Damp Report from EA & Negotations

drummer_666

Hi,

Nearly 4 weeks ago I had an offer accepted on a house £75k (up for £82k)

Had my survey done, came back with rising damp and needing new extension floor I hadn't expected.

Wanted to negotiate price, estate agent wouldn't let me until they'd had a damp and timber survey done. They instructed this, with a PCA company.

I've just had the report sent to me. I'm not going to pay too much attention to it as it may be biased towards the EA. However they mostly agreed with the surveyor and gave estimates of £3,528 for the work.

I just rang EA and he said they have given the report to vendor who is speaking with his brother and will ring them back in the morning, most likely with a lower price for the house.

I was expecting it to be me stating a price I want knocked off, not them starting negotiations... Is this usual?

I also don't know how much to trust the estimates, seeing as the damp survey was PCA but the EA is their client. Would they lower the estimates for the EA?

I was expecting it to be about £2-3k for damp proofing (they estimated £936 with only £500 for knocking off plaster and replastering) and £4-5k for digging up and relaying extension floor (they estimated £2,592)

kingstreet

The EA will have obtained a report from a firm providing "free" estimates and you should commission your own report by an independent consultant. You will pay for the report, but this route means you should be able to avoid being quoted for unnecessary work.

Once you have the results, you can then decide to renegotiate your offer and the price you're willing to pay. Don't forget you'll probably need to recalculate your deposit to ensure you have the cash to get the work done. Your mortgage lender, if any, may hold a retention even if the price of the property is reduced.

If you wish to control this matter, you need to pro-actively manage such issues. Don't allow the agent to run things the way its vendor would like. Only you can/will best represent your interests.

drummer_666

I have had my mortgage offer through, no retention. I have enough cash for the work. This is a house i'm planning on spending 20k on doing up, so deposit won't be changing.

I'm not getting my own damp survey. It's not worth it to me. I know the issues and potential cost (from my own research for worse case scenario). All I want to do now is try and get a couple of grand off the price. It would be silly not to, afterall survey has thrown up a few things I wasn't expecting.

Obviously when I get the house I will pay for a damp survey, to ensure I only pay work that is neccessary.

I was just wondering if it's usual for the vendor to start negotiating after hearing buyers concerns from survey. As I didn't expect that!

kingstreet

drummer_666 wrote: »

I was just wondering if it's usual for the vendor to start negotiating after hearing buyers concerns from survey

I imagine the agent has assumed that's what you want to do, so has set the ball rolling. When they come back to you with a figure, you have the option of accepting or negotiating further. Taking your route, you're probably better served with a report which suggests the cost will be higher than it actually will be as you'll get a bigger price reduction that way.

drummer_666

kingstreet wrote: »

I imagine the agent has assumed that's what you want to do, so has set the ball rolling. When they come back to you with a figure, you have the option of accepting or negotiating further. Taking your route, you're probably better served with a report which suggests the cost will be higher than it actually will be as you'll get a bigger price reduction that way.

Well I'm not reading too much into the estimates on the report as the client for the report was the EA and not sure if that will have biased the estimate prices or not.

I'm ok with that, the vendor has seen there are some damp problems that need fixing, and seeing as the vendors haven't immediately said 'we're not budging on the price' I'm hoping that they will offer a slightly lower price.

Then I can finally get the solicitors started! Be annoying if the price doesn't lower at all as it'll be a 2 week delay for nothing

jee

Why not get a report done on it as well which will probably show a higher figure for repairs then you can use that to negotiate money off the price. Also no risk of the report favouring one side more than the other.
You have to remember the EA is working for the vendor not you. You're buying the property you should be the one negotiating the price and finding out costs of repairs.

drummer_666

jee wrote: »

Why not get a report done on it as well which will probably show a higher figure for repairs then you can use that to negotiate money off the price. Also no risk of the report favouring one side more than the other.
You have to remember the EA is working for the vendor not you. You're buying the property you should be the one negotiating the price and finding out costs of repairs.

i know the EA is working for the vendor, but he is also my contact point to the vendor

i'm not wasting time getting a survey done. if i was to do that I would've done that 2 weeks ago.

Guess I'll just wait to see what price the say. The vendors have been fair and quick so far

I'm just impatient now, want searches to start!

princeofpounds

It's just them trying to control the pace of negotiations, the 'evidence' it is based on, and anchor you towards a specific number.

The report may or may not be biased slightly. It's not a token figure, I don't know how bad the problem is so hard to say if it's reasonable.

Doesn't really matter who makes a proposal first, you can both negotiate as much as you like.

drummer_666

hmmm they haven't rang me yet. If still no contact should I ring later in the afternoon or wait til mon?

I guess if I ring to chase them, they'll know I still want the house regardless if no discount

I just want to get the convenyancing process started!

motherofstudents

It could possibly work in your favour if the quote is higher than the work will cost. If you get your own independent survey (which would be in your interests to do) the vendor may not want to negotiate on that as they see it beeing biased towards you. All you can do is wait to hear the figures they come up with. If you know how much the work will actually cost, then you are in a good position to negotiate.

nomoneytoday

Even if your other damp quote came back with a higher figure, would the vendor actually reduce the price by that £3000-5000, bearing in mind the £7000 "discount" already agreed?