structual Survey who do you think should pay? advice please

angeleyes

Hi
just hoping for some advice
me and oh put in and offer accepted on house 10/07/06.out current house is in the process of being sold to FTB.

We had the Morgage survey (cost £225) done 21.07.06 the survey was done but we hadn't had an morg offer thought ( our financial adviser is off on hols) so I chased it up turns out they won't put a value on the property until a strucual survey is done on the property ( the house is BISF - steel and concrete and ex council)
Anyway found out the cost of this approx £300 however we had concerns over paying this out without anything beiong commited by the vendors we are buying from (costs are mounting with no guarantee vendors won't pull out)
I approached the vendors est age and after finding out the last one done was 17 yrs ago asked if they would consider either paying half each or them paying all of it and we would refund on completion.This was thursday 27.07.06.
The est age asked the vendors on thursday, I phoned them back on fri for decision. phoned on sat still no decision still discussing it, phoned them back today and the vendor has asked until friday 04.08.06 to make the decison. I explained that this is too long to wait and they said they would get the boss to ring to try and hurry it up

I just don't know why they want to take so long about it (even if they had said no)
can anyone offer any advice or opinons on this

Jorgan_2

I thinks its a good idea to go halfs on the cost. You really need to find out why they want to wait so long before giving you an answer, there may be a genuine reason, but it is a long time to wait to find out.

Are the vendors buying another property? If so, what stage are they at with that, have committed any monies (surveys, searches) towards it?

cattie

Normally I wouldn't expect the vendors to be paying towards the survey. This is a cost usually met by the buyers.

With any survey there is always the chance that buyer or seller can pull out & untill exchange of contracts there is no legal commitment, this is one of the perils of house buying/selling in the uk alas. However, it is unusual for the seller to pull out of a sale, it is usually the buyer that decides to walk.

As the construction of the house is non standard & also ex council, I would imagine the property is quite low priced anyway? The vendors will need every penny they can get to be able to afford their next house no doubt, and they will have to be paying for a survey on that. So may well not want to be forking out towards your survey, which is quite understandable.

I think you'll just have to be prepared to wait untill Friday & if they agree to help with the cost, then you are lucky, if not then you will have to pay it yourself if you really want the house.

Prudent

There maybe someone else considering placing an offer? Perhaps they want to see what happens with that offer first before committing to pay any of your costs?

It is very unusuall for the vendor to pay.

Jabes

I was recently sold my house. It was an 1850-built end terrace. It has some mild cracking, but nothing that I was too concerned about.

I had an offer fall through because of a query raised about the cracking in a mortgage survey. So when the second purchaser asked about sharing the cost of the structural survey I agreed on the basis that then I would actually know if there were any structural issues and could price/fix/warn other buyers (if it came to it) accordingly.

As it happens, this buyer dropped out (for other reasons, before the survey was done).

After seeking some advice I was advised to call the insurance company and say I was concerned about subsidence in the property. They sent a structural surveyor round who put my mind completely at ease and allowed me to sell with confidence, and answer anyone who asked about the structure of the house with full confidence.

Not sure this is particularly relevant except to say that if there are structural doubts about the property, then it would pay for the vendor to split the costs as even if you find out something negative, at least they have the survey which will make it easier finding buyers who are able to make an offer with full knowledge of the property

Best wishes
James

UK007BullDog

You probably have your reasons for wanting to buy an ex-council steel concrete building but I personally would stay well clear of it.

No lender will lend on it without having a full structured survey done on it, due to concrete cancer etc.
If the vendor really wants to sell you might be able to barter on it. However maybe the vendor knows there is a problem and hence will not committ?

I would call the council and ask them about this type of property and if there have been any structural problems reported. If there have been issues stay well clear of that type of property.

Also it might turn into a dead investment for you personally in the future.
If there are problems in the future you have no way of ever selling it and it becomes worthless. This is quite important if you wanted to live in it until very old age. Also it might get so bad that you might have to move out, with no equity or value in the house you have no money to help place you elsewhere when a pensioner. You might want to live in there till you die, however no one knows what life has in store for them and if you wanted to move elsewhere you might not be able to sell it or pull out equity to help towards a deposit for a new property. Which means you are well stuck, just like a FTB again.

Concrete is a riskier proposition to the lender, so you will pay a substancially higher interest rate than on a standard brick and mortar build. Plus there are only a very few lenders lending on it now. In the future no lender might ever lend on concrete ex-council properties. So if you wanted to sell it would be cash buyers only, and there are not many of those about.

Plus these types of properties do not go up much in value compared to regular builds.

So if I were you I would re-examine the need to buy a property like that, or maybe wait a little to find a regular brick and mortar, may be more expensive but at least you know you have something substancial even if property prices should go down.

Hope this helps.