Can we take money off our offer price just before exchange?

[NorkyButNice]

When we put in the offer for the house we're buying, we knew that the parquet floor underneath the washing machine was damaged because of a leak, but the owners said they would be replacing it at their cost before exchange.

At the time our solicitor said we'd be better off taking some money off the purchase price and doing the work ourselves, but they were insistent that they'd be getting the work done shortly. Last weekend they let us know that they couldn't find a match for the existing tiles, so would be replacing the whole floor at their own cost.

Today we've been sent photos showing that they've got rid of the lovely parquet and have put a cheap laminate floor in - so it's not what we expected, and it's going to cost us more in the long run to replace it all with parquet, or better quality wood (I just don't like laminate - no offence to anyone who has it!).

So - we're not being cheeky to demand a reduction in the purchase price to cover our costs of putting in the flooring we expected are we?

I think that you would be entirely reasonable to do this. Sounds like they have deliberately replaced with cheaper floor - and this is a pain for you as you will still need to do the work yourselves! What a waste!

They should have asked you!

It's incredibly annoying especially as we offered to do the work ourselves, and we'd only have deducted the costs of replacing the small damaged area, whereas now we're going to have to replace an area 3 or 4 times the size.

To be honest I've had so many dramas with this house that I couldn't care less if it falls through.

If they say no to taking some money off I think I'd just walk away now (so maybe we should be buying it in the first place)!.

Ah, house buying. One of life's great joys

They will hate you and feel completely held to ransom I think, whether they are reasonable to feel that way or not. If you've made it really clear that the flooring was a deal breaker, then they have been daft though.

It's perfectly legal and does sound reasonable. Get a few quotes for a full parquet floor, add 20% contingency and offer this as the new price.

It was the vendor who showed us around for both viewings, and she said both times they'd be repairing the parquet floor (NOT ripping it up and putting laminate down).

If they'd come to us when they realised they couldn't easily find a match for the existing flooring, then we'd have happily shared the costs of putting down a brand new parquet floor, or indeed taken an amount off the purchase price and done the work ourselves later.

As it is, we're left with a floor that we don't like, and one that I'm sure they wouldn't have installed if they were actually going to be living there.

I'm really not saying you are being unreasonable, but I'm pretty sure teh vendors will think you are, and that may have a knocj on effect on your purchase.

It's really annoying, isn't it? But I think you have a case! It's one of the issues I have with how long buying takes here: things can change in the house in the 6 months since you offered! Carpets that were clean for inspection get grubby and marked, paint gets chipped; but you offered based on a certain set of assumptions such as the parquet floor!

We're annoyed that our vendors verbally said they'd rent if necessary to make sure we could be in on the agreed date. They've now reneged on that and introduced a 4 person chain into the equation!

Have they just laid laminate over the parquet? Proper block parquet can be 1-2 inches deep, so surely they will have had to build up the floor?

No idea how they've done it - we have asked for clarification of exactly what they've done.

I'm at the stage where I don't care if it falls through now - we've conceded so much to them already that I've fallen out of love with the place.