How to negotiate down house price - structural fault found

Christyt

One weird thing - EA said we should get builder in to quote for chimney. But said the builder should call him to set up appointment. Is that normal. It's pretty hard to get builders to quote when you don't own the property I find.

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, it is normal as the vendors would need to give permission and someone would need to be present when the builder calls round. So, either the vendors will be present or it'll be the EA letting them in.

Christyt

Thanks bitterandtwisted. As you can see I don't trust the EA an inch!

Christyt

Hi all - just a follow up query.

I"ve been trying to get builders to quote on supporting the chimney breast but they all want to see the structural calculations. Am I expected to pay £300 or whatever to get these calculations so that the builder can quote accurately ... so that then I can negotiate a discount?

Or should the seller be doing that?

I kind of begrudge paying out for these on spec...but maybe i'm wrong?

Doozergirl

Why do you need this chimney stack to be supported? If it's up in the loft then it would be far cheaper to remove it all together and recover that part of the roof?

£3k is a lot of money for something that should be relatively simple... If it isn't simple then yes, I can completely understand why they would want direction from a structural engineer.

It would be worth having an initial chat with a structural engineer on site that will cost much less than full calculations. Once you have a definite idea of what needs doing and, I expect a better idea of costs; you can then instruct him to do the calculations. He will have an idea of the level of work required and probably guess at a ball park figure at least.

Christyt

Thanks Doozergirl - the top of the chimney is shared with neighbour so don't think that removing it altogether would be a simple affair.

£3k is an upper limit quote from builder who included structural calcs and building regs fees in the quote but he said once calcs done would probably be less than that.

Getting anyone to come out is impossible when I tell them I dont own the property. Problem is its difficult to trust seller/EA to get decent info unless it's official, full calcs. That's why I would prefer to get full calcs

Christyt

A quick update - after all that stress and £500 forked out for nothing, seller has decided to withdraw house from market - thinks price too cheap and according to EA is going to wait for prices to go up next year.

Apparently this is happening all over the place. That and mortgages not being approved.

Deals are falling apart all over the place. Agents are starting to have an air of desperation about them.

Maybe I'll pick up same place cheaper next year!

tyllwyd

That's pretty unfair, letting you spend out money then backing out now. Fingers crossed something better comes along for you.

Christyt

Thanks tyllwyd for the message. It's pretty bad if they weren't really happy selling at their own asking price. That's true. Sadly i've resigned myself to the fact that buying a house is a dirty business. My only consolation is that house prices are supposed to be going down so if I do buy something, it won't be at top price.

dawyldthing

its wrong of them to let you fork out £500 then pull out, i wouldn't be chuffed with it