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 🙏

@MontysmoonI haven’t RTFT (but have read your posts), so don’t know if it’s previously been mentioned:
Call the local council and find out what their policy on council tax is - I sold DM’s probate property so came across this by chance. Round here, if a property is owned by a deceased person the council tax is suspended for a year, then it’s applied at double the usual rate (to dissuade houses being left empty I assume).
If the sellers really won’t shift and if this applies in their area, it might be a bargaining tool for you to use, as the property will be costing a lot of money out of the final pot if a sale isn’t agreed and complete before the twelve months are up.

That doubled council tax will still be less than the OP wants discounted from the already discounted asking price.

If you can move in with family for a bit, you will be in an enviable position as there will be no chain attached to you. Also I have a feeling that it is a buyer market anyway as small landlords are selling up.

Yes, it will, but as with my siblings and myself we didn’t want the process to be too long-drawn and the sellers may well feel the same too.
Would you like to suggest anything that might be helpful to OP? 😵‍💫

"Would you like to suggest anything that might be helpful to OP? 😵‍💫"

I have already suggested to the OP that she cannot, in fact, afford this house.

That she is over-extending herself, and that she would be better buying a cheaper house to give herself more wiggle room and peace of mind.

I also suggested that selling her own house would make her able to move quicker in the market next Spring.

Is that OK with you?

If you are stuck for ten grand buying a100 year old house , then as the previous owner of an old property and the money pits they are, then you really aren't in a position to afford this house.

If you really can afford it, you've already knocked them down £15k, it's probate so they probably don't need to sell (and may have multiple legatees to negotiate with) so it's entirely up to them whether they take another hit or not.

Probate sales normally have very greedy beneficiaries attached to them IME. Be prepared to walk away if this is not the prefect house.

why would you expect beneficiaries to sell for less than what they believe the house is worth?

I’m just in shock it’s considered necessary to rewire a house after just 40 years?!

Where did I say they should accept less than market value?

Being greedy is chancing your arm on price even though every sale in the area is telling you that the price is too high.

A mix of us and professionals depending on what it was and when. We just lived in the houses until we saved up to get it done.

Tread carefully. We viewed a house recently where the previous “buyer “ did something similar. The seller declined to sell for them, took it off the market and waited a while to delist. They’ve already reduced it for you. A period property in probate will obviously have work. Ultimately you might get a discount or you might lose the property altogether. Is it worth it?

But every sale is not saying that. They have priced the house to take into consideration that it needs work on it to bring it up to comparable prices of "turnkey" houses.

OP is taking the piss over £10K. They have said no. That is their prerogative. They're clearly not in a mad hurry, and are happy to wait until next year when the Budget jitters will have died down.

@montysmoon in your shoes I’d walk away even if the seller accepted the £10k reduction. A friend bought a property last year. Due to the damp and other issues found after purchase, their initial budget has gone way over their contingency to fix it up. It’s needed full replastering due to the damp hidden behind studwork, new roof, problem with the drains, rewiring, new plumbing etc. it would have been cheaper to knock it down and rebuild to modern standards. Another friend found dry rot under the floorboards which of course the survey did not cover as the full structural surveys exclude anything not accessible.

Old properties that need a bit of fixing up are not for people without the skills and budget to do the job properly. Another property will come along and you’re in an excellent position as cash buyers. My advice would be go along and view. Then ask for a second viewing and pay a recommended builder to come along to give his view before you offer. And for those saying gutters won’t cost £10k, indeed materials wouldn’t. But there is probably a requirement for scaffolding to do the job which is likely to make up a large part of the cost.

Not true.

We got one property even though we weren't the highest proceedable offer because we said how much we loved it and could see us raising our family there. The sellers had had really happy childhoods in the home and wanted it to go to someone who could see what a lovely family home it was behind the dated interior.

Well, yes, I agree that that has worked occasionally. Did you spend the next twenty years raising your family there?

Well if it wasn't a doer upper before the survey then it still isn't - 40yo electrics don't necessarily need changing, if the boiler works, again no reason to change it and if the damp wasn't visible (and the OP didn't smell it) then very little needs doing there either.

Well we've spent the last 8 years here with no plans to move!

It sounds like you are spending beyond your means. Guttering is a small job, if you can’t afford a small piece of maintenance it sounds like you will struggle in the future.

A happy tale 😀 Hopefully you can afford to fix your gutters 😆

But yes, I get your point, sometimes it does work if you can make a connection with the sellers. I'm guessing that at probate that's less likely.

OP, a damp checker will cost a tenner.
Buy one.
God knows the damage that has been done to the house by gutterings being shite.
Might it all need replastering?
A huge expense.
Insist on a thorough inspection.
Sell your house, move in with family.
900k for a top spec in such an old house, paying 750k, is over priced.
With a damp issue you have no idea what you may find.
I have renovated a large old house and new electrics and plumbing does not come cheap.
Whats the roof like if the gutterings are bad?
You could sink a 100k and not actually see it.
Be very careful.

It isn't.

Surveys always say the electrics aren't up to standard ,(because standards change every couple of years) but it doesn't mean they're unsafe or it needs a rewire.

Exactly, in what way are they not up to standard? The colour code on wires changed in that time. So the installation won't be up to standard because a wire which is black should be black and yellow stripes, not because that wire isn't perfectly functional.

The question is not whether it's up to standard, it's whether it's safe.

We don’t know if OP and DH can do any work themselves.

I’ve bought shit tips and done a lot of the work myself but I knew what I was doing. I wouldn’t have failed to clock the gutters, boiler or thought that 80s wiring needed rewiring. The OP doesn’t sound experienced in renovations - so how much will they be able to do themselves? And I never didn’t have a contingency fund.

We put out hour on for 600 guide price and got an offer of 610 (had other offers). However the EA was clear to them that we were accepting it on the premise that we won't then negotiate down. Survey came back and guess what? They tried to negotiate down. We said no. The issues raised were all obvious things and nothing major.

They seemed to think they were entitled to this out of fairness but that is not how it works. It's a business transaction. We sold it for the agreed price.

You have already had a discount. I would just crack on.