re-negotiating after survey‏

hellsbells238

Hi,

I wonder if someone can help.

What is the best way of re-negotiating the sale price after your homebuyers and Evaluation survey ‏have found various issues that need to be addressed.

We are concerned, especially with the current housing market. Neither myself or my partner want to scare the vendor off.

I was informed that there are three Essential Works Required:

1. Roof Covering requires a complete overhaul. Evident that it is over a 100 yrs old
2. All Electrical wiring needs to be re-tested and investigated
3. A full Timber and Damp Inspection is required - Evident Damp

Non-Essential -
2 x Large rear garden tress require managing professionally. Currently 5m tall.

Our Lender has identified that if the above work is to be carried out the house would be valued £10,000 higher and in order to proceed with the mortgage we need to have the ability to show we can afford the £10,000. We accept that the property requires a lot of work, and we knew this from purchasing the property, but we now think we need to negotiate on the asking price and have this reduced.

Are we paying too much?

Can anyone provide some advice on possible best steps on the conversation with the estate agent.

thank you,

ladyabouttown

My survey found about £1000 worth of work, so I asked the estate agent to tell the vendor about the problems and that I would like to drop my offer by £1000. Vendor said yes, they could of said no or negotiated a lesser amount.

cattie

I'm very surprised to learn that a lender has indicated a house would be worth £10k more with the work carried out. That sort of work rarely adds any value, it just makes the property much more appealing to buyers.

The usual thing is to get estimates of the work required before trying to renegotiate the price. Whilst a new roof is something that you certainly can renegotiate on, I'd wait to see what a professional has to say regarding electrics & any damp issues.

Only electric & damp/timbers are 2 things that all surveyors advise to get checked out, but just because they highlight them, it doesn't mean there is actually a big problem with them, more that the surveyor is not experienced in that field to give a firm opinion on them.

Very often when work needs doing to a property & you have the estimates, a split of 50/50 for the cost between buyer & vendor is the agreeable solution, however, that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least try to get a bit of a better reduction in agreed price.

Usually what buyers will do is show the survey to the ea/vendor or at least photocopy the relevant parts & give them the copy.

hellsbells238

Thank you so far for the responses. They are most helpful. We are currently obtaining quotes for the roof.

Sorry to ask a silly question, but what do you mean by "The bigger the bargain, the better I feel." ?
(Well, I think I do....)



thanks!

cloo

Yes, get quotes where you can and negotiate from there. A lot may depend on how in demand the property is, but if problems are revealed I think most buyers would make concessions once they have someone interested rather than put it on the market again and have the same thing come up!