Negotiating - Hitting a brick wall

anyusernamenottaken

Sooo...our vendors are being a hard a$$'s on problems identified on our survey.

Firstly they said they didnt believe our surveyor to be qualified in building surveying and has disputed everything on the survey.

Next they said that electrician I sent round to look at the electrics (as it was noted on our survey)is not qualified to do the inspection (I know he is) and have asked to see his affiliation to our mortgage lender. I was under the impressions he didnt have to be!

Anyway, so in addition to the bits on the survey, they are now saying that everything the electrician reported is wrong...including unbonded pipes, over-rated and unearthed circuits.

We love the house but they seem so unwilling to compromise on anything we are thinking of walking away as its becoming unaffordable. We are willing to pay 99% of the asking price, all we're asking for is 1% off to get this stuff fixed.

Anyone else had such a stubborn vendor before?

ognum

In my experience vendors either fall over to help the sale through or play hard ball.

what you do really depends on how much you want the house and whether there are plenty more.

If another one will come along then walk away, maybe walk away anyway but try to get the emotions out of the way and have a long hard think about if it's viable. Can the EA help?

Running_Horse

I would communicate everything to their EA. They deal with this kind of stuff every day, and although they work for the vendor, will not want to lose a sale. If their commission is in danger, let them know.

Better_Days

How realistic is the asking price?
Is it over priced, about right, or a bargain? If it is a bargain then it will be harder to negotiate. If the asking price is about right or overpriced then there should be some room for maneuver following the results of the survey and taking into account the cost of the work that needs doing.

Is the work that needs doing essential for safety? If so this is something that the EA should emphasise to the vendor. The other thing to bear in mind if the electrics have been bodged there may be other gems for you to discover if you go ahead.

Good luck

lottiegirl

We tried to negotiate over the survey we failed ! the estate agent unprofessionally called our surveyor " a rogue surveyor" with nothing to back up that claim with, the vendor didn't want to know. We were only asking for 5 K sort out roof and conservatory issues. Anyway found much nice house now and hopefully will be in in a couple of weeks . Good luck

paddyrg

lottiegirl wrote: »

the estate agent unprofessionally called our surveyor " a rogue surveyor"

Blimey - that's the stuff of lawsuits. If the surveyor is professionally accredited, then who is the bloke in the shiny suit to challenge his assessments? If I were the surveyor and I heard about this, I'd be starting legal proceedings pronto.

Salz

Unless you have fallen in love with the house as a forever home, Walk away - its not worth it

real1314

anyusernamenottaken wrote: »

Sooo...our vendors are being a hard a$$'s on problems identified on our survey.

Firstly they said they didnt believe our surveyor to be qualified in building surveying and has disputed everything on the survey.

Next they said that electrician I sent round to look at the electrics (as it was noted on our survey)is not qualified to do the inspection (I know he is) and have asked to see his affiliation to our mortgage lender. I was under the impressions he didnt have to be!

Anyway, so in addition to the bits on the survey, they are now saying that everything the electrician reported is wrong...including unbonded pipes, over-rated and unearthed circuits.

We love the house but they seem so unwilling to compromise on anything we are thinking of walking away as its becoming unaffordable. We are willing to pay 99% of the asking price, all we're asking for is 1% off to get this stuff fixed.

Anyone else had such a stubborn vendor before?

1. What problems did the surveyor find and what sort of reduction were you asking for?

2. Other than some unbonded pipes, some unearthed circuits, and some "over-rated" circuits (over-rated in what way?); (all of which may have been legal at the time of installation; an electrics survey can only assess against current regs) what in particular did the spark find and how much did you want off? :cool:

Gromitt

I've had similar - surveyor recommended new roof and a few other smaller things. I didn't really care about the smaller things but asked for the vendor to go half in the getting the roof fixed. He refused. When I contacted the EA to remove my interest in the property they got rude, discrediting the surveyor and stating that a proper surveyor wouldn't have wrote the report "like that" and that I should have the EA's in-house building surveyor check the roof. I refused.

So, in the end I stated "Nothing has been signed, I withdraw my offer and interest" and put the phone down. Never heard anything since. I see the property is still on the market 18 months later.