Any suggestions welcome!

Poodlecrazy

Hi!

I am new so be gentle. I have recently moved area due to my job and put my house on the market last October. I had a buyer about 2 months ago who offered less than I wanted (£131K it was on the market at £139,500) I accepted as he was a cash buyer and we had a 28 day completion. 28 days came and went, he was a complete pain wanting letters to say that we are connected to the water etc. (Bills were not enough) the he said his building society needed these details (ahem cash buyer)?!

Anyhow after 50 days we were finally due to exchange and complete on the same day when he suddenly said drop the price by £20K of course I told him to sling his hook!

Got another buyer within 48 hours who we agreed a price of £132,500 with. She has since had two 'independant' surveys done both of which have valued the property at £125,000 and have said that is suffers from subsidence.

I only bought the property last June and had a home buyers survey, there was NO mention of any movement at all and teh chap who messed me around earlier had two surveys neither of which mentioned subsidence.

What do you think I should do? I don't want to lose this buyer as she is keen and I am sick of this house now, also if the problem is genuine it will appear again. She is a cash buyer so not constrained by the valuation per se. A copy of the surveys are with my estate agent.

Can I sue my surveyor for not discoverign these problems?

Any opinions would be great - this is the first time I have ever tried to sell a house and it is a NIGHTMARE, I shall be renting for a very long time from now on

lynzpower

As I understand it, a homebuyers survey Doesnt and isnt designed to look at structural stuff.

It basically says will the mortgage companiny be able to get thier money back if they sell it at auction.

Someone who knows more than me will be along shortly but as I understand it, a homebuyers survey isnt designed to pick up damp/subsistence etc, and therefore you wouldnt have grounds to sue. I could be wrong though

cattie

Lyn is right, a homebuyers survey doesn't cover structural & is in reality quite basic & full of generalisations about getting independent reports on such things as damp & electrics.

Only a full structural survey will pick up on any actual defects to the property, so you have no comeback with your surveyor.

If in any doubt about the properties true condition & value, you could get a structural survey carried out yourself. I assume it was full structural surveys your buyer had carried out? Odd that she paid out for 2 I must say as they don't come cheap & would have made a dent in her cash.

It's a pity that you've had such a bad first experience of selling a house & I feel for you. It's a very stressful time anyway without the problems you've encountered.

B52

I am not experienced at all but am quite surprised that the valuation is only 7,500 pounds less for a property suffering from subsidense problem.

I thought subsidense is a much bigger problem that needs a lot of money to fix? Have you got a copy of the surveys?

Bun

A homebuyers report will recommend extra investigations from damp specialists etc, and may mention that while there may have been movement in the past (lets face it all buildings move and settle) there is none recently, that sort of thing. They normally put this sort of statements in to cover themselves.

Sometimes this can be a cause for concern, others it isn't (which is why first time buyers, myself included when I was one, are scared witless when they get the survey back).

Poodlecrazy

Thanks all for your comments.

I suspect that it is actually 'settlement' not subsidence hence only being valued at 7,500 less. Anyhow we have finally agreed on £127,500 so I am taking £5000 of the hit and she is taking £2,500 of the loss. Could have been a lot worse as at least she is really keen on the house.

So frustrating! Anyhow I have moved to London now so it will be a while before I can get back on the ladder, by which time hopefully I won't feel quite so dented!!

Thanks again everyone!