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.

It doesn't really matter if it's fair or not, the UK house buying system allows for this and they're taking their chances. It's a buyers market and (many) people will use the cards they have.

The flip side is true when it's a sellers market, EAs will take the piss setting up group viewings and bidding wars, artificially inflating demand and pushing people to overextend themselves.

Ultimately it's a business transaction and you have to decide what you're willing to negotiate and when you'll walk away.

If the house is valued at 10% lower and they are offering ever so slightly more I would take it or you will go round the same loop again and again - with the added risk that the survey valuation will come back lower each time given the state of the market and the apparent state of your house.

a counter survey - we’ll get your own and you find it’s the same ? Then ? Because by doing that you are accusing the surveyor of dishonesty

@allthingsinmoderation
I think you make an important point about the antics of these survey companies. We've just had a survey done on a lovely, spotless property. The items highlighted were ridiculous eg shower screen on bath not having a kite mark, moss on roof, access to public woodland at end of garden being a potential hazard to the infirm or blind, electrics not tested as part of level 2 survey so assessed as a potential fire risk, a wonky garden flagstone. After some moments of panic, we calmed down, realised this was just a back-covering exercise on their part and carried on. In a phone call, the surveyor even admitted the house is lovely, clearly well-maintained and no cause for worry.

The survey on our own house is due tomorrow and I'm pretty certain it'll contain a ton of issues based on this experience but what can you do? We're just gathering evidence of steps we've taken to address issues they'll probably highlight. But the whole process is so stressful and very expensive.

@VanessaFence I agree with your analysis and advice but being pedantic and for the sake of accuracy the UK does not have a single house selling/ purchasing mechanism. As pp have pointed out in Scotland the vendor provides a Home Report which is a basic survey when the house goes on the market so the situation OP is in is avoided.

Telling the buyers how much repairs will actually cost is pointless if they are limited by the amount the bank will lend them

Yes but why not do survey quickly plus they have often made a lower offer than asking price in first place

speaking from experience

The buyers aren’t doing anything wrong. I’m mid- sale at the moment and fully expecting the buyers to renegotiate post offer. Because they’re not builders and they have only spent about 15 minutes in my house. My house looks perfect, it takes a surveyor or someone who has lived in it to know it’s not.

I will just be trying to make the negotiations reasonable, with quotes for work where necessary.

I find it strange you are reacting so angrily OP. The valuation has said they are already overpaying and now the survey has uncovered expensive hidden nasties. Of course they are coming back to question and renegotiate, they’d be mad not to and this is all part of the process.

Alternatively you could offer to have the necessary maintenance done to your house yourselves before exchange instead of reflecting it in the price.

Does your roof leak?

How much of a reduction are they wanting?

Ask to see the quotes that they have that relate to the issues mentioned. Or have they just googled or plucked figures from the air.

The Scottish system where the survey is done once at the start of the process and available to all does help here ( and the Scottish system does mean fewer sales fall through )

in that case , you would have had the survey and known what the banks would lend

knowing that you may have priced differently

I wouldn’t care if it only would cost £2 to fix - in this market I wouldn’t be paying substantially above what the mortgage company says the house is worth

Yes this is the point. Why would you overpay unless :

. The market was buoyant (it certainly isnt)

. Borrowing costs were likley to go down (the opposite likley)

. A genuine shortage of property for sale (more currently for sale than for years)

. The value was likley to increase short term (again the opposite is more likley)

. The economy was doing well and cost of living decreasing (if only)

. Inflation was low (errm, its set to go up again)

. You absolutely love that particular house for personal reasons and nothing else will do (still valid but rare)

So really the best option is to negotiate gracefully OP in my opinion.

I don't understand why you think you a reasonable. You asked for a certain price, they have had a professional survey which has shown issues that will cost them significant money to fix, obviously the original price is not longer valid!
When I sold my house I had to sign in the begining that everything was in good working order, you either told them about these issues or you lied about them and been found out.

Would you want a reduction if you were looking to buy a house with a roof leak?

I would be looking for a substantial reduction.

I wouldn’t offer highly than a survey valuation in the current housing market

Our surveyor brought up the roof and rewiring when we bought this house, and it was only 23 years old at the time. 40 years later, and we haven't needed to attend to either. They go the absolute extra mile and put down everything they can possibly think of just in case of the 0.0001% chance it might bite them on the arse if they don't. With ours, they even put down that there's a small area in the garden (about a foot square) that gets a puddle if it rains heavily.

@backformoreofthesame I doubt this is a mortgage survey. Too
much detail. The house is priced at what it is to take into consideration that it’s not in first class condition, so no doubt the survey isn’t just for valuation purposes. This is why faults have been found. The issue is how much are the faults going to cost to rectify and how serious are they? The op should have dealt with any leak and what’s wrong with the roof? These issues are probably not equivalent to a puddle in the garden !

Sorry op i also disagree that ‘lived in’ does not mean ‘have issues with electrics, leaks and roof’.

My house is a lived in shithole with 2 young kids but doesn’t have issues like that.

I think it is common to need some renogiation after a survey. When we bought our house, the survey brought up an issue which basically meant an extension they had done hadn’t had full permission, so the owners ended up paying for insurance for us.

OPsays the survey gives a valuation and states they have offered higher than that

In Scotland that would mean they cannot get a mortgage beyond the value written in the survey - is it so different in England ? You have a separate survey and mortgage valuation ?

The Scottish surveys are very complete yet still count for valuation purposes

It's separate ones. Mortgage does their own ehich is either table top, drive by or short visit. It doesn't look for more detailed issues like other survey does.

The mortgage valuation is entirely separate. Do we know what the survey actually says?

Caveat emptor is a well known legal principle that means ‘let the buyer beware’. It is up to the buyer to satisfy themselves that they have a full picture of what they’re buying before entering into a final contract exchange. It’s due diligence. The survey is part of this and it’s thrown up some issues that would have been impossible to identify from a viewing (or from the estate agents valuation, for that matter). It’s perfectly reasonable for them to ask for a price reduction to put right issues.

I sold a house recently and agreed to a £2k price reduction. The buyers had a survey, got a quote for the repairs and shared it with me. I’m not a roofer so would have never identified that problem - but when it was pointed out to me, it was clearly something that had to be done.

It sounds as though the survey didn't bring up any issues other than those already mentioned and taken into account in the sale price.
OP if you are sure that the price is fair in comparison to other similar properties I would go back to your buyers and tell them that the issues have already been reflected in the sale price. It seems that now there is a tendancy for people to bid over what they can afford to have an offer accepted with the intention of knocking down the price after the survey which is very unfair. All surveys seem to find issues with roofs
Ours did but we had it 20 years before we replaced it!
Having said that I would try and negotiate a reduction so the buyers feel as though they are getting something if you don't want the bother of putting it back in the market.