Buyer wants a price reduction after survey

[HouseDrama2026]

i ve named changed for this

We accepted an offer on our house earlier this year and took it off the market. The house had been listed for a while - it s a large family home in a more expensive price bracket, so not attracting tens of viewings.

They’ve now come back after their survey wanting a price reduction. I do understand surveys can throw up things, but I’m honestly frustrated because the property was priced with the age and condition in mind.

There are issues mentioned (roof, leaks, electric, and the survey feels quite heavy-handed in the context of what is, in reality, an older 1970s house.

We think they’re overreacting and trying it on. I m feel like we should walk away, but so much time invested already. If we relist, there is no guarantee that the same think wont happen again. Everything is taking forever and it s absolutely depressing. I feel so angry that it s also maybe clouding my judgement.

This happened to me. After the survey my buyers wanted a £13,000 reduction. My EA was very good and went through the survey with them. There are different categories in a survey and the EA said that only absolutely essential should qualify for a reduction. The EA also pointed out that surveyors these days include everything and more, just to cover their own backs. In the end, we agreed a £2000 reduction in the price.

If you relist your property there’s a fair chance you’ll end up with a similar survey. Can you negotiate with your buyers?

It’s fairly standard in my opinion. When the survey threw up an issue with our house the buyers wanted £10k knocked off to cover the cost of repairs (structural brickwork). We’ve just negotiated £1k off the house we’ve bought to cover a severe roofspace leak repairs. It’s not worth getting worked up over or wrecking a chain.

Those are all standard things that almost every survey will mention, but none in reality probably need doing.
Say no, hold your nerve. they are trying it on.
Don't offer anything eg 1k, 2k, as that's admitting some responsibility or knowledge of an issue and they will push for more.

Why are you so angry? The surveys showed up issues which will cost the buyers money.

what do you mean my roof leaks and electric’s?

does it need a new roof and rewire?

either negotiate or pull the deal.

surely the he t buyer that comes along will be asking the same questions from the survey?

what percentage deduction have they suggested?

We had similar. Depends on if you're relying on the original full offer to proceed to an onward purchase. If you are then you could try to negotiate a similar reduction with your sellers if you really don't want to risk it collapsing.

I don't understand why people offer on older houses and don't have the expectation that it won't throw up issues. If people want no issues, then they need to buy a new house or one that has been renovated.

It's unlikely they would use the discount to fix any of the issues. It should really only be serious defects that cause a reduction. Maybe a couple of grand to keep them if you feel they're going to be serious buyers.

We ended up ditching our buyers as they became very intrusive and let their mortgage offer lapse. Some people are just red flags.

I disagree with the above, you do not expect a re wire or a new roof! Depends on what level of electrics and roof repairs are needed really.

I think this is something that can be discussed a bit earlier in negotiations. You can kind of set expectations. When you are going back and forwards in the offer price you can say, 'we accept your lower price x, but you need to know that we won't be going any lower on anything coming back on the survey unless it is something really unexpected. You already know that the roof hasn't been ungraded since the house was built. '

Edit:
Sorry, I realise that this is really unhelpful to you at this stage.
I guess I was thinking about if you do end up re listing. How you could handle it if you have to go through it all again.
Good luck with finding common ground with them now.

I think it’s fairly standard to renegotiate if a survey highlights problems. Our house has been under offer for ages and our buyers asked for a reduction of £55,000 for the cost of a new roof. This was despite it being blatantly obvious to anyone who viewed the house that it was sagging badly, and we made it clear that work was needed. We negotiated and agreed on a reduction of £35,000 which we felt was a fair contribution towards the cost.

How much of a reduction are they asking for, and what percentage is it? That is very relevant information here.

The house was on the market for a while.
It’s a large older house, so attracts fewer buyers.
The survey has pointed up things that need attention and will cost.

If you really want to sell, negotiate. If you don’t, you probably lose the sale. The same will happen if you pull it and relist and you’ll have wasted a lot of time.

They always try it on.
Don’t bite.
If in a few weeks no more offers reduce the price but don’t sell to these chancers.

Why are they chancers?? The professional survey showed up potentially expensive issues…

Did the original listing say anything like requires modernisation, renovation project? The whole point of a survey is to check the condition of a house and the likely cost of repairs. The offer price is often not the final price. They may have maxed out their budget with the offer and not have extra for repairs.

It isn’t unreasonable for the buyers to ask for a reduction on the basis of necessary work identified by a survey that wasn’t immediately obvious upon viewing. It’s up to you how you respond, but in the current market, you should probably give it some proper consideration.

If your listing didn't say that it needed improvements, then a new roof is a pretty big surprise. I wouldn't want to be buying a house that had a leaking roof as I would worry it caused more structural issues. Of course of it has an avocado bathroom it should be obvious that it hasn't been updated in some time.

But it hasn't as far as I read! its mentioned standard things that most surveys say. at no point has OP said anything critical or major, just these things will need looking at at some point. they always will and it will always be stated.

If Op want to copy and past specific wording that may change the replies here, but she hasn't mentioned anything alarming or anything that I expect the new owner to even think about for the next 5-10 years

What a strange comment; houses are valued and advertised to reflect their current condition, not a speculative what it could be if...! OP even says it's marketed fairly for its condition.
At no point has a new roof been mentioned. nor a leaking roof. it could be a few blown tiles, or a small area of felt that needs some maintenance, or an aspect of guttering. nothing dramatic, normal standard things.
As for avocado bathroom, first those are back in fashion, secondly most properties go through a rolling list of maintenance, upgrades and repairs be they fabric or decorative, so your sweeping statement is not true, if is old avocado then it could just be the last room that hasn't been done, if it's new its bang on trend.

My house is from 1890 and its roof is 100% leak free. My entire house is leak free unless there's something I don't know about. So I wouldn't say those are normal. Electrics not being "to spec" is normal but e.g. if wires are rubberised rather than plastic covered you probably have a fire risk. I think it really depends on the scale of the "normal" things you're describing. Because making "this roof is a bit old" noises is totally different from "this roof needs replacing immediately".

No, our listing did not mention the need for renovation or modernisation, but the pictures show a home that is lived in, not a new build. We do not think this is a renovation project, just a lived-in home. The issues sound bad in the survey- we have almost no green level one, and the rest is split between level two and level three, some of which we think is really harsh

Can we commission our own counter survey?

The valuation is also very negative, 10% below the offer, which we don't think is fair.

On the basis the buyers viewed at least once then condition, modernisation, renovation to their spec or taste would be self-evident before they made an offer.

If they maxed out a bit of price haggling is not going to give them the funds for the work anyway, thats why they are trying it on, if they weren't they would have pulled out of the purchase.

There are issues mentioned (roof, leaks, electric, and the survey feels quite heavy-handed in the context of what is, in reality, an older 1970s house.

I bought 70s house recently and survey didn't have any issues. The owners kept it in good nick.
You either sau no and that you priced with these in mind or negotiate.
I would absolutely negotiate on ours if survey showed leaks.

I encountered wuitea few sellers claiming it was priced to condition, but it wasn't. That's why it was on market lomg time or some even ended up in auction because they wouldn't sell. Not saying you priced wrong, but it's something to recheck

I wouldn't expect many 'greens' , the survey standards measure against build specs now and the older a home the less fit for purpose they are.
what are the really bad ones actually saying and what's your perspective of this 'issues'?

I think you should stand firm OP, this seems to be happening more and more, I wish they’d make offer agreed legally binding

did they leave survey till last minute, this seems another tactic?

How much did they offer initially and how much of a price reduction are they asking for? What is the price reduction designed to cover? Has there been been a valuation and what did that say the house is worth? How quickly do you need to sell?

Context is everything

Of course your buyer is going to want to renegotiate if the survey shows that your house needs a rewire and has a leaky roof...

These will be costly and your asking price did not reflect the fact that your house has not been maintained correctly and will require costly work.

A 'lived in'' home does not include leaks that could have caused a fair amount of hidden damage.

Another buyer will get exactly the same issues highlighted when they do their survey so you really need to start being realistic.