Renegotiating after survey - Help Please!!!

steadysaver

We had an offer accepted on a property at 192,500. The survey has been completed and the surveyor has suggested that the valve of the property is 190,500. This is due to a number of issues being highlighted. I expected this, as it is an old terrace house, which you would expect some wear and tear, electrical problems etc.

The mortgage company have said they will put a retention on the 2k difference for the time being until further specialist reports are carried out for electrics and damp, or issues are rectified

On ringing the estate agent to confirm the results of the survey I was informed by the estate agent that the vendor has specified that the offer will be non negotiable after survey. I made my offer subject to survey and I had neither been told this verbally or in writing prior to having an offer acepted and a survey carried out. Is this typical estate agent rubbish. They are working for the vendor after all? If this was disclosed before hand I would be wary of making an offer as you would suspect the vendor may be aware of some issues.

Should the vendor drop the price, should we walk away, should we pay the original price but ask her to pay for the rectification of the problems.

There are also several other issues that will need sorting out in the near future (2-3 years time) highlighted in the surveyors report such as a new boiler, and re-roofing.

I think the vendor is being nieve in not wanting to re-negociated after a survey. Maybe I need to sit down with the vendor away from the estate agent and talk?

Any advice welcome, thanks

vegasbaby100

hey the people we have bnrought off were the same but they said this upfront we saw a copy of the last survey and negotiated the deal to save debating it later in the day!

If you dont feel happy with the price then you can always walk away.

With the things that are 2-3 years down the line I am of the opinion its just the responsibility of taking a house on.

ognum

What is the position of the seller, are they desperate to sell? What is your area like are there many buyers or are they lucky to have your offer.

As you say this is a victorian house you are buying so it will not be perfect, any home you buy will need work done in the next 2 - 3 years so IMO you can discard those from your calculation.

All victorian homes have issues, I have bought and sold a few, none I have bought have been perfect nor have any I sold. If the vendor believes he priced his home to include the issues you have then he probably wont negotiate.

I would not simply accept what the EA says, while he is working for the vendor he is also working for his commission, if you want to reduce your offer he has to present it to the sellers. Be aware there is no fairness in house selling so try to negotiate and then decide how much you want the house and what you can afford.

steadysaver

vegasbaby100 wrote: »

hey the people we have bnrought off were the same but they said this upfront we saw a copy of the last survey and negotiated the deal to save debating it later in the day!

If you dont feel happy with the price then you can always walk away.

With the things that are 2-3 years down the line I am of the opinion its just the responsibility of taking a house on.

Agree with the last point. Still think they are trying it on with the non negociate after survey, as this has never been mentioned before, until the survey came back.

tek-monkey

You can negotiate until exchange surely? They are perfectly within their righs not to change price, but you're not obliged to accept that. If you're not happy, walk. For a 1% price change I suspect they'll cave in, but some people are just sheer bloody minded. They may take the sink

avisccs

Mine was 5k lower than the price I offered and vendor didn't want to lower the price nor pay for the test of eletricity etc. So I chose to walk away.

Someone tells me: just have a think how long it would take you to earn every 1 thousand pounds.

tek-monkey

I'm splitting the cost of the drain survey required, but if it brings up problems I shan't be paying for them. I can't afford to! Its not like anything off my mortgage is free cash in my pocket, as they lend on the value of the house. Either they fix it or I walk, I have no choice in the matter.

steadysaver

ognum wrote: »

What is the position of the seller, are they desperate to sell? What is your area like are there many buyers or are they lucky to have your offer.

As you say this is a victorian house you are buying so it will not be perfect, any home you buy will need work done in the next 2 - 3 years so IMO you can discard those from your calculation.

All victorian homes have issues, I have bought and sold a few, none I have bought have been perfect nor have any I sold. If the vendor believes he priced his home to include the issues you have then he probably wont negotiate.

I would not simply accept what the EA says, while he is working for the vendor he is also working for his commission, if you want to reduce your offer he has to present it to the sellers. Be aware there is no fairness in house selling so try to negotiate and then decide how much you want the house and what you can afford.

The seller is keen to move, it is a big property and they can no longer cope. I believe they had another offer, however this was refused as the offeree was not in a position to proceed.

There is a chance that any other surveyor would come back with the same problems. I guess she has to weigh up if its worth taking the chance of finding another buyer and getting the price they want, or she can re-negotiate.

We need to have an electrical and damp survey done to satisfy the mortgage company before they will lend. So its not just a case of dropping the price 2k, they may not lend us anything if the reports come back unsatisfactory, or extra works is not complete

chickmug

Here’s the agents perspective on this situation - that's me.

All valuations given (well at least mine) will reflect the condition of the place and take into account the likelihood of work needing doing that the survey brings up.

In our case when we agree the sale we do something I doubt many other agents do? We explain to the buyer verbally as well as in the initial letters and memo of sale that the price is fixed regardless of the results of any investigations such as a survey. And that the price is based on the age and condition of the place. This doesn't always stop buyers trying to re-negotiate but when we introduced it there was a significant drop in this happening. Remember though we act for the seller.

Sometimes, regardless of what we had said, the buyer still tried to get the price dropped. Most sellers were sensible but some would 'cut off their nose to spite their face' and wouldn't budge a penny but most would go part way but very very few would expect to foot the whole to the bill. It can though depend on the specifics and there are items that in my opinion the sellers should probably agree to foot the whole cost.

So whilst the buyer is entitled to offer whatever they want they MUST respect, at the same time, the seller has the SAME freedom of choice in agreeing, disagreeing or going part way.

I often read suggestions of tell them 'to take it or leave it' even where the OP has said they love the house. This is not the way that property negotiations take place, in the real world, day to day. I have seen it but rarely and had to laugh when the seller, being a tough cookie, has instructed that the buyer be kicked off as they don't want to sell to them at any cost now as they feel they are too much trouble. So be warned being tough can backfire. Being sensible and negotiating more gently often gets you further.

steadysaver

Thanks for the reply chickmug. It is the perfect house, one we could stay in for a long time.

I agree I am not going to play hard ball, and I would like to think that myself and vendor could sit down with a sensible solution. We plan to go ahead with the extra surveys required, as without such, there is no mortgage, and no mortgage would mean no sale.

What I am annoyed about is that the non-negotiating condition came up after the survey had been complete. I.e no verbal or written warning of this condition before hand. I have no problem if she doesn't want to negotiate, I guess she just has to weigh up if the next buyer will have more luck with the survey and it will go through no problem.

I am curious though, just for my own edification if a survey finds major problems i.e 20-30k of work needed and property is un-mortgageable, and it had been stated they would not negotiate after survey, would you convince the vendor to budge as the house could potentially never be sold?

tek-monkey

chickmug, do you point out potential issues to the buyers as well? In my case, how was I to know the drains ran under the kitchen and apparently have no buildover agreement? I can't know this without a survey, I was not told of this before the offer. Therefore of course I'd be expecting to renogiate, if the vendor wouldn't I walk.

Buyers are not surveyors, they can't know all the problems expected so unless you tell them you can't expect them to factor them into their offer surely?