survey back - work needed, but seller not prepared to negotiate

pedro789

Hi
I've had an offer accepted and survey has come back OK but with a few problem areas.

Roof - needs work to damaged slates, batons, chimney stacks.
Dry rot/damp - nothing major but isolated areas need attention.
Electrics - work to upgrade fusebox/some sockets.

The total cost for this is about £2500 but obviously does not all need doing straight away.

The house is 100 years old and was up for £190,000 originally but offer of £175,000 accepted.

I'm happy to compromise but seller is saying house has already been reduced (which is true but I did tell EA the offer was predicated on satisfactory survey) and not prepared to negotiate. I don't want to lose house but similarly seller must accept work needs doing. Should I just let the solicitor deal with this?

Grateful for any thoughts/advice on this.

Thanks

ess0two

What was it valued at in its current state?

pedro789

survey said £175,000?

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Why let the solicitor deal with it, they will only act on your instructions....

You have two choices:

1. Tell the vendor that you want the work doing or an equivalent amount knocked off the price and negotiate from there (being prepared to walk away if necessary)

or

2. Just accept the vendors decision that they won't knock any more off and buy anyway, accepting that you will later have to pay for these things to be done.

spidystrider

How much did the survey say the house is worth. If it's less than £175,000 then you can try to push for a reduction but at the end of the day the seller does not have to reduce the price. I guess it depends on how much you want the house.

Oops, always too slow to type an answer. If the house is worth £175,000 in it's current condition, I don't see how you can really expect a reduction.

dodger1

pedro789 wrote: »

survey said £175,000?

Then the survey says it's worth that in it's current state. So I see why the vendor wont negotiate.

poppysarah

Go look at some more houses.

Whilst it's not a lot of work and not hugely expensive it's a pita for you to have to think about that.

But explore other options. Plenty more houses out there. Over 20 added today on my local search - all new to market not even EA fiddles/relists.


EDIT:::

Roof - needs work to damaged slates, batons, chimney stacks.
Dry rot/damp - nothing major but isolated areas need attention.
Electrics - work to upgrade fusebox/some sockets.


Could actually be a lot of work.

Electrics probably best to do a rewire.. 2k
damp/dry rot would need urgent treatment imo. "isolated" but for how long?
roof? Who knows. They can be a minefield once you start picking.

kingstreet

Is the value after these essential repairs higher than the agreed price? If it is, you're getting the added value, so you're unlikely to get the vendor to pay for them for you.

split_second

sounds like the electrics arent up to current regs, you'll need a rewire to if i remember correctly 17th edition regs, most houses have 16th edition and the improvement is massive

eta: speak to the vendor about when the last rewire/upgrade was done, if it was before 1991 we could be dealing with 15th edition

pedro789

kingstreet wrote: »

Is the value after these essential repairs higher than the agreed price? If it is, you're getting the added value, so you're unlikely to get the vendor to pay for them for you.

thanks kingstreet, yes it probably is - would you advise i just accept it needs some work or give it a shot with vendor?

bris

split_second wrote: »

sounds like the electrics arent up to current regs, you'll need a rewire to if i remember correctly 17th edition regs, most houses have 16th edition and the improvement is massive

Just because it doesn't meet current regs, doesn't mean it's unsafe. You don't have to update it if you don't want to.
Surveyers are now quick to point out old style fuse boxes, just covering their own backs more than anything else.