Help! Buying a reposession with a roof issue

sfell

Hi all,

We have been looking for a house for about 18 months; we don’t have a property to sell.

Found a great house and eventually got an offer of £245,000 accepted. Its a repossession, we felt that we were getting an okay deal as it seemed to need a bit of cosmetic work doing on it and £1000 spending on the roof.

Basically now the structural survey has been carried out and the surveyor reluctantly estimates it will cost £15,000- £20,000, to fully fix the roof (i.e. new roof). But does state that the roof will be okay for 4/5 years. Obviously, this is only a rough estimate. But a ball park figure nevertheless.

AS its repossession, it’s going to be difficult to renegotiate, but what are your experiences?

The house has had other offers and other interests. It's in a popular area.

My concerns are:

I don't think it's worth £265,000 (the asking price was £258,000 then £252,000)

Will I even get a mortgage for 85% when the valuer said it was worth £245,000?

Really gutted, love the house but thinking of my bank account!

Thank you in advance

Doozergirl

How big is it and what are you doing for it to cost £20k! That's a HUGE amount of money for a roof. Do they want you to replace the trusses as well?

The fact that it's a repossession means that you can renegotiate. I'd say it was actually easier with a repo than someone who refuses to accept there is a problem. They will believe you when it comes back that it needs a new roof. Was £245k your first offer? I'd have gone lower in the first place if they'd already started dropping the price, they can't ever have been expecting more than £250k to start off with!

bris

Surveyor is protecting himself here. The roof may last many years yet but as he knows there is a problem is making sure you are warned about it. Being a repossesion the banks don't care about your offer or the roof problem, they will sell to the highest bidder regardless. If you renegotiate and it is still the highest bid you will still get it. All they can do is say no, so offer a lower price and see how you get on.

sfell

Thanks for your replies.

No, £245 was my fifth offer over 3 ish weeks! And yes, the whole roof needs replacing! He said there were 4 or 5 faults including trussess, braces, spacing.
His parting words were "poor design, poor layout, poor materials." Nightmare.

Doozergirl

Ah, ok. Well, negotiate away. Ask your surveyor if he could perhaps send you an email just confirming how much work is needed, suspected costs but without the valuation attached to it... So you can forward it to the EA without them knowing it hasn't been downvalued.

sfell

Thanks again, at this rate maybe I'll be able to move before next christmas!

poppysarah

Offer lower! Much lower.

it's a repo so you're not insulting a vendor.

Factor in the full cost of the works by getting several quotes off builders.