Buyer wants to see under floor, who should pay for it?

curedham

Hi,

First time seller and poster in this forum. My buyer wants to see what underneath the floor because buyer suspected dry rot (based on the survey, whoever did the survey said damp could have dry rot)

This is not possible because the floor is concrete, but I can't say for sure because I've never seen it. I stomped all over the floor and almost confident that's it's concrete.

We had a damp surveyor and he thinks that the floor is concrete. But still EA said we need to proof to the buyer that it's concrete to allay buyer's fear that there we have dry rot in the floor.

It's laminate floor and I tried to lift it up myself and looks like I'm going to make a mess. So best to get the professional to do it, question is who should pay for it?

I have lots of spare laminate flooring so cost probably just labour and some extra materials for the floor.

Thoughts?

Thanks

moneyshoe

We are about to buy a house that has damp.......and woodworm......and God knows what else. We are getting damp and timber specialist surveys at the recommendation of the HB report. We will pay for these and if your buyer needs to rip up your floor to see that it's concrete then they should pay for this.

Seems a bit crazy though, what are your other floors made of? I definitely think the buyer pays for this one.

chickaroonee

Definitely the buyer, what if they pull out and you're left with a ruined floor.

sandsni

Would it be possible to lift a corner of the carpet so the buyer can see for themselves if it's concrete? I'm no expert but I've never heard of dry rot in concrete ;-) so if the buyer can see there's no wood then wouldn't they be satisfied that there's no risk of dry rot?

skivenov

Could you cut a small section of the laminate out somewhere where it won't show (behind a door?) then glue it back down afterwards?

ess0two

sandsni wrote: »

Would it be possible to lift a corner of the carpet so the buyer can see for themselves if it's concrete? I'm no expert but I've never heard of dry rot in concrete ;-) so if the buyer can see there's no wood then wouldn't they be satisfied that there's no risk of dry rot?

??? its laminate floor:cool:

curedham

Thanks for the quick responses.

Yeah so that's what I did, I lift a bit of the laminate between the entrance and the store which has the bare concrete floor and no laminate on top of it. Took photos and sent it to EA, see what the buyer say. We'll say that the buyer needs to organise a builder/handy person if they want to see more.

It's a lower ground Victorian terrace conversion in inner London, stomping the flat all around it feels solid/concrete, not that hollow sound of wood floor.

butler_helen

We paid as buyers for a carpenter to lift floorboards - but we didn't share the report with the owner. Just the basic summary and cost to repair a minor issue (new airbrick).

Albeit they wanted all our reports... Cheeky sods!

sandsni

ess0two wrote: »

??? its laminate floor:cool:

Oops, sorry, poor speed reading skills. Maybe they could remove a small part of the laminate, as I think another poster suggested.

G_M

Buyer pays for whatever survey he wants.

and to put right whatever damage he does.

All you do is provide access....

chappers

G_M wrote: »

Buyer pays for whatever survey he wants.

and to put right whatever damage he does.

All you do is provide access....

Unless of course it's a deal breaker for them and your desperate to sell.