Homebuyer report found serious issues with roof, vendor not want to re-negotiate pric

samba

We are in a similar position, having got 20 grand off the asking price but with potentially 3 grands worth of work required.

Homebuyers report says the price is reasonable given the work required, so we are happy to pay for it ourselves.

hcb42

I would be with the seller here, the report says it is worth £230K in current condition.

Op, only your call of course!

G_M

anear wrote: »

Branches of the trees have grown and reach the telephone line opposite the road. Since the trees are in the front garden, it is owner's responsibility to prune them.
Not so. BT Open Reach will prune them to protect their lines.

Lat year the electricity company trimmed all my trees (in my garden) as they were getting close to the power lines.

Garage roof is felt covering, which is in very pool condition, with ponds of water. There are internal sign of dampness suggesting leakage already happened. Those felt covering only lasts 10-15 years. Most garages have flat roofs. With felt. Which lasts 10 - 25 (new modern materials) years. So replacement at some stage is inevitable, though can be ostpones by repair. It's just part of home-ownership.

These are urgent repairs which need to be done before new owner moves in.
Sorry to be blunt but.... rubbish! You can move in and
a) ignore the garage for 5 years even if it IS leaking.
b) call BT Openreach and warn them they may need to do some work to avoid their network going down.....

I have asked quotes from two roofers after seeing the homebuyer report.


The EA just told me that the EA from the top of the chain (the house they are buying) contacted them and the owner of that house wants to exchange by this Friday.

You can clearly afford the price agreed (or would not have agreed it, so stop causing delays to the whole chain and Exchange on Friday.

Everyone happy. :T

pinkshoes

Looking at it from another point of view:

YOU CANNOT AFFORD THIS HOUSE!!

The vendors clearly accepted your offer based on some work that needed doing to the property. It is unfair to ask for a further reduction.

We paid £2k to have a very large area of flat roof repaired on a previous property, so show around for quotes.

None of the work sounds urgent, so you could just save up for it.

FBaby

It's up to you. I faced a buyer like you when I was selling my property. The house was advertised at a 5% lower price than other property on the road on the basis that it needed some work. Got an offer at further 5% reduction and I agreed. Proceeded through the sell until potential buyer got some tradesmen in by lying to EA and pretended it was a 2nd survey, and then come up with ridiculous quotes (he was a tradesman himself, so assumed these were from 'friends') and said he wanted to reduce by another £10K. He knew I was desperate to sell. Just on the basis if principle I would never have agreed as I found his tactics disgusting. I told him I was putting the house back on the market, so he agreed to proceed on the initial agreed price until a week before exchanging and he came up with saying that the lender was only agreeing to lend the amount minus £10K. He must have thought I was a fool! I told him to get lost and thankfully, my solicitor was really sympathetic and decided not to charge me for the work they had already completed. I don't think his solicitor was as understanding!!

In the end, I didn't sell and it was the best decision I could have made, so am very thankful for his attitude (in retrospect!). He lost out on a very good opportunity just for the sake of a few ££.

westernpromise

pinkshoes wrote: »

The vendors clearly accepted your offer based on some work that needed doing to the property.

I don't think that's clear at all. The OP has noted that the flat roof couldn't be seen when viewing. The vendors maybe knew of the work required but the buyer certainly didn't.

The wider issue for me is what else might be bodged. We bought a house two years ago and every job the previous owners had done was a bodge of some sort. Eg:

• they put a new terrace and path down, but they put it on top of the old one, so it is now level with the damp course.
• there are three kitchen windows each of which has a mismatching catch and stay, because whenever one broke, they just replaced it with the cheapest they could find at Homebase.
• the door handles all ripped out of the doors about a year after we moved in because they are cheap handles in cheap doors.

Flat roofs deteriorate and require quite frequent renewal. What may have happened is that this one got past being due for replacement, but the owners didn't bother because they knew they were selling. This being so, what else didn't they bother to sort properly?

Sounds like you have the upper hand though. If you're not happy you don't exchange, which means nor do they.

Kynthia

westernpromise wrote: »

I don't think that's clear at all. The OP has noted that the flat roof couldn't be seen when viewing.

The wider issue for me is what else might be bodged. We bought a house two years ago and every job the previous owners had done was a bodge of some sort. Eg:

• they put a new terrace and path down, but they put it on top of the old one, so it is now level with the damp course.
• there are three kitchen windows each of which has a mismatching catch and stay, because whenever one broke, they just replaced it with the cheapest they could find at Homebase.
• the door handles all ripped out of the doors about a year after we moved in because they are cheap handles in cheap doors.

Flat roofs deteriorate and require quite frequent renewal. What may have happened is that this one got past being due for replacement, but the owners didn't bother because they knew they were selling. This being so, what else didn't they bother to sort properly?

Sounds like you have the upper hand though. If you're not happy you don't exchange, which means nor do they.

A flat roof at the end of it's life and some unpruned trees hardly sounds like the vendor has done bodge jobs around the house. These are minor and normal home maintenance that anyone buying a house will expect to do at some point. Unless the OP is paying over the odds for the property, which it appears they aren't, then it's not unreasonable for the vendor not to reduce the price.


The OP then has a choice whether to proceed or not. Also it hardly sounds like they have the upper hand. The vendor dropped the asking price greatly and is prepared to remarket, and considering spring is approaching when a lot more buyers come onto the market the vendor might have a good chance at finding someone prepared to pay more.

Jhoney_2

anear wrote: »

The house's asking price 250k, offer accepted 230k.

What did you 'see' that merited 20K of the asking price OP? I don't blame you for trying but worth asking yourself.
So, in essence, vendor generously gave you 20K off price advertised in good faith.

The Homebuyer report found serious issue with flat roof of the garage and porch, as well as two trees close to the house.


I have obtained quotes from roofer and tree surgeon. The total cost is around 4k. I ask the vendor to reduce 4k to cover the repair cost. He is not willing to reduce price at all, not even split the repair cost.

Your report comes back with a few minor repairs at a cost of 4k as quoted by your professionals, so you want further price deductions...

They said they cannot afford to reduce the price. They reduced originally more than they could afford and they stretched themselves to get the next property and now don't have the available funds to reduce any further.

So far I have spent some money on survey, searches, solicitor, and mortgage booking fee. If I pull out, I will waste about £800. Mortgage offer is still effective within 3 months.

Is it buyer's market or sellor's market now?Shall I pull out or accept it as it is and pay the 4k repair cost?

The house is in West Yorkshire.

My solicitor told me that 90% of vendors would be willing to split the cost and pay part of the repair cost if survey reveals significant problems.

I would like to hear your view. Thanks.

Would you have increased your offer price to £234k initially had they refused your £230k offer?
Like other posters, I have a flat roof to the back of my kitchen and I do understand that yours has leaked previously to the garage. It's not a hard / expensive fix by DIY or professional. Tree issue is trifling.

Quit complaining and pay the vendors their fair price!

Just to add, my Full structural survey raised concern re the flat roof which had come to the end of its usefulness, but which is still there 10 years later in supposedly a further deteriorated state without issue.

westernpromise

Kynthia wrote: »

A flat roof at the end of it's life and some unpruned trees hardly sounds like the vendor has done bodge jobs around the house.

You don't know how far beyond the end of its life it is though. The surveyor has indicated that the roof is a wreck, the roofer agrees. Maybe it's 30 years old and should have been replaced 15 years ago, but the seller can't see it from inside the house and therefore doesn't care.

It's one thing to buy a house that's generally well kept, but that will soon be due for a few expensive periodic bills (like exterior white paint or whatever). It's another to have to pick up the tab for stuff the vendor should have sorted years ago.

The OP has the upper hand, in that if they elect not to exchange given what they now know of the condition, the seller loses the house they're trying to buy. This is not a great place for the seller to be. Their only course would be drop the price by some amount, and then ask if others up the chain will do the same so that exchange can still take place.

All this presupposes that the house is worth £230k max in a sorted condition. If it's still a stonking bargain even at £234k, then one should obviously proceed.

Jhoney_2

westernpromise wrote: »

You don't know how far beyond the end of its life it is though. The surveyor has indicated that the roof is a wreck, the roofer agrees. Maybe it's 30 years old and should have been replaced 15 years ago, but the seller can't see it from inside the house and therefore doesn't care.

It's one thing to buy a house that's generally well kept, but that will soon be due for a few expensive periodic bills (like exterior white paint or whatever). It's another to have to pick up the tab for stuff the vendor should have sorted years ago.

The OP has the upper hand, in that if they elect not to exchange given what they now know of the condition, the seller loses the house they're trying to buy. This is not a great place for the seller to be. Their only course would be drop the price by some amount, and then ask if others up the chain will do the same so that exchange can still take place.

All this presupposes that the house is worth £230k max in a sorted condition. If it's still a stonking bargain even at £234k, then one should obviously proceed.

The house has been valued at £230k in it's current condition and that price was the already reduced price from 250K. How many more bargains does the OP want to hold vendor to as a condition to buy.

I would tell OP to jog on (and it's not even my house):)