Buying a house, close to exchange need some help

hellokitty08

Hi,

We have wanted to complete as quickly as possible for about 7 weeks now and have finally got the contract and paper work through for our purchase, however there are a couple of things that concern me.

We offered full asking price as this is a property for my nan and she didnt want to mess about as she lost out on another one in the same area that was bigger and cheaper and she really wanted to be in this area, so ended up paying £5k more for one bedroom less.

Anyway, we were happy to do this as the property came with a stair lift, which is essential for her buying the property and we have informed the estate agent, seller and sols previously of our requests to have certain things removed from the property as we feel we are paying full price so the seller should be prepaired to do this.

We keep pushing to get it all done as quickly as possible, however the paper work today has the following problems,
1) They have said that they will include the stair lift for a seperate charge
2) They are leaving all the items in we requested to be removed, oven, fire, carpets, bath lift. (these are all things we have verbally agreed and a request was put in writting to the estate agent and our solictiors)
3) The seller is asking us to pay their legal fees for surrendering their lease! (i dont bloody think so!)

I have half a mind to e-mail the solicitor and say we want these things correcting within 5 working days otherwise we are pulling out and will wait for another more reasonable seller to market a property. I am even prepaired to say we have other viewings lined up.

What are your opinions? (I am so tired right now, I hope this makes sence)

Yorkie1

When you made your offer, did you put it in writing and in any event did you stipulate these things in it?

If it's just verbal discussions since your offer was accepted, I don't think you can insist on what is left / taken. It's down to negotiation.

Which lease are you mentioning? Is it a lease related to the property, or is it a lease of some of the equipment?

G_M

Either you agree to what the seller is proposing or
you write back with your own proposals or
you decline and look for another property.

Beyond suggesting the above rather self-evident options I fail to see what anyone can suggest for you.

KateLiana27

Was the stair lift advertised in the estate agent particulars? If so you are in a very strong position to insist that it must be included in the advertised price. I hope you have a copy of the original write-up (or go and save it right now from the website/Rightmove if it's still there).

Ridiculous of them to expect you to pay THEIR legal fees. I suppose they can always ask though - just as you can politely decline.

As for built-in fixtures like the bath lift, oven, fire and carpets, this is trickier - unless you have it in writing that they agreed to remove these (not just that you requested it), they are within their rights to refuse, as this is not generally expected of vendors. So you might just have to swallow this one.

hellokitty08

Hi, thanks for your views. The details about the carpet, oven and fire, was discussed with the owner on viewing and sent to the estate agent and solicitor. The owner had agreed to them verbally, In front of the estate agent, but no we didnt get this signed and confirmed in writting.

The stair lift wasnt mentioned in the agents particulars, but then again not a lot was.

This property has been on the market for 10 months, you think the owner would be more grateful for the sale. But then I guess we have all learnt how stupid some people can be.

If the remove the stair lift, then they cant exactly re sell it, as its made to measure!

I guess it comes down to who ever is most stubborn wins. I am still going to put my foot down and insist that we get what was agreed verbally.

This is the letter the estate agent and solicitors have already had,

[FONT=&quot]we wish to inform you that we will be requesting the following through our solicitors,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]That the stair lift in the property is provided in fully working condition.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]That if there is a service history for the Stair lift that it is provided.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]That the Call Care Service is operational.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Gas cooker is disconnected in a safe way in compliance with the Gas Safe regulations and removed from the property.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Gas Fire is disconnected in a safe way in compliance with the Gas Safe regulations and removed from the property.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]6. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]That the following carpets are removed from the property, [/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]living room, [/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]bedroom 1 [/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]bedroom 2 [/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]The bathroom.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]7. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Remove the de-humidifier and air conditioning unit.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We would be willing to negotiate a reduction in the final sale price if these conditions cannot be met, as we would expect these items to be in order as part of the sale price. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We anticipate a reply confirming the vendor is happy to accept our request before we exchange contracts.[/FONT]

Does that help or not?

muskoka

I'd be telling them to take a hike! Could your relative not 'rent' in the area she reallywants, or wait for a bungalow to become available?

They dont exactly sound like accommodating vendors. I'd pull out & almost certainly they'll come back to you on your terms - I would have thought anyway

hcb42

I think arguing about taking out carpets is ridiculous imho. They are normally left, more often the argument is about people wanting extra money for them!

I also think if the stairlift was not expressly included as part of the original offer, it is reasonable for them to ask for money. You can of course refuse.

You might think that you made a good offer. They may view it differently of course.

I think I would reduce the offer, or state your final offer has to include the stairlift but give up on the carpet thing. All you have to do is rip them up when you go in, not a big task.

Why dont you want the cooker? Is it standalone?

hellokitty08

I get your point and your all helping me see this more clearly, for the sake of it I can take the caprets up and down the tip, thats not really a problem. The main thing we need is the stair lift included in the price.

With my clear head on (which is thanks to you all) I can see that,
A) we are having the bathroom ripped out anyway, so bathlift will come out with this
We will have to get new oven connected, so cost will probably be the same to remove one and connect one, as it would be just to connect one. (will only cost a bit extra once gas man is there remove fire)
C) I can rip up the caprets that are not needed and take them down the tip.

With this in mind, and the other points about paying sellers fees, :eek: I dont think so!

I am still inclinded to go for option 1, then move to option 2 if forced, then option 3.

Option 1 - say we want these things correcting within 5 working days otherwise we are pulling out. (or offer less?)
Option 2 - compromise on ABC to get stair lift included for free
Option 3 - Walk away

hellokitty08

hcb42 wrote: »

I think arguing about taking out carpets is ridiculous imho. They are normally left, more often the argument is about people wanting extra money for them!

I also think if the stairlift was not expressly included as part of the original offer, it is reasonable for them to ask for money. You can of course refuse.

You might think that you made a good offer. They may view it differently of course.

I think I would reduce the offer, or state your final offer has to include the stairlift but give up on the carpet thing. All you have to do is rip them up when you go in, not a big task.

Why dont you want the cooker? Is it standalone?

Cooker is old and very grubby! But again in the scheme of things not very important.

Yorkie1

If the stairlift is the dealbreaker then I think you will confuse the issue by sticking to option 1.

There is also the point that if they agree to remove stuff but then fail to do so, technically you could take them to court afterwards, but are you really going to go to the trouble and stress? It could be in reality a toothless promise.

I agree with hcb's final paragraph in post #7.

One option might be to say you offered full asking price on the basis of the discussions with the vendor and which were witnessed by the EA. For the sake of the sale, you are prepared to compromise on everything except the stairlift. If they are not prepared to include it, then you will walk away to another house which can have a brand new stairlift installed with full guarantee and support offered, with a vendor who is prepared to negotiate in this market.

Another option, if a new stairlift in another house is going to be extortionate, is to work out how much a second hand stairlift is worth (is there such a market)? Have they given you a price for keeping the stairlift - if it's say £500 then is it really worth risking everything on a point of principle? The more they want for it, compared to what a new one would cost, the more willing I'd be to tell them they're living in cloud cuckoo land.

Only you, however, can decide what your priorities are.

DVardysShadow

Your problem is that you have got the deal-breaker mixed up with the WIBNI's [Wouldn't It Be Nice If's]. Now, I have no doubt that your vendors know exactly what the WIBNI's are and also that you do require the stairlift - and also that they are trying to exploit the naivety of the way you did the deal. The waters are muddied by stating the WIBNI's in front of the agent and the vendor, but not mentioning the stairlift. And muddied even further by your letter stating the stairlift in equal terms with the WIBNI's, where on a fair reading of what you wrote, you actually state that the stairlift is a negotiable!!!

When you made your offer, you should have stated that this was inclusive of stairlift and given your vendors the option to reject or accept your offer on that basis. Done that way, there would be no doubt that the stairlift was a non negotiable part of the deal and you would be facing only the WIBNI's at this point.

You haven't mentioned the price for the stairlift, but if it is about 20% of the price of a new one, I think the simplest way forward is to swallow it, but insist on the WIBNI's. You could tell your vendors to take a hike, and they might give in over the stairlift - but it will leave a nasty taste. Or you could try negotiating the price and other details. If you negotiate, do it via the agent and get the solicitors to implement what is agreed. Solicitors do not do negotiation well - they just implement agreements.