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Buyer's survey has returned some random things...
LDO
Posts: 27 Forumite
Our buyer has received their survey earlier this week and communicated some, what they say are 'unnerving' things to our EA today. Just wondering what people's views are... To us they're minor and we think they're trying it on....
Firstly, they say the block paving to front garden around the little lawn needs relaying in some parts as it has sunk in patches. I can see next to no evidence of this except the odd brick is lower than the one next to it and personally don't see it as an issue.
Chimney stack is in 'urgent need of repair'. We had the chimney repointed and re-mortared 9 months ago. To me it looks great. The house is in a row of terraces and each house has its own stack. Compared to next doors ours looks brand new. Is it possible he could have confused theirs with ours? Very miffed by this one.
The front door is old and in need of modernising/replacing. Of course its old. It's bloody Edwardian. It's in perfect nick with no rot or anything. Been maintained beautifully by all owners. Not buying this one.
Hairline cracks to ceiling of landing. Buyer suggesting they'll need to replaster... These are 6-10 inches long and barely noticeable
Coving to 2nd bedroom has been replaced in patches. The surveyor asked us about this and we were honest and said that in the past we'd had penetrating damp due to some pointing that needed doing. Buyer now asking for guarantees for the localised pointing that was done... All we have is an invoice...
Air bricks are covered. We have concrete floors downstairs so the old air-bricks are redundant. The upstairs ones have long since been plastered over and externally they've been filled with silicone when we had cavity wall insulation done...
Last thing is to do with the loft. One of the purlins was strapped over 15 years ago as it had a hairline crack in it. When we bought the house our survey showed this up too. Our mortgage company asked for proof, on letterhead from the person that did it, that it had been done. We have a copy of this, and it was fine for the mortgage company, but the buyer is asking for guarantees. Which of course we don't have... Would this type of work even be guaranteed??
They have apparently gone away for the weekend to mull over whether they still want the property. Yes based on these points only! They have said they may need to get people out to do quotes for the work. Obviously we'd do that too so we were sure quotes were fair, but to me most of these seem highly trivial.
One thing, we haven't seen a copy of the survey and have no idea what the valuation was. Should we be asking for this and can they say no?
Firstly, they say the block paving to front garden around the little lawn needs relaying in some parts as it has sunk in patches. I can see next to no evidence of this except the odd brick is lower than the one next to it and personally don't see it as an issue.
Chimney stack is in 'urgent need of repair'. We had the chimney repointed and re-mortared 9 months ago. To me it looks great. The house is in a row of terraces and each house has its own stack. Compared to next doors ours looks brand new. Is it possible he could have confused theirs with ours? Very miffed by this one.
The front door is old and in need of modernising/replacing. Of course its old. It's bloody Edwardian. It's in perfect nick with no rot or anything. Been maintained beautifully by all owners. Not buying this one.
Hairline cracks to ceiling of landing. Buyer suggesting they'll need to replaster... These are 6-10 inches long and barely noticeable
Coving to 2nd bedroom has been replaced in patches. The surveyor asked us about this and we were honest and said that in the past we'd had penetrating damp due to some pointing that needed doing. Buyer now asking for guarantees for the localised pointing that was done... All we have is an invoice...
Air bricks are covered. We have concrete floors downstairs so the old air-bricks are redundant. The upstairs ones have long since been plastered over and externally they've been filled with silicone when we had cavity wall insulation done...
Last thing is to do with the loft. One of the purlins was strapped over 15 years ago as it had a hairline crack in it. When we bought the house our survey showed this up too. Our mortgage company asked for proof, on letterhead from the person that did it, that it had been done. We have a copy of this, and it was fine for the mortgage company, but the buyer is asking for guarantees. Which of course we don't have... Would this type of work even be guaranteed??
They have apparently gone away for the weekend to mull over whether they still want the property. Yes based on these points only! They have said they may need to get people out to do quotes for the work. Obviously we'd do that too so we were sure quotes were fair, but to me most of these seem highly trivial.
One thing, we haven't seen a copy of the survey and have no idea what the valuation was. Should we be asking for this and can they say no?
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Comments
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These issues sound like the buyers are innocent first-timers with a case of the jitters. I'd be hoping for another, more sensible buyer as these issues are trivial or non-existent.
You can ask for sight of the survey but your buyers are under no obligation to supply it. They paid for it, so it's theirs0 -
All seem trivial with possible exception of the chimney. If the surveyor has spotted some structural defect which has not been properly repaired when the pointing work was done.
I would not ask to see anything as far as the survey is concerned was it might tend to indicate you are open to negotiation on price. Just point out these are all minor issues consistent with the age of the property. Co-operate with any further inspections the buyer wants to do, but stand your ground on price.0 -
Our buyer has received their survey earlier this week and communicated some, what they say are 'unnerving' things to our EA today. Just wondering what people's views are... To us they're minor and we think they're trying it on....
Sounds like they've had a homebuyers report done not just a valuation.0 -
I agree with you both. I think we will just sit it out. They are not first time buyers - one of them is coming out of rented, the other is selling a flat.
With regards to the chimney - the surveyor didn't even go on the roof. Just looked at it from down the road. Its very easy to mix up the chimneys as this a row of 19 houses and ours is in the middle0 -
Thrugelmir wrote: »Sounds like they've had a homebuyers report done not just a valuation.
Yeah it was a home buyers report.0 -
The house is not off the market but we have not been viewing it to anyone else. We have three people on a list - well our EA does - who are waiting to view our place and one person who previously had to pull out because her sale fell through who has now resold and attempted to put in another offer on ours. If they're being silly about this then personally I think we hold the cards...0
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The house was on the market for £148,000. Originally they offered us £115,000, and we settled on £133,500 after a lot of messing about and hard work. Just wondering if their plan all along was to try and knock us down post survey. Definitely interested in the valuation on the HB report.
There was no justification to their original offer. Just trying it on.0 -
The house was on the market for £148,000. Originally they offered us £115,000, and we settled on £133,500 after a lot of messing about and hard work. Just wondering if their plan all along was to try and knock us down post survey. Definitely interested in the valuation on the HB report.
There was no justification to their original offer. Just trying it on.
Well there is if that's what they'll pay for it. I wouldn't pay more than I wanted to, so it's upto them really.0 -
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Whilst I can't offer any advice, I really sympathise OP - it just seems that surveyors/lenders (and often buyers themselves) are becoming ever more cautious and in the case of buyers, looking for ways to try it on.......
None of those things seem terribly *un-nerving* - the chimney is the biggest issue, but if you say it has been repointed it sounds as though an error has been made. As for the comment about your period door, I would be totally peed off at that if I were you :mad:
When we sold our last house (a building dating back to Tudor times that had been dismantled, moved to a new location and rebuilt in the 1930s), the surveyor *found* all sorts of issues that weren't actually there - he spent well over three hours at the property, yet his survey could have been describing a different house. He too said our chimney stack was in need of repointing when it had been recently done and he took issue with a (non-existent) asbestos water cylinder!
Fortunately our buyers not only showed us the survey, but sensibly realised his errors - he didn't down-value the house so their lender was happy - and didn't attempt to renegotiate the agreed sale price.
Do hope your buyers see sense......Mortgage-free for fourteen years!
Over £40,000 mis-sold PPI reclaimed0
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