should i smell a rat?

bobby_davro_2

Hi there,
After much haggling i managed to get an offer of 110k accepted from an original asking price of 115k.

However, the estate agents said this offer was only dependant on no further reductions permitted upon feedback form the searches...

Is this standard practice or should alarm bells be ringing out here?

Although a previous sale had fallen through just after xmas, but the estate agents said that was due to change in the buyers personal circumstances.
Don't know if they went as far as searches.

From my untrained eye, the house didn't seem to have much structural damage and looked in very good condition.

It's a 3 storey end terrace on top of a hill if this makes any difference..


Tried to call the EA back to today, but the lady i have dealt with is away till monday.
Do you think they would be honest enough with me and tell me if they know that when the searches come back i'm looking at 5k worth of repairs?

clutton_2

just because you have offered that amount does not mean that you cannot reduce your offer again on sight of the survey - its then up to the vendor to accept the lower offer or not. You've not agreed a price till contracts are signed. I had this happen to me - but as i had a builder mate come round the house with me before survey, i knew what to expect.

"Should i smell a rat?"

it might bite if you get too near it .......................

Doozergirl

I told you'd get it for £110k!

They are probably just saying that you've got their best price and they don't want to go any lower than that.

If the survey pulled up something major, then of course you'd have to try and renegotiate and they may or may not be open to that when the time comes. If one sale has already fallen through, I'm not sure how willing they would be to lose another if the reality is that there is a problem that needs addressing.

brasso

I wouldn't agree to that sort of condition without a caveat e.g. "Yes, this is my final offer unless of course the survey/searches throw up something important that needs attention".

If a survey says the roof is about to collapse and needs £10K spending on it, then I would reduce the offer by that amount. If they don't like it, stuff 'em.

ashcarrot

I think my mum said this when she was selling hers, basically they're just saying we wont go any lower as people will use every bit of info in a survey to lower the price so if there was something minor you'd not get anything out of them but obviously if there was something major then all bets are off.

bobby_davro_2

Thanks ash,
i hope it is like that

Iv'e just had a letter through the post with a notification of offer ( subject to contract )
There is a actually a bullet point at the bottom saying

Special Conditions: Subject to no further reductoins after survey

Am i ok to agree with this, or should i challenge this and have it removed.

At what price would you separate minor and major work?
1k?

benood

I think your vendors are being a bit unrealistic but what you don't want is for the survey to turn up 4k of work and when you go back to reneg. the vendor throws the special condition at you. I would agree subject that the survey only finds minor cosmetic items - like lose tiles and anything that you should have easily noticed yourself eg windows are wearing out - that keeps your options open.

Liseyloo_2

I come across this sort of thing quite often in my job and as the others have siad they just probably don't want to sell for anything less as it may affect their purchase etc. If the survey does throw up anything bad you will be well within your rights to make a lower offer dependent on the costs of the work - if the survey is that bad they may not be able to sell it all without accepting a lower offer.

Until Contracts have been exchanged either party can withdraw from the transaction at any time - even without having a valid reason.

By the way - the stuff on the Estate Agents memo doesn't have any legal basis so I wouldn't worry about it too much

HTH:j

brasso

As has been said, the vendors are being unrealistic. If you're worried about losing the house, just word your reply correctly, something along the lines of:

"I appreciate that the vendor wants to ensure that the offer will remain as it is, and you can assure them of my good faith in sticking to my promise. I will not attempt to renegotiate the offer downwards unless of course the survey reveals an unexpected major problem that will be expensive to put right. If that is the case, the vendor is free to correct the problem himself, or to accept a lower offer in lieu of the work. However, I'm sure this isn't likely to happen"

ManAtHome

Dunno why you're smelling rats - they're just saying they won't accept less than £110k. As you know, survey results don't give you any rights to a reduction - they may give you the hope of a reduction if anything major turns up, but even then the vendors can refuse to negotiate.

ashcarrot

I wouldn't bother to get them to remove it (It might make you look like thats your intention to really push it so they may think of finding another buyer), if you discuss it with the EA mention that you will of course reserve the right to withdraw your offer if you find something significant in the survey, your offer isn't legally binding (or morally if theres something significantly wrong with it) so that clause doesn't really mean anything apart from if you do try and lower the offer theirs a likelyhood that they might look for other buyers. as for whats major / minor I think it depends on the price of the house and peoples perceptions, personally I'd not classify it as a figure but on structural, damp (thats not gonna go away) or something that is likely to be a major issue, rather than the wood in the loft needs coating or something simple / cheap to do or maintenence type things. We're of course assuming your not in scotland with all this