Asking sellers to do work to property as a condition of our offer?

[Floorplanhelpp]

We’re thinking of putting in an offer on a property. It’s owned by a developer who does small developments of 3-5 houses, however this house is a one off renovation rather than a new build.

We’re thinking of going in at 20k under asking price (which isn’t a very big % discount of the total house price - it’s about 2%).

However we’d really like to get half of the internal garage converted into a boot room.

Would it be ok to make an offer for the full asking price but to ask the seller if they would convert the garage as a condition of this? We wouldn’t want the room ‘dressed’, just converted to an empty room, ready for us to put units into.

Yes. Absolutely

Worth a shot IMO, yes.

You could present it as they have the option to choose either full asking price for the work done or 20k under asking with the work not done.

Up to you what you offer and up to them how they respond.

It’s definitely worth the ask - particularly as some developments come with the obligation to retain a garage as a condition of planning permission, so if your intention is to convert it, you’d also need to know whether that’s the case here.

What parking would be left, it would need planning permission, would it affect future sales, how much space would be left in the existing garage which would be usable,

I priced my property based on its value at the time. If I had added additional rooms the value would increase and so I would increase the sale price. therefore, I would not have accepted your offer.

You not being unreasonable to offer what you think it’s worth though.

if I was the seller I would worry that if I agreed to this request for a boot room that if you pulled out before completion I would have a garage that was converted that the next buyer might not want.

This and it would surely add extra costs/get complicated contract wise to make sure they actually do it?

Also would they do it on the cheap?

This would be my concern. There is no incentive for them to do the work when you could just pull out for no reason at a later date leaving them with a boot room the next buyer probably won't want.

Why should they do it? Do it yourself!

That's a good point actually. On that basis I doubt the developer will oblige.

Just reduce your initial offer.

Yes but you will have to commiit to buying before they start the work.

Is this your first purchase?

Why would a developer accept a lower offer and also be obligated to do some work for you before exchange of contracts. You could pull out once the work is done.

When in the conveyance process did you anticipate the work would be done?

If you require a mortgage have you secured an offer that accommodates this request as it will alter what is being mortgaged.

Be mindful when making your offer that they will want a straight forward purchaser so if there is likely to be competition for the property you are shooting yourself in the foot with your unusual request.

Make an offer and if accepted and you buy the property, engage a builder to do the work for you, after relevant PP is secured.

Yes. When we bought a new build house we asked for a bunch of things. Including extra kitchen units. Some we had to pay for and some things they just did

If I was the property owner I would refuse. What’s in it for me? More hassle and work plus extra money spent just to get my asking price.

That’s different though to changing the structure of the house and losing half of the garage for a boot room.

Unless it’s been unsold for months why would they? A smaller garage might reduce the value for some buyers.

You can of course asK! They’ll need to weight up the implication on the property value though because you aren’t obligated until the point of exchange. Or if it’s such a god idea' it could put the price of the house up more. But nothing to lose by asking and getting a dialogue/negotiation going.

ITA with a pp, that it depends how much parking space you would have left? We had our garage knocked down, to make way for an extension on the side and back of our house. As it is, we can fit three cars on our drive anyway. The builder commented planning permission would want to know about parking, but if we had our front garden paved over, we could fit about nine cars at the front, so it wouldn’t be a problem!

No, Builder is going to do this

Solicitors aren’t keen on this type of condition, it can be a bit messy, better to adjust the price.

How would a boot room cost 20k, I take it you just want to put up a dividing wall?

The risk with asking the seller to do any kind of work prior to exchange is that they do the cheapest job possible, plus you get no say as to the aesthetics of it. Better to just reduce your offer and do it yourself, exactly as you want it.