Seller won't/can't pay for repairs

nicole_james_uk

First time buyer, with an offer accepted on a house. Received information via the solicitors concerning an illegally connected drain on the property, on which the Seller is trying to get the Council to pay for the repairs as their Building Control OK'd the drains when an extension was built in 1992. We have been advised by our solicitors to get the work to be carried out before we exchange contracts. The seller has said he can't afford the cost of the repairs and has asked us to pay half the cost. Is this an acceptable or a known issue when house buying? How do you go about orgainsing this?
Do you take the cost off the property, so deposit will be reduced? Or do you pay the extra on top of the deposit, and then when the seller is reimbursed through the Council insurers the extra money is given back? Can anyone advise?

silvercar

You don't know for sure that the council's insurers will pay out. The easiest way would be for the seller to pay for the work or for you to reduce the price by the cost of the work, then if the council pays out they have got their full price. Don't leave yourself waiting for the council's insurers.

If the seller's refuse to reduce the price you may have to decide whether to pay yourself or walk away.

real1314

The seller can't afford to pay for the repairs?
Tell the seller you'll pay half, but will reduce the price accordingly!:D

Who actually carried out the drains work? Was it to the required standard then? Who has decided it's illegal?

nicole_james_uk

The drains work was carried out by the builders who did the extension in 1992. A recent inititative by Bristol Water found that waste water had been wrongly flowing into a surface water drain, this is illegal, as it pollutes the surface water, which in this case is a local brook.They gave the owner 90 days to get it rectified. He has gone to the council, as their Building Control signed the extension off as being carried out correctly. When in fact the drains were wrong. The council have referred it to their insurers.
The seller believed that just saying he would stay responsible for the issue was enough, which it isn;t as once contracts are exchanged we would become responsible. We said we didn't want to exchange to till the work had been carried out, and he is saying he can't afford the £1,000 the works will cost. We have said we aren;t opposed to helping out, and at the moment are waiting to see how his solicitor advises this is carried out.
The easiest way would be if he pays, as there is no assurance the insurers will pay. However he says he can't afford this. So we are at an impasse at the moment, until the legal minds advise a way to proceed. I have no idea what this will be. Does anyone else?

CB1979_2

surely if it's going to cost £1k (get written confirmation from the builders) then simply reduce the offer?

surely that's the correct thing to do?

whether he agrees to that or not is another matter though!

NastyMatt

Pay for the work to be done and drop the price of the property by £1k, he gets the insurance if it pays out.

You get the house at the price you originally agreed and the drains are sorted.. he'll get his full price if the insurers pay out.

Debt_Free_Chick

nicole_james_uk wrote:

The seller believed that just saying he would stay responsible for the issue was enough, which it isn;t as once contracts are exchanged we would become responsible.

The usual way to deal with this is by an indemnity. The current owner would "indemnify" you against any cost you incur. In other words, the responsibility would not pass to you.

This would be a simple clause in the house purchase contract. It's actually quite common - as there are new penalties which did not exist when a lot of work was carried out in the past.

silvercar

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

The usual way to deal with this is by an indemnity. The current owner would "indemnify" you against any cost you incur. In other words, the responsibility would not pass to you.

This would be a simple clause in the house purchase contract. It's actually quite common - as there are new penalties which did not exist when a lot of work was carried out in the past.

Although indemnity works in theory really you want to know you have the money without going to court to get it. I would suggest a retention on the purchase price, of an agreed amount, until the work is completed.