Re-negotiating house price

nifferwilko

First of all, hi to everyone. I've been a bit of a lurker on these boards reading about everyones moneysaving.

Just after a bit of advice as I'm a bit new to the whole house buying process.

Basically I'm a first time buyer (whoooo) taking the first scary steps. I've had my survey back and my mortgage lender insisted on a damp proof & cavity wall ties inspection and held a retention of £2000. I had these done and a couple of extra checks by an electrician and a roofer because of things highlighted in the survey.

What I'm now looking at is £5000 worth of work (on a £60000 property). The damp and wall-ties both need doing (£2640), the flat roof on the extension is completely shot and all the wood underneath is rotten (£1500), the electrics has some faults that need fixing (£800) and after the damp guy has gone, I'll need to replace the skirting boards.

I contacted the estate agent and told them that I'd either want a reduction of the cost of the work, or them to do the work and I'd pay the full asking price. I need the reduction as obviously I don't have £5000 just lying around (I wish)

The vendors have come back to me with a revised price of £57,250 (a reduction of £2750) I'm unsure whether to accept this or push for a further reduction. I know that they have a house that they're desperate to move into and could lose, so I don't really want to put that at risk for them. But at the same time, I'm not sure I can afford to find another £2250-£2500 to do the repairs so I may have to walk away! But I really like the house (a fact I have never disclosed to the seller or the estate agent!)

I think its perfectly fair, IMHO, to ask them to accept a reduction for half the cost of the damp & wall ties and some of the electrics. As at the end of the day, that could happen to any property. I am, however, completely unwilling to contribute at all to the cost of replacing the roof, as that is down to their poor maintenance. I know I wouldn't let something like that get into such a poor state of repair. Even the roofer (who deals with this sort of properties all the time) was shocked with the state of it!

So basically I'm looking to ask them to lower the asking price by £3220 (half the damp, wall ties and electrics [£1720] and all the roof [£1500]). I'd appreciate anyones thoughts on this.

Thank you!

Jennifer

silvercar

Sounds like all these things need doing straight away. things always cost more than envisaged. If you haven't got the money to do them I would get a full reduction or walk away.

What will the house be worth when the work is done? Don't lose out just because you've fallen for the property.

zipwen1

i think that sounds reasonable i would be cheeky and ask for the lot off. at the end of the day it all depends on how much the seller can afford to knock off so they can move on and pay their fees.

prudryden

As Silver says, full reduction or walk. What bothers me about it is that the seller obviously hasn't maintained the property and probably didn't care about the property. What will you find that the surveyor didn't pick up that may have been hidden?

zipwen1

did he check the loft as i know in my terraced house the surveyor didn't because if he did he would have found the big holes into both our next door neighbours lofts which I've since been told is against building regs.

also with the retention will you still have to get the work done to release the money or will the bank remove the retention if the price is dropped
just thought that might be a useful question to ask

nifferwilko

Wow! Quick response

zipwen1 wrote:

i think that sounds reasonable i would be cheeky and ask for the lot off.

I think I forgot to mention how this has played out so far.

Me: Knock off the cost (I argued £5,500) so I pay £54,500 or get it fixed and I'll pay full whack

Them: We'll knock it down to £58,000

Me: That's nice, I still have to do the work and I don't have the money. How about £56,000

Them: We'll reduce it by £2750 (the current situation). Your quotes are too high.


I have asked to see these lower 'quotes'. The vendors are less than trustworthy as they keep lying about various things. They told me the extension was built 4-5 years ago then denied all knowledge of that (after the survey had pointed out it was more like 1980). The back door also had a plane of glass out when I viewed it, and apparently they had an 'accident'. When I asked them again how it happened, it turned out someone had tried to break in (which I don't believe for one second, as they have an unlocked shed full of bikes and tools right next to the back gate which still had all its contents. I'm guessing insurance scam!!)

So oddly enough, I don't trust them as far as I can throw them and although I'm nice to their faces, there is no love lost. I don't want to be a horrible gazundering buyer, but these are major problems. It's not like I just don't like the carpet or something!!

Jennifer

nickmack

nifferwilko wrote:

So oddly enough, I don't trust them as far as I can throw them and although I'm nice to their faces, there is no love lost. I don't want to be a horrible gazundering buyer, but these are major problems. It's not like I just don't like the carpet or something!!

As with many situations, your instinct often turns out to be correct.

If you don't trust the vendor and the property seems to have been left to fall apart, I would walk away. There are always more properties available.

chant1l

Here are my concerns:
1)the property has damp works to be done, this invariably involves hacking off all plaster to 1m high and re-rendering post damp proof injection. The effect is similair to exploding a 25kg bag of plaster dust in the middle of your house - rendering it unliveable. Yes it may be done cheaper, even if you get it done for free you are massively inconvenienced (and will probably need new carpets and if the walls are wallpapered completely new decoration)
2) £800 sounds like an almost total rewire! It may well just be an expensive quote - that will depend on your location.
3)Is £60k cheap and is it replaceable with another nearby, which isn't damp?
4)£1500 for roof extension plus all wood seems ok at a complete guess, again depends on which part of the world you are in.
If all the houses nearby are £60k ish, find a better one for the same or slightly more, I buy houses professionally and always want a good £5k for doing building works such as this ON TOP of the actual cost.

2)

nifferwilko

Been back on the phone to the estate agents. Basically told them I need another £500 off and I'll be happy(ish). The agent said that they had wanted a decision by the end of the day (noone had bothered to tell me) or else they were going to pull out and remortgage it as a buy-to-let.

Waiting for a phone call. I think it's silly to quibble over £500 but I don't like them, and if they're prepared to lose me over it well that's that. They (the vendors) seem to think that they're being reasonable. I almost laughed at the agent (I didn't!). I've had nothing but phone calls constantly from the estate agent because the vendors have been ringing them. Grrrrrrrr.

Thanks for all your thoughts. I think I may just run away screaming!!

[Deleted User]

the vibes are bad. Trust your intuition and pull out

nifferwilko

Thanks for everyones opinions on this. Hope I can be just as helpful to someone else.

THe estate agent said that the vendors final offer was £57,250 so I said thanks but no thanks. I'm not even sure that the extension has building regs and the feeling was all wrong so I'm out.

After I said no, I did get a call back from the estate agents saying that the vendors would drop another £500, but they weren't happy about it. I just said nope. They tried to call my bluff and failed so thats that.