What sort of thing should you negotiate the price over?

[soupforbrains]

Hi all. I posted here a while back asking for advice on offer prices. Everyone was super lovely so now I’m back again.

backstory;
I am a single, first time buyer. I would usually have asked my parents for advice on this sort of thing but I lost my dad earlier this year and my mum has dementia so I don’t really have anyone to ask.

I found the perfect house for me in a great location. I made an offer which was accepted. The solicitors have been instructed on both sides and my mortgage offer is fully approved. I have had a homebuyers survey completed.

The survey did not identify any level 1/red/urgent or serious issues.
it did however identify a number of level 2/non urgent issues. Some of these like blocked guttering for example are no big deal at all. But others like some brickwork which should be repointed in the not too distant future and some repairs to the tiled cladding could be more costly.

Is it normal to try to negotiate over these sorts of things? Or would you usually only negotiate on Red/urgent matters?

I am usually the sort of person who would just pay and avoid confrontation and the idea of negotiating makes me nervous about the seller pulling out. But the amounts of money involved in house buying are very large and so I don’t want to be foolish about this.

All advice and or suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Whenever this question comes up on here there is always a wide range of opinions. For me, I think if it was visible when you made the offer, or was relatively obvious when you made the offer, then you shouldn't ask for a reduction. If the survey reveals something unexpected, then a reduction is reasonable.
Repointing isn't that expensive to get done and probably could have been seen when you looked around?

What other things are on the list?

These aren’t things worth negotiating at this stage. Moving is stressful for everyone. No critical issues, you were happy with your offer. Just get on and buy it as agreee. Not worth haveing vendors off side

I wouldn't negotiate over these things. Imo negotiation is for huge issues that wouldn't have come to light of you hadn't had a survey/going to cost ££££ to fix and impact the proce of the house.

But others like some brickwork which should be repointed in the not too distant future and some repairs to the tiled cladding could be more costly.
How costly? If 50p then not worth negotiating; if £100,000 then definitely is worth negotiating.
Therefore (a) decide your "is it worth fussing about" level and (b) get rough quotes. Then compare (a) and (b).

I’ve just been quoted £10k to repoint a 2 bed end of terrace house so I disagree that it’s not expensive.
I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule. I have category ones and my sellers have refused to reduce the price by £5k. I could walk away but I really want the house so I will go ahead.
Did you offer the full price to begin with?

Depends on how much/where repainting needed. We had the top of a gable end done was a few hundred pounds

Brickwork should be repointed in the not too distant future

How not too distant? Because I’ve had surveys that have been very vague and just pointed out every single thing that might require some maintenance in the future.

If the condition of the house was better, then the asking price would be higher.

If there's nothing major, get on with it.

My most recent sale, the buyer negotiated a good price & then kept chipping away. It's tedious. Was waiting for the last minute reduction request & quite honestly I'd have pulled the sale if there had been one.

It’s repointing underneath windows because of the way the water is falling from the cladding which is damaged I could see that the brickwork wasn’t perfect when I viewed the house but I’m not a surveyor or a bricklayer so I had no idea what the discolouration was from or signified. The damage to the cladding was NOT visible (it is to do with how the cladding is attached which needs repair not the cladding itself)

based on the responses here I think my initial instinct to NOT negotiate is what I will go with.