Re-negotiating price after surveyors report

gcthompson

Hi there, i need some advice on how best to deal with re-negotiation.

I put an offer in on a house which was accepted and then had a full structural survey taken out. The surveyor I instructed has found several issues with the house (as to be expected given it's about 100 years old). He has given a ball-park figure of around 20K to fix everything including re-doing the kitchen and bathroom, checking out the electrics/gas, damp coursing, repointing and decorating. Some of this stuff I was expecting and I knocked 9K off the asking price to cover these things with my original offer. The extra, however is unexpected.

I think it entirely reasonable now that I ask for an extra reduction to cover the extra items that the surveyor has highlighted. I'm aware that surveyors tend to paint the worst possible picture to cover themselves and their estimates are just that. That said, do i not have room to negotiate here?

The most pressing problem that I can see is that the roof is damaged and leaking and he suggests that the property will need a new roof rather than being fixed locally. When I questioned the vendor (via the estate agent) before commissioning the survey, i was told that the roof had a faulty tile on it and that had now been fixed.

The estate agent is refusing to open up negotiations because the valuation that the mortgage company took out matched the figure we had agreed upon (how she knows this, i don't know, i certainly didn't tell her what the valuation was). She claims that she can only negotiate with the vendor based on the valuation not the survey. If that is the case, what is the point in my getting a full structural survey if they'll only allow me to negotiate based on the results of the vague and pointless valuation?



I've asked an independent company to attend the property and give me a quote on what needs to be done to fix the roof.

Thanks for any advice.

ILW

You are perfectly entitled to make a revised offer.
The vendor is entitled to refuse or accept it.
You are entitled to walk away or make another offer.

gcthompson

The problem is, how do I even get to the vendor with the estate agent refusing to open up the negotiations? Launching that final nuke isn't one i want to use yet.

stanleyunwin

Can't believe the arrogance of the estate agent. Tell her your going to pull out then tell her that you'll be contacting the vendor directly to explain why. She is not negotiating with you, the vendor is.

Watch them jump

ess0two

Kitchen/bathroom/decorating not to your taste?you may struggle with the vendor.

gcthompson

With respect to the kitchen and bathroom, it's not down to taste, it's down to functionality. Neither have been touched for a good 20 years and as such are in a terrible state. There are no work surfaces in the kitchen and just a few shelves.

anselld

If you want to revise your offer just tell the EA what the revised offer is. They are obliged to pass this on to the vendor (the valuation stuff is just BS!), though as ILW states, the vendor may refuse.

anselld

gcthompson wrote: »

With respect to the kitchen and bathroom, it's not down to taste, it's down to functionality. Neither have been touched for a good 20 years and as such are in a terrible state. There are no work surfaces in the kitchen and just a few shelves.

But you knew this when you viewed. You can really only legitimately renegotiate on grounds of new information coming to light in the survey.

gcthompson

anselld wrote: »

But you knew this when you viewed. You can really only legitimately renegotiate on grounds of new information coming to light in the survey.

Yes, this is what i'm trying to do. I'm trying to re-negotiate to cover the stuff I didn't know about such as the leaking roof and the need to repoint the house. The kitchen + bathroom I already knew about which is why I didn't offer the asking price. Sorry if my post was't clear.

Cheers

bryanb

gcthompson wrote: »

With respect to the kitchen and bathroom, it's not down to taste, it's down to functionality. Neither have been touched for a good 20 years and as such are in a terrible state. There are no work surfaces in the kitchen and just a few shelves.

Didn't really need a surveyor to tell you about lack of work surfaces, concentrate on the structure. That's the important part of a structural survey.

ess0two

Did your offer of 9k less taken into account kitchen/bathroom issues?