Am I right to do this?

njs1999

Have just had a survey done on the house we are buying. Floorboards are very very creaky. I have told the estate agent that I want the creaking sorted out before i move in.

What is the best way to pay for it? Should the vendors pay for it or should I get the quote and then ask for this to be knocked off the agreed selling price?

silvercar

either, if you want it done properly then arrange it yourself.

if you ask the vendor to do it, you risk them lifting the carpet, sprinkling talcum powder on the joints and relaying - should keep the creaks away for a few weeks.

you could hire a carpenter to do it properly, nail down loose boards and replace broken ones. Days work plus materials = £200 ?

whether its worth losing a house for this only you can decide.

Liseyloo_2

You really need to get a couple of quotes from a reputable joiner and then through your Solicitor ask if the Vendor will make an allowance on completion so that you can have the repairs done yourself.

Do not allow the Agents to lower the actual price of the property or it will mess your mortgage advance up.

Also do not let any allowance come to more than 3-5% of the asking price - this does not go down well with the mortgage lenders!!

Of course the Sellers are within their rights to say no, but you don't know until you ask

HTH

nelly_2

box of screws and a cordless drill and an hour of you time maximum

clutton_2

why you would want to spend 2 lots of solicitors time (EXCEptionally expensive - and one of which you will be paying for ) on negotiating a small job like this is a mystery to me !!!!!!

clutton_2

why you would want to spend 2 lots of solicitors time (EXCEptionally expensive - and one of which you will be paying for ) on negotiating a small job like this is a mystery to me !!!!!!

njs1999

clutton wrote:

why you would want to spend 2 lots of solicitors time (EXCEptionally expensive - and one of which you will be paying for ) on negotiating a small job like this is a mystery to me !!!!!!

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you'd been in the house and heard the creaking - and that you'd lifted the floorboards and seen why it's making such a massive noise.

Why would I be paying for the time of solicitors? If the structural survey has unearthed anything that needs putting right, surely I am well within my rights to get somebody in to have a look at it then negotiate how this will be paid for.

silvercar

njs1999 wrote:

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you'd been in the house and heard the creaking - and that you'd lifted the floorboards and seen why it's making such a massive noise.

Why would I be paying for the time of solicitors? If the structural survey has unearthed anything that needs putting right, surely I am well within my rights to get somebody in to have a look at it then negotiate how this will be paid for.

If the only thing a structural survey showed was creaking floorboards I would be biting off the seller's hand to exchange.

Norma_Desmond

The floorboards in my 200 year old house creak so much it's like we have ghosts walking on them....adds to the character!
Seriously, like Nelly says, ignore them and get the screwdriver out!

mr.broderick

njs1999 wrote:

Have just had a survey done on the house we are buying. Floorboards are very very creaky. I have told the estate agent that I want the creaking sorted out before i move in.

What is the best way to pay for it? Should the vendors pay for it or should I get the quote and then ask for this to be knocked off the agreed selling price?

this made me chuckle..what a whopper..

Doozergirl

If the question is 'Am I right to do this?' then the answer is 'No'

If the noise is that bad, you heard it when you viewed and would have offered accordingly. This is certainly not the sort of survey result that people should renegotiate on.

Renegotiation on survey results should only be based on 'surprises' that cost a significant amount of money and that do, or could potentially, affect the value of a property.

I agree entirely with silvercar that if that is the only problem on the survey, I'd be jumping for joy that I'd found a goodun!