Buying a house, survey has changed circumstances

alfredmoony

Hi All, I need some advise please,

I have agreed to buy a house, made a offer 5k below the asking price which was accepted,

we had the home buyers survey done and the guy was very thougher he called me the day of the survey a few hours later and we were informed the house has subsidance due to he thinks leaking/broken/cracked drain

i couldnt notice this, so shows they do know their stuff, he says it is due to the drains/or water pipes maybe broken need replacing/fixing,

the owner has basically called the surveyer a liar! and doesnt agree at all, he says the house just needs repointing, understanably he is upset to find out his house has problems,

now the reality is we want the house but not the problem and common sense we either want him to get the issue solved, means getting stuctual engineer in to show exacltly what the problem is and a price to fix it,or discount the costs of this from the sale price we have agreed, i would think this is simple,, but the owner is really not budging and saying there are others interested! we know there were 3 other lower offers on the house before us, but we have sold our house and require no mortgage so are in a good position , the owner is just being unreasonable,
what can we do? we really do want the house but the place already needs everything doing cosmetically wise, its a bit of a mess which is fine with us, the added expsense could be vast so we are trying to understand what our options are and what the sellers options will be , ie if he doesnt negotie with us will he have to now declare he knows there is subsidance to another interested person? if we inform the estate agents (who are not local) will they be obliged to inform any interested parties?
your help advice most appriceated,
thanks

alfredmoony

Just to add the paper survey is not yet in hand, but should be this coming week

kingstreet

Commission a structural engineer's report yourself, or withdraw your offer and pull out.

Until the inspection and report have been done by the specialist, all you have is a GP's opinion that there may be something wrong which requires remedial action.

You are going to have to spend some more money to find out the true picture. You may wish to share the cost with the vendor, but if you do, you should still commission the report by a structural engineer of your choice, to whom you provide a copy of your surveyor's report prior to the inspection.

lincroft1710

Either pull out or get a structural engineer's report. Neither vendor nor EA have any duty to disclose any problems with a house unless specifically asked.

Subsidence can be costly and disruptive to fix. If there is subsidence and you plan to continue with the purchase, bear those things in mind.

alfredmoony

Thanks for the replys, i will take the paper survey to the seller when i receive it and see what he says then , if he is not willing to negotiate on the costs if needed then i will not see the point of contuining with the transaction , but for us its a such a shame as we are pretty smitten on the place,

If he is willing to get the problem rectified then we will all be happy., but i would rather the guy wakes up and sees he cannot sell the house with this problem and does negotiate,
thanks again

AdrianC

Of course, you don't HAVE to pull out if he refuses to negotiate. If you're that smitten, you could decide it's worth taking the cost of rectification on the chin. The more targetted survey should give you an idea what that cost'll be (and you'll need to know that in order to properly negotiate with the vendor, anyway).