Vendor has changed the property post acceptance?

spadoosh

Doozergirl wrote: »

Unless you have exchanged contracts, you haven't actually agreed to anything in England and Wales. The OP can ask for the moon on a stick as part of the deal if they like! They can certainly ask for the bump to be rectified or renegotiate based on the new lump.

OP, you should have a proper survey simply because you should have a survey on any house. Ideally you'd want the surveyor to speak to the vendor about what has just happened, otherwise you relay the information that the vendor gives you.

I meant the op had seen the bump and accepted the bump was there and put an offer in based on what he thinks was fair. The vendor then accepted this. This means that the op has accepted that the bump is there and unless any unforseen problems (ie with a valuer then saying it will cause problems) and would be absolutely pointless in the vendor doing any work having had a bid (assuming without conditions) and agreed to this.

Why would i refer to exchange of contract when the valuer hasnt been in?! or the op even mentiong any solicitors?!

hcb42

I would just ask why the work is being done! Ends the speculation..

Doozergirl

spadoosh wrote: »

I meant the op had seen the bump and accepted the bump was there and put an offer in based on what he thinks was fair. The vendor then accepted this. This means that the op has accepted that the bump is there and unless any unforseen problems (ie with a valuer then saying it will cause problems) and would be absolutely pointless in the vendor doing any work having had a bid (assuming without conditions) and agreed to this.

Why would i refer to exchange of contract when the valuer hasnt been in?! or the op even mentiong any solicitors?!

My understanding is that the bump only appeared this weekend as it's a new floor. If the OP decides they hate the bump for the very simple fact that it is there and wants to pull out, they can. Ditto, if they want to adjust the price. Just because they saw the bump and assumed it was cosmetic, doesn't mean they can't at any point, regardless of surveys, solicitors, mortgage offers decide that it's an issue for them and that they don't want to pay the price they'd initially offered. They can do that at any point and for any reason until exchange of contracts.

Whether or not the vendor accepts that is something else but the word came from the vendor that they weren't happy about it themselves. Sometimes vendors are people that actually want their houses to be right when they sell them. It's fair to be concerned about a survey and a sale going through, especially if one has already fallen through. Ditto, if it's an insurance job, they won't be paying for it anyway. If the leak occurred after the first viewing, they'd need to fix it!

James_N

firsttimebuyer1985 wrote: »

Hi Spadoosh, - Yes I can see where you're coming from, but we might as well wait until the survey is done on Wednesday as this is performed at no extra cost? If the property fails the valuation then we don't get a mortgage offer and that's that. If it passes then we can get a homebuyers report to cover ourselves?

A homebuyers report won't cover you against the worst impact of a dodgy property unless you dig very deep and have a full survey. Otherwise a surveyor will only give indicative comments that will be very hard to pin down in the event of a claim.

KateLiana27

firsttimebuyer1985 wrote: »

Hi all - thanks for your advice - here's what I'm going to do...

1. Inspect the work done to fix the leak and floor tomorrow evening.
2. Wait for the mortgage lender's valuation survey to take place on Wednesday.
3. If the basic survey goes ok and I get my official mortgage offer through, send this to the vendor and get the property taken off the market.
4. Meet the vendor, ask him about the repairs that were made and inform him that we'll be carrying out a Homebuyer's report.
5. Eagerly anticipate the results and then decide whether to renegotiate, remove my offer or proceed with the sale.

Does this sound sensible?

Most of it does, except the part about the mortgage valuation which will not tell you a thing. A valuation is a quick eyeball of the property (sometimes just by driving by!) to check that a property like it is in the rough ballpark of what you paid. You cannot rely on them to inspect anything.

Either walk away (£200 is nothing compared to what you could lose), or take a deep breath and pay for a full structural survey, knowing you may not like the answer you get and be out of pocket for the cost of it.

In the meantime it's definitely an idea to approach the vendor about the repairs and gauge his response, bearing in mind he is under no obligation to answer you, or answer you truthfully.

Personally, there are alarm bells ringing that you have offered full asking price and he is still marketing the property. This must be one amazing house in this market.

BornAtTheRightTime

firsttimebuyer1985 wrote: »

Hi all - thanks for your advice - here's what I'm going to do...

1. Inspect the work done to fix the leak and floor tomorrow evening.
2. Wait for the mortgage lender's valuation survey to take place on Wednesday.
3. If the basic survey goes ok and I get my official mortgage offer through, send this to the vendor and get the property taken off the market.
4. Meet the vendor, ask him about the repairs that were made and inform him that we'll be carrying out a Homebuyer's report.
5. Eagerly anticipate the results and then decide whether to renegotiate, remove my offer or proceed with the sale.

Does this sound sensible?

There are a lot of doomsayers on this board - don't let them put you off a rational course of action. Of course you need to understand WHAT the work is that is being done and WHY it is being done. Ideally you need the answers to these questions before committing any more money.

FWIW I think this is a sound plan but suggest you move (4) up ahead of (2).

I definitely recommend you taking Doozergirl's advice too about seeing if you can pay to upgrade the mortgage survey to a full survey as this will be cheaper - but only commit to this after you are happy with the answers to the questions above.

geoffky

run away.....and never offer full asking price...

muskoka

Maybe ask your solicitor to ask vendors solicitor to clarify exactly what work has been done & why its been done? I think maybe you'd have some comeback if the vendor lied in writing? I'm not sure, just an idea.

Doozergirl

geoffky wrote: »

run away.....and never offer full asking price...

Because?

Sometimes houses are genuinely well priced. You can't put that as a rule. You can only tell people not to pay any more than they genuinely believe a house is worth. After they've done as much research as they can.

The point on full buildings surveys being better than homebuyers; you know, it really depends on the surveyor, unfortunately. I've seen pretty general full buildings surveys, and incredibly detailed homebuyer's. Both will suggest further investigation per the usual professionals (gas, electricity, damp and timber) but it's really their opinion on structural stability that I would value - and you should get that from either.

If you're the sort of person that needs to know every dodgy joint in a skirting board and the total obvious pointed out to you (not only is this 70s kitchen slightly naff, but there's a bit of formica peeling on the left hand bottom joobry wotsit) then pick a full structural. I've been a bot of an advocate for full structurals recently but my resolve has been tested again and I'm not sure it's totally worth the extra. Maybe, if the vendor agrees to minute changes, but most people don't sell their houses as perfect and won't acknowledge minor issues that are perfectly liveable.

SAHD_Jim

firsttimebuyer1985 wrote: »

SAHD Jim - I finally got through to the estate agents and he confirmed that the vendor postponed the survey due to the leak. He was also unhappy with fitting of the floor as it had a slight bump in it (which we'd noticed when viewing but put down to poor laminate fitting).

I'm assuming specialist surveys for each problem will costs £1000's? Unfortunately, as FTB's struggling to scrape together a deposit, we wouldn't be able to stretch to that.

Perhaps it's because I'm completely in love with the property but I'm inclined to agree with Doozergirl. Surely it's a good sign that they're actually fixing the problems that have cropped up? They are really eager to sell the property so I'm (perhaps optimistically) assuming that they don't want to give the mortgage lenders any reason to stop the sale? The estate agent was aware we had the viewing but not sure about the vendor. I've never met the vendor but apparently once I have an official mortgage offer he has requested that we meet up face to face.

Thanks all for your input - much appreciated.

I really hope all is OK, but the one question I would ask is:

If you had already made an asking price offer and dismissed the bump on the floor, why did the vendor spend extra money putting it right?

Maybe he was just generous, or as you say very keen to sell, but to be safe you should be looking at a more detailed survey. A HBR will give you more detail to a format set by RICS, if you feel a FSS is too much (FSS - probably about £1000 for a typical FTB house).

Alternatively, find a decent, trustworthy builder and get him to look at it, on the basis that you'll use him for any work. When I bought my last house, my builder had a look and called everything that I did (I used to be a building surveyor).

But as another poster said, some valuation reports are drive by. I know surveyors, who worked for lenders, who would boast that they could do a VR without going below 2nd gear. :eek: Unless there is obvious subsidance or something, it will be meaningless.