Seller offering to repair roof to push through house sale

Christyt

Hi all,

I'm trying to buy a house and survey picked up that roof was on its last legs.

The seller is playing hardball and is a roofer (who has let his roof on house and garage get into a terrible state) and he has offered to repair the roof rather than accept a reduction in price.

Builders have quoted £6-7k to re-roof and about £2.5 - £3k to repair house roof.

Should I go for this deal? How can I be sure he's done a good job?

Has anyone else done anything similar?

Any advice gratefully received.

Hammyman

Get someone to inspect it afterwards. TBH, I can understand a roofer not wanting to take a hit or pay someone to do a job they can do themselves for 1/5th of the price. And I can understand it getting into a bad state. When I was a mechanic, there was a saying that you could tell a mechanics car because they were usually the worst - the mechanic not feeling like doing their own after a week of doing others but not wanting to pay someone to do something they can do themselves.

Jowo_2

Insist on the quote coming from a roofer who is a member of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors as I believe this is the main professional body. Perhaps other members of this forum can confirm if this is the case or recommend other bodies that deter cowboys?

See the NFRC website to understand the advantages it offers in terms of guarantees, etc, compared with someone who doesn't belong to this type of organisation.

Or if you prefer to find your own contractor to do the work after completion of the purchase, ask for a reduction pound-for-pound, after seeking 2 or 3 quotes from a good quality roofer.

Play hardball back - this is a buyers market so if you think you can pick up a similar property without this kind of problem, tell them that it's a full renewal at their total expense or you'll walk. But don't give an ultimatum unless you mean to stick to it.

So in your local area, are there plenty of similar properties for similar or less price, in case the guy won't budge?

Christyt

Thanks for replies - i've had a couple of quotes for a like-for-like replacement of roof.
One came in at about £7k, the other at £17k plus VAT!!!

I queried the second quote and they said it would cost about that to replace all the concrete tiles. It's a 1930s 3-bed semi detached.

Does that sound at all reasonable?

Re the local market - it's Brighton so a bit of a bubble. There aren't many properties to choose from in the area I like but the ones that are on market are coming down in price. Also notice lots of properties coming back onto market as sales fall through.

It's a tough one cos I'm renting (in order to be chain free) - i've got big deposit and mortgage sorted so in a strong position. But I fear another long wait before finding another property. Bit tired of it. However, I don't want/can't afford to over pay.

Feedback on those quotes would be useful though. i thought concrete tiles were relatively cheap!

Niv

If you have concrete roof tiles then they may be asbestos. The quote for 17k may have taken this into account where the 7k one may not have.