Scotland - Home Report inc 10K essential repairs - what to offer ?

[TirednessOnToast]

Looking at a property in Scotland.

Older property:

'Listed Cat C & within conservation area. Converted some years ago from previous bank (assumed all relevant planning & building warrants in order'

Home Report notes damp in walls & floors, evidence of woodworm in roof & internal joinery. Rot fungus in roof void. 'A competent firm of timber/damp proofing specialists must be intsturcted to check the property throughout in detail prior to completion of missives & to thereafter implement repair/treatment works as necessary to a guarantee standard'.

HR value: 180K: 'essential repairs estimated 10K'
Retention recommended: 'No'

I appreciate that many would avoid this like the plague but I currently own a similar property (old woodworm, damp in walls due to older sandstone building) but not 'rot fungus in roof'. I have looked in the roof void & saw nothing & the roof has had repairs in past:of course I'm no expert. I wouldn't need a mortgage.

Should I offer £170K or £180K as 10k of work but 'no retention' ?

I would honestly offer £160k as in my experience an estimate of £10k for essential repairs is usually doubled once you get down to the work.

I think the HR value typically reflects the work required, so a discount wouldn’t be expected.

It really depends how much interest there is in the property though. How long has it been on market? Is it likely to go to a closing date? Will other bidders offer above HR valuation?

If there’s no other interest noted, you could always get your solicitor to offer £170k. Worst case, the sellers say no.

What is the property on the market at?

what’s the local market like?

are there any notes of interest in the property?

what does your solicitor advise?

@AgnesMcDoo On at offers over £180K. Last sold 18m ago but cant find sale details. Seller has genuine reason for moving on. No notes of interest.
On since Sept 25. Rural village lots of others for sale in village.

In that case I’d start at £160k but expect to get rejected and decide what you are willing to pay - somewhere between £170k and £190k

sorry that post was for everyone who replied (thank you) so
@Arlanymor and @IDasIX too

Thanks @AgnesMcDoo

I would get it inspected for the rot, ? Dry rot , by a specialist company and ask them to quote for restoration work. If it’s grade c does everything have to be repaired to 1800s (or whatever) levels of workmanship?
A friends bargain mansion turned out to have dry rot - why wouldn’t you get an old house checked out?
I understand home report is pretty superficial

@rosycheex I WILL get it inspected yes. But first thing was to ask seller if either £170K or £180K would be acceptable. If so, I will put in an offer subject to reports. I wasn't sure whether to offer £170 or £180K. I understand that £180K is value in current condition, & no rententions, so £170K might be a bit cheeky?
but I'm also sure that the '10K' for essential repairs will go nowhere near cost!

I honestly don't think anything is cheeky. You're not offering a quid! Offer £160k, they can say yes or no and it opens the negotiations if the latter.

https://scotlis.ros.gov.uk should have the previous sale prices listed.

I offered 175. Reply: needs to be 185+ as that's what seller paid 2 years ago (no reason to disbelieve but can't find sale on scotlis site) HE values at 180 with cat 3 for roof and damp and quite a few cat 2's and it's grade C listed, in conservation area. Am considering.

I'd go up to 180 and be prepared to walk away. If there's 10k of repairs now and the roof is a cat 3 then presumably when it was last sold a couple of years ago the roof etc was mentioned in the HR ? So the vendor hasn't done repairs and is now looking to get all their money back ?

Can you find it on Zoopla sold prices and possibly see the archived listing ?