Sold as Seen???

TamTam72

I'm purchasing a house which was advertised as having 2 acres of garden, and after a survey, turns out only to have 1.29 acres, a pretty substantial difference I think you'll agree!

We think it is now worth a lot less than our original offer, but the owner is saying that the house is 'Sold as Seen', and even though the garden is nowhere near as big as the details suggest, we knew what we were buying by sight alone! Is he right??

The sale particulars do say 2 acres (STS), and we also made our original offer 'subject to survey', so surely it is our perogative to change our offer since the survey showed up this issue?

Generali

I would say so although I'm not a legal bloke.

cattie

The details state STS, so reserve the right to be approx measurements only. Most estate agents details state that measurements are to be taken as a guide only.

I've yet to buy a house that has a garden of the actual size stated in ea details, but I can tell visually if it's of a sufficient size for me. I understand that with a space of almost 1.30 acres you may not be able to make the same visual estimation.

I'm not sure if I'd consider a house worth a lot less than market value for having a smaller garden than stated as in your case, but I think it's reasonable to expect a bit of a reduction on price. If the vendor won't agree then you both have the option of pulling out of the sale & starting from scratch.

Debt_Free_Chick

TamTam72 wrote:

I'm purchasing a house which was advertised as having 2 acres of garden, and after a survey, turns out only to have 1.29 acres, a pretty substantial difference I think you'll agree!

We think it is now worth a lot less than our original offer

Amenity land - which is not the same as garden, but the closest you'll get to it - around here is £3,000 an acre. So 0.7 acres would be about £2,100. Is that substantial?

but the owner is saying that the house is 'Sold as Seen', and even though the garden is nowhere near as big as the details suggest, we knew what we were buying by sight alone! Is he right??

No - the property is only sold "subject to contract" if you have not yet exchanged contracts, everything is up for renegotiation - especially the price.

The sale particulars do say 2 acres (STS), and we also made our original offer 'subject to survey', so surely it is our perogative to change our offer since the survey showed up this issue?

Yes - provided you have not exchanged contracts.

Did the sale particulars state that the garden was 2 acres? Or that the property stood in a plot of approx 2 acres? As the agent may have approximated the size of the plot, including the house.

TamTam72

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Amenity land - which is not the same as garden, but the closest you'll get to it - around here is £3,000 an acre. So 0.7 acres would be about £2,100. Is that substantial?

Did the sale particulars state that the garden was 2 acres? Or that the property stood in a plot of approx 2 acres? As the agent may have approximated the size of the plot, including the house.

Whilst I can see your argument, when land is attached to a house, the value of it is more since it increases the value of the property. If you put the same house in a plot of, say, 1/4 acre, it is not going to be worth anywhere near the same as in a plot of 2 acres, so I believe that 3/4 of an acre IS a substantial difference.

The details do refer to the plot size as apposed to the garden, but the house is only of average size and situated right at the front of the plot, so we're talking about almost the same thing. Regardless of whether we're talking about total plot or garden though, the fact remains that 35% of it has gone 'missing'.

Where my parents used to live, the houses backed onto open fields. In 1988 the farmer sold off a strip of land that ran right along the back of all those houses with a total area of 1 acre. He charged the residents a total of £23,000 for the acre (each paying according to their share). The reason he could charge so much is that the extra garden would increase the price of the properties. Had he sold it off as arable land, he'd have got about £500 for it. That was almost 20 years ago.

bs0u0128

im sure ive read this 3 different times,, this must be one in demand house ! LOL

1066Kopite

Unfortunately, the onus was on you to carry out a survey and measure the land yourself.

Ask yourself this. Do you want to jepodise the purchase trying to renegotiate the price? Please give us some more details.

TamTam72

bs0u0128 wrote:

im sure ive read this 3 different times,, this must be one in demand house ! LOL

I have posted about this situation in other threads asking different questions as they arose! This one is about the 'Sold as Seen' issue which has come up this morning - I'm wondering if this is a valid, legal standpoint, that's all.

TamTam72

1066Kopite wrote:

Unfortunately, the onus was on you to carry out a survey and measure the land yourself.

Ask yourself this. Do you want to jepodise the purchase trying to renegotiate the price? Please give us some more details.

We DID the survey and this is what showed up, it's not our fault that there isn't as much land as was advertised. Are you suggesting that we should just pay the money even though a substantial amount of what was being sold is not there? Would you pay the same for a house in a 1/4 acre plot as an identical one in an acre, because that's the difference we're talking about here.

What details do you want?

bs0u0128

TamTam72 wrote:

I have posted about this situation in other threads asking different questions as they arose! This one is about the 'Sold as Seen' issue which has come up this morning - I'm wondering if this is a valid, legal standpoint, that's all.

thank god for that i thought i was going mad LOL

Generali

bs0u0128 wrote:

im sure ive read this 3 different times,, this must be one in demand house ! LOL

It's deja vu all over again!