No information being given for extension on the house we are purchasing.

Doozergirl

If you like the people selling the house then I would be inclined to trust them. If it means you can get the house £10,000 cheaper then it will cover the cost of the extra work. If the work doesn't need doing then you've saved £10,000.

Doing the work wouldn't cause much more upheaval than would already be going through. Downstairs would be put out of action anyway for the duration of the build I think.

I guess you make the decision that if you want that £10k off then you walk away if it isn't forthcoming - or if they don't put up the evidence instead.

Perhaps go and have another look at that other house and decide what price would make you definately want it. Talk to your buyers and explain the situation. Most people are either understanding or at least accepting when things are delayed. Mostly it's just the wanting to know that causes frustration but the concerned party seems to think they have to hide the problem in case it annoys people or makes them pull out. Just being open always, always helps. If they didn't want you rhouse, they wouldn't offer on it and if they genuinely love it, they won't be put off, just a bit put out

PRINCESSKERRY

Doozergirl wrote: »

If you like the people selling the house then I would be inclined to trust them. If it means you can get the house £10,000 cheaper then it will cover the cost of the extra work. If the work doesn't need doing then you've saved £10,000.

Doing the work wouldn't cause much more upheaval than would already be going through. Downstairs would be put out of action anyway for the duration of the build I think.

I guess you make the decision that if you want that £10k off then you walk away if it isn't forthcoming - or if they don't put up the evidence instead.

Perhaps go and have another look at that other house and decide what price would make you definately want it. Talk to your buyers and explain the situation. Most people are either understanding or at least accepting when things are delayed. Mostly it's just the wanting to know that causes frustration but the concerned party seems to think they have to hide the problem in case it annoys people or makes them pull out. Just being open always, always helps. If they didn't want you rhouse, they wouldn't offer on it and if they genuinely love it, they won't be put off, just a bit put out

Thankyou all really sound advice, in a ideal world they would have provided the ight information and we wouldn't have considered dropping the price, but now we know we will have problems when we come to extend so it's a case of dropping the price or walking away. OH thinks we should walk away (but then it is his dadand you trust your parents) but he is prepared to sound out the drop in price if it will cover any shocks for us.
Dropping 10k in price though only saves us 4k in equity, the other 6k would have been borrowed money so hence our mortgage payments would drop by a small amount.
I think if we liked / trusted the vendors it would be less of a problem, but we dont particularly like them. They are in there fifties and seemed to go out of there way to try to put us off buying there house after they had accepted the offer.
They have also tried to sell us things not worth pennies for £100's, likewise they have went back on the sales documents and now taking all white goods, fish in pond etc. Funny I know but just adds to the fact we are different groups of people.
We on the other hand are leaving curtain poles, curtains, bottle of wine, and box of chocs for our buyers as they are lovely people whereas I know when we move in we will consider ourselves lucky if there are lightbulbs.
We can talk to the vendors but we would definately not choose them as friends and they can be very pushy in there tone.
The vendors in the other house we were interested in were absolutely lovely and I so wish that they had owned this house instead as I feel they deserve the sale far more.

Doozergirl

I'd go and look at both houses again in the same day.

You sound like you're talking yourself into the other house.

Go and look at both objectively, and put a price on each. Maybe put in an offer on the other one. I might have taken a different moral stance if it weren't for the fact that you've essentially been mis-sold something but I think you need to approach with fresh vision.

Go and look and then take a couple of days to think. I've realised that I am happier with my decisions if I'm not just following my gut and have taken time to fully process things.

(The people that bought our last house were so pleased they brought us a bottle of champagne at our new house! That's never happened before!)

PRINCESSKERRY

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'd go and look at both houses again in the same day.

You sound like you're talking yourself into the other house.

Go and look at both objectively, and put a price on each. Maybe put in an offer on the other one. I might have taken a different moral stance if it weren't for the fact that you've essentially been mis-sold something but I think you need to approach with fresh vision.

Go and look and then take a couple of days to think. I've realised that I am happier with my decisions if I'm not just following my gut and have taken time to fully process things.

Thankyou, I would rather buy the house we are buying but I think I am trying to detatch myself slightly now as husband is not completely onside anymore. We chose this house for a reason and if I can save the sale I would like to as it is perfect for us, at present I will be convincing him.
I would love for this house to be all okay and for something miraculous to happen, but what people have said has now scared OH and me also.
I am so trusting and I know I shouldn't trust someone on the biggest purchase of our life.
We have two children 2 years and 11 months and the aim of the move is so we would have space for a third child, I so dont want to do anything to jeopardise this. If the third bedroom had been an adequate size it wouldn't have been a problem.
Likewise I dont feel even slightly comfortable going back to negotiate the price but they've known all along why we are buying their house and I think they are just hoping we will accept their word and they will leave the country and thats that.
I know they would do it to us without a second thought if the shoe was on the other foot, I just wish this situation had not arose.
We've even started packing we want this sale to go through.

We will be speaking to the solicitor tommorow though and will give our reasons again and suggest the new price and why. If this isn't accepted we will know it wasn't the right house for us and then we will just have to hope that our buyers will wait the other house to come through.

Doozergirl

I feel for you.

At least if you do try to renegotiate, it might concentrate their minds a bit more. They don't seem to be taking you very seriously right now and whatever happens, you need to bring this to a head for the sake of keeping your own sale on track.

I think that if they are commited to the sale then they will either hire a structural engineer or accept the drop. If it were me, I'd be on the phone to a structural engineer sharpish. It's so strange that they are talking exchange dates without satisfying your requests

PRINCESSKERRY

How quickly has a house purchase or sale gone through?

Our buyers want to complete in two weeks but I was hoping that if we started proceedings for the other house in the next few days (if needed) would it be possible/achievable within three weeks?
Solicitor permitting I know, but she is aware of how quickly she would need to get things sorted. Our mortgage offer expires the beginning of sept and therefore I am assuming our buyers and there buyers may be expiring as early as the end of august.

Doozergirl

PRINCESSKERRY wrote: »

How quickly has a house purchase or sale gone through?

Our buyers want to complete in two weeks but I was hoping that if we started proceedings for the other house in the next few days (if needed) would it be possible/achievable within three weeks?
Solicitor permitting I know, but she is aware of how quickly she would need to get things sorted. Our mortgage offer expires the beginning of sept and therefore I am assuming our buyers and there buyers may be expiring as early as the end of august.

Where are the other people moving to? The more people there are, the more complicated it gets. Obviously your buyers will be there or thereabouts which helps. You need your solicitor and your vendor's solicitor absolutely clued up and your fingers and legs well and truly crossed that the mortgage company send their valuer out quickly. You might need to pay the solicitors a bit more to fast-track it.

I'd say that four weeks was more acheivable than three but in a quiet market at a quiet time of year, the searches should be back fairly quickly and if it's freehold with no issues(!) then I'd say it's down to how quickly you can get valued. Oh, and whether the vendors actually want to move that quickly!

PRINCESSKERRY

Well a turn around today, I called our solicitor this morning to advise them about the price reduction if no evidence could be given and to advise them about the details of the other house. The solicitor went on to advise the chain and said the deadline would be tommorow in order to stop the chain breaking down at such a late stage.
Shortly afterwards we received a phone call from our estate agents (also the agent of the vendors we are buying from) who must have got wind of the earlier conversation though didn't bring it up. I informed them where everything stood and they were actually very good after being defensive in the past about them not knowing for sure whether the property was adequate for a second storey.
The agent went on to ring the council and then a structural surveyor and then the vendors. She has now convinced them the only way the sale can progress is if they can prove what they are saying about the extension and has given them quotes from the structural surveyor.
They have agreed to this course of action and are booking it asap.
Earlier in the day I had called our mortgage advisor to keep him in the loop, he is a friend so last time had the survey and mortgage offer booked and completed within the week, so wanted to pre warn him if the worst happened and we did need to to pull out.
Likewise the other agent of the house we would have purchased instead called, they will be expecting a call back tommorow knowing that was the deadline.
I just hope now fingers crossed that nothing else can go wrong, I think the vendor would not go ahead with this course of action if they had anything to hide so I'm hoping things should be straight cut.

Doozergirl

Sounds like we're cooking on gas! Well done

Sounds like they've just hoped this would go away. You are well and truly back in the driving seat.

neverdespairgirl

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I'm not sure I would go with this if I were the seller. The property is being sold "as is" so I am selling with a single storey extension. That might have been sufficient to support a second storey at the time, but I am not selling with an extension that will definitely support a second storey now

In this case, I'm not quite sure I agree. The OP said:

which according to the sales details and the vendor (and his so called folder of information), has had foundations and ceiling joists designed to take a second floor addition.

which suggests that he is selling it on the basis that a 2nd floor is part of the deal.