Purchase of new flat just fell through after survey, what to do?

deshg

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I were buying a flat (2 bedroom on the 2nd and 3rd/attic floor of a victorian house). We had an offer accepted at 324k and had a survey and mortgage valuation done. The valuer advised against the bank lending as it turns out the attic room (bedroom 2) is not a habitable room as the floor has never been suitably reinforced and there's no secondary fire escape. We sent them the survey and suggested a price of 290k to give us money to do the work required to get it to the position it was described as. The estate agent is currently avoiding talking to me and has sent me an email saying they haven't accepted and are remarketing the property and are going back to another buyer who made an offer at the same time as us.

We still like the flat and have spent money getting this far so would like the opportunity to continue (plus don't want them trying to do the same thing to others). My understanding is that now the estate agent knows it's a 1 bedroom flat and not a 2 bedroom then they can't advertise it as such? Does this mean they have a legal (or other) obligation to change the property details on their website/rightmove/brochures etc or can they leave this and say they're going to update it and just not mention it to people (which is what they will do if i don't force the issue i suspect). Additionally the current owners are currently renting it out and the attic room is used as a bedroom for one of the tenants which is obviously highly dangerous and presumably illegal.

I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone can give regarding what requirements fall on the estate agent in terms of marketing the property going forward (and how quickly they need to amend the associated property details on their systems).

Thanks so much,

Dave

ILW

Let it go, you cannot get a mortgage on the place and what the EA or seller does is their problem, not yours.

deshg

The valuer said i can get a mortgage if i get 20 - 30k off the price, obviously if i can't get enough off for us and the valuer to be happy then we won't proceed. The point is that it seems much more likely they won't expect to get as much if they can only market it as a 1 bedroom (in which case they more be more interested in a lower offer)?

Thanks so much for your feedback,

Dave

hazyjo

They don't need to change the details to then decide to accept your offer. They're aware of it and will probably be forced to accept your offer if they don't get other interest - or take it off the market. I'd not worry too much - anyone else will have the same problem and I'm sure would drop the price too. Let the offer sit there, and keep on looking. Are you even sure the freeholder knows they're using that space? Do other flats contribute to the maintenance of the attic, roof, etc? Are they aware it's being used by others?

When are the tenants vacating? Do you know if they've actually been served notice?

You won't be able to tell what needs doing to the attic to make it habitable until you've actually bought. I'd tread very carefully with this one... it could end up costing you a fortune to put right/convert!

Jx

abankerbutnotafatcat

Hi deshg, out of interest where in the world are you?

deshg

Sorry i'm in London, UK!

abankerbutnotafatcat

deshg wrote: »

Sorry i'm in London, UK!

Thanks, deshg. You don't need to apologise - i was kind of being a bit nosey. It's just that I'd heard of a similar situation and that one was in SW12.

iheartbristol

Could you not point out to the Estate Agent that they're going to have exactly the same problem with the next set of buyers and they might as well accept your revised offer? I know they're avoiding you but a nice written offer dropped in at the Agent with a note stating this fact is unlikely to be missed. Either that or they're just completely deluded and the EA isn't helping.....

deshg

hazyjo: Thanks so much for your detailed response. The attic room is listed in the lease as a bedroom and is demised to that flat and the tenants have got a 1 month notice period which they were going to start prior to completion. I agree with you about the attic costs and will not do it if we can't get enough off, but the estate agent is a useless shyster and if there's a legal reason he has to change the wording of the marketing and I explain this to him then he's much less likely to think he can pull the wool over everyone's eyes. We've been looking for a yr and a half and unrenovated places don't come up round here very much.

iheartbristol: i most certainly will do that, i just wanted some more ammo to use (like being able to tell him he obviously has to change all the marketing materials to reflect it's a one bed flat not 2 which he knows will massively reduce the interest at that price).

Thanks guys!

Dave

hazyjo

Have you actually looked at one bed flats in conversions, or were you looking at 2 beds? Just a thought... if you wanted 2 beds, you might be able to buy a one bed and convert the loft (obviously buy top floor flat). It's only what you'd be doing anyway with this one, and you might get a better deal.

Jx

deshg

Yeah we've been looking at everything, there just isn't much around here with any unused space like an attic or a basement or development potential or even a garden with space to extend, that's our problem and why I don't want to start all over again if possible!