Money retained from our mortgage application

holly_hobby

A q I would ask, is if any specalist reports were requested by the surveyor in view of the retention - for example in respect of possible evidence of damp, outdated electrics, timer report, etc ...

e.g - a surveyor may think they see evidence damp etc, so they request a D&T report, but when it comes back the damp tests are within tolerances. Or that the electrics may need a re-wire (gen 20yrs +), but an electrics report comes back satisfactory. That kind of thing (list not exhaustive and just for example sake ... ! )

Indeed over the yrs I have seen numerous retentions either wholly removed or significantly reduced following the receipt of a specalist report - of course sometimes a specailist report confirms the worst !

So, obaining reports (where suitable/appropriate) may be something that could be suggested to try and remove or mitigate the current impact of the retention. To that end, do you know what the retention is actually in respect of ?

If it transpires that the retention is appropriate, there are 3 ways to play it ... as already touched on by the guys here ..

1. Vendor completes works & property is re-inspected

2 .You negotiate a revised purchase price based on the survey fig.

3. Or if the Vendor won't reduce (although they should be mindful that the issues raised will pop up on any futher survey done for any alternative buyer, if you pull out of the pch for example .. so something to put to them).

If they won't reduce by any measure, or fund the works, and you are determined you want the house, the answer would be (if you have the additional 5k being retained) is to complete on the original pch price, funding the 5k s/fall in mge advance yourself - pch completes and everyones happy. (as a partial redemption infers they are not essential works that have been noted by the surveyor)

You may then post completion have the works addressed (and if you want the 5k cash effectively reimbursed and instead added onto your mge instead, where don't forget you will be paying interest on it), contact your lender for a re-inspection (there will be a fee) and obrtain a release of the retention sum. (generally such a request has to take place within 6 mths of completion, after which it will be a full status check scenerio all over again).

if you find yourself in stalemate, or don't have the funds to navigate your way to complete the pch without the vendors assistance, then there is really only one conclusion I'm afraid.

Bit more info will help us give more guidance ...

Hope this helps

Holly