any of the "issues" flagged on my first house as they did not affects its value.

Anyone who's ever had a survey done on a, say, Victorian house/terrace knows it will always come back with pages of "This building is about to fall down" 😆 I have never accepted a renegotation after such a pointless survey.

It’s not the point of them, the point of them is due diligence against your purchase .

surveys are always full of actions and advice.

I would think someone who came back asking for money off listing the costs from advice in the survey to be inexperienced and maybe more suited to a new build

Too many (inexperienced) buyers think that stomping their feet and waving a survey (which ALWAYS highlights as many potential issues as possible) gives them the right to an automatic discount on the price.

I sold this time last year (an ex-rental, so was under no chain pressure etc) and my buyer tried to get me to discount it £25k, based on a single comment by the surveyor which suggested the beams in the roof space could 'potentially' twist slightly in 10-15 years. I just laughed when the estate agent told me and said the house only remained for sale for the next 24 hours, and after that I was taking it off the market and remarketing it again in Jan/Feb. Strangely the buyer came back with the full price within the hour!

Sorry OP, but you sound a bit petulant and surprised that the seller isn't agreeing with you. There is nothing to 'push back' on here - do you want the house or not?

If they do not want to reduce you have to decide to go ahead orb look for something else it is sadly as simple as that
They be be in no hurry to sell for whatever reason

It's at least part of the point of them. If there are major issues revealed that would be costly to put right, and were not apparent on viewing, and the house has been priced without that factored in, then of course a renegotiation is in order.

Of course the seller is welcome to refuse and relist at that point.

The point of a survey is to find out whether the house is worth what you are paying for it.

You have to make your mind up whether given what the survey has come up with whether you still think the place is worth it to you for the price you are paying. And only you can answer that question.

And it is perfectly reasonable for you to renegotiate the price based on new information you have (whether someone could have seen it before or not). And perfectly reasonable for the seller to refuse.

Yes there are some buyers who take the piss trying to knock sellers down. But there are also a lot of sellers trying to sell dilapidated heaps that are worth nowhere near the money they are asking.

Only you can answer these questions.

Don't blame you for asking OP or the seller for refusing- if you really want to deal with the survey issues straightaway and don't have the funds you'll just have to walk away- this might be for the best as Victorian properties will always require a maintenance budget.

Surveys almost always say the boiler needs replacement - the survey of a property I bought in 2010 said that - that and it's still going strong 15 years later.

I bought a Georgian house 2 years ago and recommendations were made re the roof, lounge ceiling replastering , boiler, door and window restoration we had to spend the expected fortune to restore the listed windows ( with a helpful grant) but our decorator did a fab skim on the ceiling, boiler is running well and the roof only cost a few hundred to resolve. We got a historic door restoration estimate of a shocking £15k but I reckon our amazing decorator and carpenter and a brass restorer we've also used can do a very good job for a fraction of that cost.

We did not revisit the price after the survey as we negotiated up front on the potential restoration costs.

Good luck - hope you don't need to pull out !

Because usually, properties are priced accordingly. Plus they already received a huge discount on the original price. It's not like the mortgage company have said it's not worth the money.

They may have been priced accordingly in the past but many have been wildly over priced in the last few years. There are so many houses needing a lot of work that are just not selling because the sellers have not 'priced accordingly'.

What makes you think that house prices are going to shoot up in @Montysmoon's area?!