Giving a copy of the survey to the EA?

BinkyTheHorse

We are in the middle of buying a repo and a survey has highlighted a number of urgent issues with the property. Another buyer has now put a bid on the property and we were invited to give the EA our highest offer. We did this, allowing for the work that needs doing.

The estate agent had not got back to us since we put in the new offer several days ago. We have been chasing them up and they have eventually called us back and told us that we are the underbidders but they are pushing us forward to the bank and would like a copy of the survey, asking us if it is ok for the surveyer to email them a copy. The EA said that if we don't give the bank a copy then they will likely go with the higher bidder. ('The Bank' are not making the decision themselves but are actually represented by a soliciter within the company that owns the EA)We are full cash buyers and the other buyers are in need of a mortgage - we think that they are using the EAs in-house mortgage advisors.

My BIL was here when they phoned and said that it sounds like they are just trying to get a free homebuyers report for the other buyers and this has now made me question whether we should give them a copy - I was quite happy to when we took the phone call! Not quite sure what to do now as we are rather green FTBs!!

geoffky

just have to hope they are not playing games because if you do not give them the report? make sure you do not end up in a bidding war with people who do not exist..as often happens.

Catatonia

When I have sent a survey to the EAs, I just send the pages with 'overall condition and summary of the conditions ratings' and the valuation page. It's enough for them to see all the issues, but it leaves out all the details so it's not that useful if they did pass it on to anyone else.

Or you could offer to take it in to their office, and let them read it but not keep a copy?

pararct

As the poster above has mentioned simply photocopy the page(s) with the problems and the valuation upon it and furnish this. It lets them see what the problems are but is pretty much useless for anything else.

I have done this a couple of times when trying to re-negotiate a price on properties post survey.

G_M

It is possible that the solicitor/bank want to see the problems, since the other buyer (assuming they exist) will be applying for a mortgage meaning will have a survey done which will show up the same problems and could result in them either withdrawing, lowering their offer, or having their mortgage capped due to the survey.

By seeing your survey they can check that your offer IS in fact based on the survey result, so more attractive since, although lower, you are proceedable.

Alternatively, as others have suggested, it could be a ploy to get a survey for the other buyer, and /or part of a bluff if there IS no other buyer!

sonastin

If it were me, I'd give it to them. If there is another buyer and you don't share, you'll probably lose the house. What do you gain by not giving it to them? I can't see an advantage for you. OK so it disadvantages the "competition" but as the game is already skewed in their favour, you're not going to win.

If you give it to the EA and they give it to the other buyer, the other buyer gains a bit of knowledge that you had to pay for, but it could still be to your advantage - it might be enough to scare them off and withdraw their offer. And if they're not bothered by it and up their offer to beat yours, well, you're still in the same position as if you hadn't handed the survey over.

Its worth remembering that with a repo, the vendor knows nothing about the property. The person responsible for making the decision probably couldn't even point to the house on a map so there's no way he is aware of all the issues with the place. The decision will be made by someone in the bank, the solicitor will just be dealing with the day-to-day issues arising from the sale of the property. It took me 5 months to get the vendor's representative to grasp the severity of the issues with the repo that I'm buying and it took him another 2 months to get that message across to his client (the bank). Letting them see a surveyors report tells them what it is they are trying to sell and helps them to see why they should accept a low offer. And if they can deal with someone who knows about the problems and is still willing to proceed, that is better for them than taking the risk on someone who might pull out after their survey.