Annoying buyer - stress!!

Gem+Dave+Kaci

Help + advice needed please!!!

Ok - to cut a long story short - we're in a 1 bed flat, moving to a 3 bed house. We accepted an offer a few weeks ago and had an offer accepted on the house we want.

Our buyer was worried as we previously had a leak from our bathroom into the flat below and there was a bit of 'grpwth' round the window frames (due to condensation), so she instructed a plumber, an electrician and a mould and damp specialist as well as the mortgage company's surveyer to come round and have a look.

Basically, the plumber said everything is ok except the emersion heater isn't working (our normal heater is fine but the OOH heater isn't working? Does that make any sense? We've always got hot water so we've never noticed a problem??).... the electrician said there's no major problems but as the flat was built in '91 and the regulations changed in '92, the wiriing isn't up to regulation.... the mortgage companies surveyer was happy with the place (he was only in here for about 5 minutes).... and the mould and damp specialist wa happy with the bathroom but said there were condensation problems in the bedroom and the front room but that was to be expected in a place like this (he described flats built in the early 90's as 'small warm boxes so condensation was to be expected.

So basically no areas of concern have been highlighted and there's no safety issues (if there were we'd have them sorted as we've got a baby in here) but the reports have highlighted the electrics aren't up to regulation (estimated at about £290 + VAT to sort) the emersino heater needs fixing (£??? - probably about £150) and the shocker is the mould guys has estimated about £1,500 to sort the windows?!?!?

So my question is... the buyer has said she'll ring me early next week to try to come to some sort of arrangement on how to go about getting everything sorted - am I actually liable to get any of this stuff done or would it all be down to the buyer??? Obviously there are no safety issues and I've already accepted her offer which was for about £5000 less than similar flats sell for in the area, so should I just say 'no - you're getting a bargain as it is'? We really are on a tight budget so I haven't got the money to pay for any repairs and stuff!!

Also, not sure if this makes any difference but she's obviously paid out a lot of money to get all the checks done and her soliciter fees, but I've been careful and haven't booked my own survey on the house we're buying yet, and I'm with a 'no completion - no fee' soliciter so that means I won't lose much if she pulls out doesn't it??

Help!!!

Tassotti

Your buyer is likely to come back with a lower offer to compensate for the works needed to be done.

If you cannot drop the price any further, tell the buyer that the low offer you accepted already compensates for these works.

For a place built in 1991, the wiring should be perfectly safe, irrespective of new regulations. New regulations will always come into play, but does everyone get their house rewired when they do? I don't think so.

If you offer to sort out the "growth" on the frames, this may ease the buyers concerns. This should be relatively inexpensive.

Good luck

Tass

zappahey

There is absolutely no need to bring the electrics up to current standard. They will be perfectly safe and legal. £150 to repair the immersion heater sounds a bit rich.

robwend

Gem+Dave+Kaci wrote:

Help + advice needed please!!!


Basically, the plumber said everything is ok except the emersion heater isn't working (our normal heater is fine but the OOH heater isn't working? the electrician said there's no major problems but as the flat was built in '91 and the regulations changed in '92, the wiriing isn't up to regulation....

if the emersion heater is not workin proply as a decent seller you really should get it fixed, you wouldnt expect to move into your new home that yourve just paid good money for and something not be workin right, its unfair, as for the electrics i would get a second opinion, , best to get these things sorted out now or the same problem will crop up who ever buys it xx

Gem+Dave+Kaci

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've got a feeling the builders she hired were charging OTT anyways as £1,500 to sort out the windows seems a bit much (the guy doing the report was wearing a suit so that probably added at least £500 to the price! lol!!).

We've actually managed to sort out the 'growth' problem now (no-one told us we could leave the windows open on the second latch to stop condensation!). They've all been cleaned up and since we started leaving the windows on the second latch the growth hasn't come back. Like I said, the guy doing the report told us that it's to do with the way these flats were built and it's not our fault.

As for the emersion - I really don't know what to do! We've got economy 7 heating and the guy said it's something to do with our out of hours boiler (would we have 2 then?!??) but like I said, we've always got hot water and we don't use the storage heaters (our flat is always hot anyways) so I don't know if he was just trying to add things onto the list of jobs?!???

STRESS!!!!!

Tassotti

With economy 7 heating, the immersion heater will have 2 switches and 2 heating elements. You have the choice of using either.

One switch will use electricity at the normal rate and can be turned on at any time to heat the water

The other switch will only come on at around 1130-1230 at night and go off at 730-830 in the morning. The cost of this electricity is cheaper (economy 7).

If there was a problem with this, the guy checking it would have to be there between these hours to see if it was working properly.

Check your tank. There should be 2 heating elements (round things on the tank) chase the cables coming back from these to the wall switches.

Determine which one is your regular supply (day electricity) and which is your economy (night supply)

Tonight at around 1230, the economy switch should then activate. You will know as you will be able to hear the water heating up. If it doesn't come on, change the fuse in the switch and see if that cures it.

I once got £7500 knocked off the price of a similar flat because 2 of the economy 7 heaters didn't work. I replaced both fuses in the switches (around 20 pence) and lo and behold the heaters worked fine.

Tass

Gem+Dave+Kaci

Quick (and final) update - hope this doesn't make me sound like a jerk!!

After a few lengthy phone calls with our buyer (oh why oh why did I let her have my number!!) and a few warnings from my Dad ('she's trying to play the game', etc...), I finally twigged that she was using the surveys to try to get a reduction in the price, even though we were offering the place for about £5000 less than similar properties in the area to get a quick sale! Bloody cheek!!

By the looks of it she'd tried to use the surveys and reports to try to trick me into panicing about losing my buyer and lowering the price! She actually sent me the survey reports and the 'damp and mould' specialist's report was nothing more than a sales pitch for some new 'ventilation units' that they supplied to help circulate air round the flat and they were only £1500!!! lol!! She left the prices on the reports but blocked out what the other issues were but as I spoke to the guys when they came round I knew what they were anyway and it was pretty easy to match each price to the issue. After explaining to her that the damp bit was a sales pitch (as if she didn't know already...) she decided a suitable settlement reduction was at least between £650 and £1500! lol!!

So - to cut a long story short - I basically reached the end of my tether and I phoned the estate agents and asked him to relay the message that I'd knock £150 off the price to cover the emersion heater, and if that wasn't acceptable then I wanted the flat back up on the market straight away! Of course she accepted £150 and now the ball's rolling again, hopefully we'll be moving soon! Woohoo!!!!

So my warning to any sellers - beware of tricky buyers!!

Deemy

Okay, I'll tell the one who's house you'l be buying