had a survey done, lots of problems. What shall i do next?

evosy1978

Hello all.

A few weeks ago we put an offer on a house. It was £120000 and we put in 113000 and within 5 minutes the estate agent phoned back and said the vendor had eccepted.

The house is empty as the 83 yr old lady died, and its the daughter that is selling it.

We put an under offer in beacause we new that it would need a new kitchen and cosmetic work doing internally, new decor and carpets etc.

We have now had a full survey done.

This highlighted lots of scary stuff that has took us by suprise.

e.g, the house is riddled with damp, it said the whole down stairs has got 2 have plaster taken off a metre up the wall and damp proof injection done. The loft has maximum damp levels, and the joists are damp. the lead flashing to the chimney has decayed and is the cause of this. there is also no air vents into the loft and inadequate vents into the lounge and dining room. the old fire places have inadequate ventilation and is also causing damp, and the render around the house is cracked and blown also contributing to the damp,.

Amonst other things, windows rotten, floor joists have come loose in one room, guttereing needs sorting, no party wall between neighbours. quite a list goes on.

the survey said £12000 worth of essential repairs need doing..

now ive no problem with doing this work myself with the help of my dad.

My question is do you think i should ask for some money to be taken of the price?.

What are people views on this question. and who should i speak to about doing this, i.e my solicitor, estate agent?? (how much?)

thanks for any replies.

Doozergirl

What was the valuation the surveyor gave? That's what you should be using to negotiate.

Be fair, work back from what it would be worth in it's finished state. Take off the cost of the work and what you need to be a reflection of the work you will have to put in yourself and that is the price you renegotiate to.

evosy1978

hello,

thanks for repy.

when you say what is the valuation the surveyor said, are you on about the lenders surveyor. that is on monday.

my surveyor said it would costs £12000 to get the work done.

Could you explain what you ment by your second paragraph. Im confused sorry.

who should i approach to negotiate with?

thanks

tandeh

i would get a few quotes from builders, show the vendor/agent the quotes

and get reduction

evosy1978

hello.

If i go to see some builders to get some qoutes, will they want to look at the property them selves.

thanks

chant1l

Yes , builders will need to see what levels of work need doing. This sounds like the house is in reasonable disrepair, however the agent may have incorporated a bit of this into the asking price. Phone any other agent and ask them for a very ballpark on what a fully renovated house like this would be worth. I has to be a better number than £125k otherwise you are wasting your time and effort. Why buy a dog when you can get a ready finished one for a little more.

Doozergirl

Your surveyor should have given a price that they think the property is worth in it's current state.

You do need to obtain quotes to see what the cost of work will be.

When I buy a property to renovate I look at what it would be worth when it is finished. I then take off the cost of the work and how much of a profit I'd need to make for it to be worth my while. The figure I'm left with is the price I'm willing to pay. Work out what the figure is for you

You should be renegotiating. Was the property on the market long? I'm a little surprised she jumped at your first offer you see.

It is a pretty big job. I'm surprised with rotten windows, leaking guttering and roof and dodgy rendering that the plumbing and electrics don't need looking at too.

Some of it isn't too bad, Ventilation is an easy job, you just drill holes and put on vents and with the fireplaces, well, you're best to reinstate them and have some nice features back . Party wall I assume is in the loft unless you're staring at the neighbours TV! :rotfl: It just needs to be breeze blocked to provide a firebreak.

But there's no doubt there's quite a list and that the house needs attention!

brasso

Definitely renegotiate the price. This is what we did.

We had an offer accepted, then had a full survey done which highlighted all sorts of stuff like dodgy roof and rewiring. We got some estimates in which came to £6K, and wrote to the estate agent with copies of the estimates, reducing our offer by £6K. This was accepted.

The thing is, once you've done this, the seller will know that if she refuses, every subsequent potential purchaser will come up against the same thing, so it's likely that she'll accept.