selling to an on-line we buy any home firm

maccaridge

hi
I own a flat in a block inbetween 2 local housing association flats. 7 years ago myself and the association paid to get the roof re-tilled.
The company who done it made a shabby job and went bust 6 months later.
fast forward to over 2 years ago and the building starts getting serious problems with damp. we find out the problem is coming from the top of the parapet wall.
I claim the problem must have came from the roofing firms shoddy work, the association says sealing the top off the parapet wall was not in the contract, which is true but with the time-line I believe they must have tampered with/ stripped the lead off the top off the parapet wall, but I have no way off proving this.
Now we are left in the situation where to repair the work, we will have to repair/ cover with lead the top off the parapet wall/ remove the insulation/core drill and re-insulate between the 2 layers off brick work in the building, and re-roughcast the whole building. I should be able to get a 50% grant for all work where my 3rd comes above £5000. I have no idea how much this will cost but I imagine my share will be somewhere in the £10,000 region.
Flats in my area are selling for about £45,000 - £40,000. So best case senario the work gets done and I sell my flat, and I manage to walk away with 25,000- 30,000 after the fee's.
But I do not have much faith in the association at-all and for the work to get carried out and the problems still remain would be too much for me.
I have been in to the local estate agent and they say to forget about selling the flat till the work is done.
So I was wondering if anyone on here has any thoughts on selling to " we buy any home" or similer company???? would be willing to take a considerable loss just to get shot off the flat
below I will post a time-line
( partly as a rant, partly as relevent info :-)

Jan 2013......... the association remove there tennants from the building ( they still remain empty and are left to fester)

feb 2013.......My flat is flooded from leak from sink in un-occupied flat above...I am told I have to claim off my insurance which will claim off associations insurance...........result..........I lose my £1000 excess and tennant, as the association pulls a legal dodge which means the do not have to reveal there policy for checking empty flats.
March 2013.......get a lawyer involved

3 months later...... my lawyer eventually gets a response from a letter she sent to the association

the rest off 2013.....fight with the association about the roof.

Jan 2014........admit defeat to myself, and bring a local counciler along with me to help work things out with the association, and agree to pay my 3rd off the work..am told repairing the building is high priority and will be kept right up to speed with what is going on
feb 2014...... last contact with the association
feb-sept 2014.....my emails phone callls voicemails ignored by the association
oct 2014....... Fed up and go to the local press and make a story off it..
oct 2014..... work out a plan with the association to put the work out to tender
oct 2014- till present.......still waiting for the work to be put out to tender.

Its a bit off an epic story but the gist off it is although I could just about to pay £10,000????? ( which I am expected to pay up front before the work is done)..I would defo sell to a company if the offer was anywhere near resonable just to get shot off the place and give me peace off mind.
thanks for reading

stator

I can guess what will happen if you use one of these we buy any house companies.
You will pay a fee and they will give you an estimate and ask you to sign an exclusivity contract. Maybe they offer you £35k. They send lots of surveyors and/or builders round to check the place out and all the issues. 1 week before exchange they drop the price to £20k and hope you accept it. Or they walk away because the HA is too much hassle for them.

If you really want rid of it just put it up for auction. That way you will attract lots of developers and get the most you can for it (in it's current state).

By the way, have you offered to sell it to the HA? Just a thought they might be interested, then they can knock the whole bit down if they want and rebuild like they do sometimes.

theartfullodger

What stator said

Only 2 "n"'s in tenant.

maccaridge

thanks for the info folks
I have tried to sell it back to the association, but no joy
I know i would need to get an expensive structural report to sell on the open market...not sure if i would need that for an auction or what other fee's are involved?
Is there any fee's involved for " we buy any home" or the like
thanks

bitsandpieces

Are you sure you need to get a structural report? It's normally the buyer (in England) who pays for the survey.

I'd suggest going for auction if you need a fast sale or using an estate agent if you need to sell but not so fast. Quick sale companies aim to make a profit. If they're ethical, they'll give you an up-front offer of less than you could get elsewhere (so they can resell themselves at a higher price). If they're unethical, they'll mess you around and try to drop their price or land you with fees late-on in the process. A lot of companies in this field have a rep for being unethical

maccaridge

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Are you sure you need to get a structural report? It's normally the buyer (in England) who pays for the survey.

I'd suggest going for auction if you need a fast sale or using an estate agent if you need to sell but not so fast. Quick sale companies aim to make a profit. If they're ethical, they'll give you an up-front offer of less than you could get elsewhere (so they can resell themselves at a higher price). If they're unethical, they'll mess you around and try to drop their price or land you with fees late-on in the process. A lot of companies in this field have a rep for being unethical

live in scotland so yeah i do need sructural report :-(
Dont need a quick sale as such....just so fed up dealing with the assosiation would be prepared to take a good loss just to get rid off the flat......will look into info for auction
thanks :-)

bitsandpieces

You're right - you would need to get a survey of sorts to market in Scotland. I think you would need similar for an auction too, but don't just take my word for it. I'd guess that (assuming you have the cash) this may stil be a better bet than going for a quick sale company - they will want a price that lets them cover costs for their purchase, a subsequent sale *and* make a profit.

LeoTLion

Just a couple of thoughts before you pay to have the work done yourself.

Have you spoken to the Private Sector Housing team at the local council? Empty properties are often a priority area so it may be that if the state of the roof is causing the HA's flats to be unsuitable for tenants, they might contact the HA to encourage them to get the property back into use.

If you don't get any joy that way, try speaking to a solicitor. As repairing the roof is a joint responsibility you could get them to write a letter to the HA saying that, due to their inaction, you have no choice but to have the work done yourself and will be billing them for half the cost, plus any expenses you incurr during the process, unless they contact you and agree a time scale for the works to be completed.

Personally speaking, I think either of the above, or selling the property via auction as suggested by others are preferable to selling to a 'We Buy Any House' type companies as the deals are always loaded in their favour, due to the seller's desperation.

Davesnave

theartfullodger wrote: »

Only 2 "n"'s in tenant.

....unless you are ordering a drink.