The Art of Negotiation After Survey

SilverSix

Why would you offer to pay any of their repair bills?

Have the vendor complete the work themself subject to another survey, or a reduction of £8k so you can do the work yourself.

Mercurial

GDB2222 -you make a good point but for us the location is the selling point of the property. We plan to be there for a long time and in the meantime we can reconfigure the rooms.

BennyC -we don't want to pay anything for the repairs but if the vendor isn't willing to carry out the repairs himself we thought we would meet him half way. Though we are reluctant to do this. This issue of putting down new flooring in the living room to mask the damp was pretty bad.

GDB2222

Merc, I don't wish to pry, but what happens if you have children? Will the staircase miraculously become less steep?

Mercurial

GDB2222 children aren't an issue I was diagnosed with cancer at a young age and I can't have kids so sadly that is out of the question. So it's just me, the bf and the cat Even though the house isn't ideal the location is. It's in a conservation area and parkland is literally on our door step that view is never going to change. If the problems are resolved its a house we could live in for years.

GDB2222

Very sorry to hear about the cancer. What will you do with the house? Knock the two small attic rooms into one?

Mercurial

Thanks, I am in good health and rarely think about it now. We would move the main bathroom from the first floor into the attic and then knock the bathroom and bedroom through so there will be large double with ensuite. So we will have 2 good sized doubles and a small single for storage and/or study.

GDB2222

You think that will increase the value, or you simply don't care as it will suit you better?

Horizon81

First post hit the nail on the head. Run a mile. It's got damp and no matter what you do, it'll always have damp. i think you want people to encourage you to buy it but that's not going to happen.

The last owners have just splashed the cash on the visuals to make it sell but it's the structure that matters more. Forget about it!

Mercurial

GDB2222 to be honest we don't care it would be nice to add value but in the long term it would be our family home. Plus the cat would love the park. Yes, I'm a mad cat lady my cat's needs are part of the property buying process

Horizon I agree the visuals are a distraction. We are holding out on the damp survey to come through and make an informed choice after that. I wish they had sorted out the damp problem rather than put in a granite kitchen. It's the issue of the flooring that concerns me as someone else said what else are they hiding/covering up. I'm going away for a couple of days but I'll post an update on what the damp survey reveals in case anyone is interested.

Horizon81

Yeah keep us posted. A friend of mine bought a house with rising damp - even the lenders basic valuation survey insisted it needed attention. My naive friend had to pay a grand to get some DPC installed in the downstairs walls to satisfy the lender but in all honesty it's made no difference. The house still smells of damp, and no amount of opening windows and airing the house gets rid of it. Mould grows under the windowsills and I'd hate to see what the floor was like under the carpet/underlay. Goodness knows what it does for your health!
Although older properties have more character, I'd prefer a more modern house (1960's+) with DPC built in at the time of construction.