Buyers: would this put you off?

Hermoine

I think the sale of my flat is about to collapse, as the freeholder who also owns the upstairs flat) has decided it is the perfect time to do a loft extension and also repair/replace the roof. Under our lease, the owner of the bottom flat is liable to pay half the cost of the roof works (obviously not including the loft extension) but the freeholder doesn't yet know what the cost will be. My first time buyer doesn't have any spare cash so is basically saying that the cost will have to be mine. I am saying that I can't decide whether I am prepared to pay the cost and keep the sale going until I know what the cost will be. If the cost is too excessive, I might be better placed to withdraw from the sale and wait until the work is underway or finished before re marketing it at a higher price, due to its nice new roof. This being the London suburbs it was priced at £245k and my buyer's offer was £240k. With a new roof, given that it is otherwise in good nick, it could go back on at £249950 and sell for £245, and most of the market is first time buyers. The questions that I would love to get answered from potential/recent buyers is: if you were my current buyer, would you be prepared to wait several weeks on the chance that I might pay the roof costs or would you withdraw now? Also,If you were generally looking for a property, and this was back on the market would you be interested in the property once the roof works are underway, or would you only be interested in buying it once the works were finished? Apart from scaffolding around the building, there'll be no implications, and I'd obviously be able to demonstrate that I was paying for the works, and there is a party wall agreement in place to protect whoever is the owner of the downstairs flat. I'm interested in knowing as I have just purchased another property, and I can't afford to run two properties together for too long - so if I can't get a sale in the (moderately) near future I will have to rent it out to cover its mortgage. Any thoughts gratefully received!

monty-doggy

I'd withdraw. If upstairs are benefitting from a loft extension I'd assume the roof becomes their responsibility too.

I wouldn't want to pay for their expensive choices and work.

Seabee42

My first question is does the roof need fixing? If not why are you paying for the fix because the owner is choosing to upgrade his property. I.e. is it a required fix or a chosen change.

Unless your property is significantly better than anything else for the price I would not expect anyone to wait.

Lovelyjoolz

Unless your proerty is unique in some way, or the bargain of the century, I'd withdraw. I don't think its fair to expect the buyer to wait around to see if you will pay.

mummyroysof3

Would it need a new roof soon anyway or is it being done because of the loft conversion?

Hermoine

The roof is not in a great state at all - he's shown me photos of the inside of the loft and it doesnt look great, and there are quite clearly missed tiles. The freeholder's argument is that it is cheaper to do work on it when the scaffolding is there for the loft extension. And as the lease basically gives him the right to make decisioNs about external repairs then I don't really have much choice. But basically i agree the work needs to be done - i just wish it wasnt happening now. He is also getting itemised quotes so it will be clear which bits of work relate to the loft extension and which bits dont - so we can agree what's a shared cost.

mummyroysof3

As it will take a while to do would it be finished before exchange? I wouldn't expect someone to exchange on it while in the process but for a few weeks delay they might wait....you won't know unless you ask.

egoode

I would also push back on the freeholder as to whether you should pay anything at all. Depending on the type of loft he's doing it may be that the roof has to be done as part of the conversion in which case he should pay for it as he is choosing to do the extension. If the roof didn't actually require any work done to it otherwise then I don't see why you would have to pay anything for it.

Seabee42

From your judgement that it did need fixing I would obtain a quote from a roofer for the fix.

I would then talk to the freeholder about paying your share of that. This way you are quantifying the problem now and dealing with it now. Thus it might enable you to move.

regards



Crispin

simpywimpy

Could you get someone independent in to look at the roof before he starts to see if it is actually in need of repair or if as others have said, it would be covered by his own personal works anyway.

You could consider offering a discount on the purchase price in lieu of the cost to keep the purchaser or maybe offer the current leaseholder a full and final payment for all and any roof works in order for the sale to go ahead as planned