Buyers wanting to renegotiate price

lessonlearned

The biggest part of the cost of roof repairs will be the scaffolding. I paid £2800 just for scaffolding, admittedly on a substantial 4 bed detached property, but unfortunately scaffolding, even on a 3 bed semi will not come cheap.

That £3k quote may not be quite as outrageous as it appears.

I suggest you get a couple more estimates and then meet them half way on the cost of roof repairs. Your buyer offer was for the full asking price and it was made in good faith on the understanding that the property was in a good condition.

Given that your buyer did offer full asking price then it is not unreasonable for them to ask for some discount for necessary remedial works such as roofs etc. If you had accepted an offer substantially lower than your asking price then it would not be unreasonable of you to decline to negotiate further.

Of course the decision is yours to make.

Re the electrics, if the electrics are safe and the buyer is simply looking at upgrading then that is their choice and their responsibility to foot the bill, so you do not need to offer a discount.

I think it is actually quite a shame that HIPs - Home Information Packs were abandoned. I realise they were in many ways ill conceived and that a lender would always be duty bound to commission their own independent valuation report, however, I really would like to see some kind of system whereby a vendor is responsible for say something like a Basic Home Condition Report, rather than the useless energy information report.

When I sold my house a couple of years ago, I made up a small information pack for my purchaser which I gave them when the offer was accepted.

This pack included photocopies of the electrical certificate, service history of the boiler, photocopies of building regs for work carried out,
Guarantees etc.

When the sale was completed they received the originals.

Going back to your roof.

Did you not realise that remedial work was required before your house on the market.

It may sound a bit anal but I regularly check my properties for damage. It is easy to ensure that the guttering is clear and not leaking by just checking it when there is a heavy rainstorm.

After a gale or heavy storm I go into the loft and check for water ingress and then a quick look at the roof using binoculars to check for missed or slipped slates or dislodged ridge tiles.

A few simple checks only takes a few minutes and can potentially safe you ££££s

dgtazzman

If I was in your shoes, I'd offer them a 1k 'goodwill gesture', worded as that as not to actually acknowledge any shortcomings in the house. As their mortgage valuation came in at the asking price, they should consider themselves lucky to get that much, but it might help to keep things moving.

I would certainly not give them 3.5k based on something a surveyor has said, let them get proper quotes from people that can actually carry out the work and then come back to you.

I_have_spoken

Try a equivalent £ gazunder on the seller of the property you are buying

kingstreet

What is the valuation in current condition?

What is the valuation after essential repairs?

If they will benefit from any works needed in the form of a higher value, there is no reason for you to pay for it.

If you accept their story without seeing the valuation figures, you may simply pay for work for which they will get the improved value.

AdrianC

Em3010 wrote: »

They're paying £205000 ...
Their mortgage company valuation more than covered the £205k.

So hand it straight back to them, with the immortal words "Your surveyor agrees that the full purchase price is still fair, even taking these alleged issues into consideration". They then have the choice to walk away, should they so desire.

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Try a equivalent £ gazunder on the seller of the property you are buying

That's the sort of trick only an utter slug would try.

Em3010

Thanks everyone. Going to put this into the hands of our solicitor tomorrow and consider our options. Also have our own roofing surveyor coming to have a look.

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Try a equivalent £ gazunder on the seller of the property you are buying

I took this as being tongue in cheek. Hadn't even and would never consider this an option!

FatVonD

They are pushing their luck, especially since the house is still valued at (more than?) the asking price.

They are taking advantage of the fact that they have left it so late in the day and you are probably emotionally invested in moving to the house you yourselves are buying. I'm pretty sure a property investor with their business hat on wouldn't drop by that amount.

I think you should take Adrian C's advice plus tell them that, having seen that their surveyor valued it at more than they are paying, if they pull out you will put it back on the market as you think you could now get more for it