Survey - minor issue but unforseen - who pays?

[Deleted User]

To me it doesn't feel right to have to pay to repair things before you've exchanged contracts. I have a similar situation - lender wants an electrical test and all recommendations implemented before exchange. I don't mind reimbursing them after exchange/completion (though would obviously rather not) but I'm not comfortable with paying for repairs to their home before they've made a legal commitment to sell it to me.

Guest101

[Deleted User] wrote:

To me it doesn't feel right to have to pay to repair things before you've exchanged contracts. I have a similar situation - lender wants an electrical test and all recommendations implemented before exchange. I don't mind reimbursing them after exchange/completion (though would obviously rather not) but I'm not comfortable with paying for repairs to their home before they've made a legal commitment to sell it to me.

Since it's your lender who requires it, I think the onus is on you to remedy it.

I can see your point, but certainly If i was the vendor i would not pay for this.

G_M

[Deleted User] wrote:

To me it doesn't feel right to have to pay to repair things before you've exchanged contracts. I have a similar situation - lender wants an electrical test and all recommendations implemented before exchange. I don't mind reimbursing them after exchange/completion (though would obviously rather not) but I'm not comfortable with paying for repairs to their home before they've made a legal commitment to sell it to me.

You seem to be jumping the gun:

Where is it claimed that the OP has "to pay to repair things before you've exchanged contracts."?

IF the mortgage lender decides to retain funds (they may/may not) then the OP simply waits till Completion, gets the drain fixed, then draws down the rest of the funds.

Or negotiates with vendor.

But alot depends how serious/expensive this is. If it is a £200 job, well, a buyer who can't cover £200 for a week or two from Completion till the drain is fixed/mortgage funds released, is stretching his finances too far.

On the other hand if the drain runs under the house, and the whole length needs digging up, and it is £5000, then clearly he needs to re-consider the purchase.

And we don't even know what drain it is. Foul water? Rain water? Off the roof? Off the garden shed?

[Deleted User]

I wasn't assuming that that was the case for the OP - my point was that *if* they have to pay for repairs before exchange (which I do) then it feels unfair to pay for it (though I do also take Guest101's point). The OP says "the mortgage company surveyor has identified a blocked drain and requested a drain survey before they proceed" so it's not clear at what point they require it.

BazzaDP

Survey's - whether a valuation survey (made by or at the mortgage companies request) or a home buyer's survey for your peace of mind - are there to spot issues like this. That's why it's important to get them done before exchange on contracts so if anything major is spotted you can pull out.

Now, a few things to note with this:

1) Surveyors will want to include EVERYTHING so they can not be accused of missing something so G_M is correct it might not be serious. Then again it might. The point of the survey is to highlight these things as potential problems but not necessarily to do the full work to ascertain how serious it is as that may be beyond the costs of the survey or require specialised equipment.

2) A valuation survey is made for the mortgage providers benefit to make sure the bank is not at risk should you fail to keep up with payments and they need to repocess your house. How seriously they take issues like this, which may will depend on exactly what was said and how much mortgage you are taking out. The mortgage provider can insist it is dealt with or refuse to issue you your mortgage. In this case it sounds like they will not proceed until the survey is completed.

3) The owner is under no obligation to fix anything on the survey. You are under no obligation to continue with the sale. As I said above survey's may well point out things that are not real issues so the seller is not going to commit time and effort to resolving everything. Presumably you want to buy the property and the owner wants to sell so someone has to pay or a compromise has to be reached.

Much like when you made your offer you need to consider your relative positions. Did you offer well below asking price and get a bit of a bargain (in which case the seller may not wish to spend money on things like this)? Are there other potential buyers (again in which case the selller might cut his loses at this point and state they will put it back on the market instead of spending extra on things like this)? Are there any other potential houses the buyer might want instead of this so are they willing to play hard ball a bit at the risk of losing the house?

I don't think it's any harm to ask the seller to pay. Just be prepared how to handle it if they say no. Keeping the seller informed of things like this is also good in that a) it points out issues to them so they know they have a problem and b) it allows for some haggling if any other issue arises ("look, I paid for the drain report, but now we also have a problem with XXX and I think you should pay for this in return").