Resolving final issues before house purchase

steveodan

Hi all,


I am now trying to resolve a few issues / complications regarding a house purchase and just wanted peoples opinion on how to best tackle these issues. Any advise would be welcome.


Issue 1) The vendors agreed to include a ride on mower as part of the sale (included in the agreed sale price). They are saying we will have to pay for this (hundreds of pounds!)


Issue 2) Solar panels are owned outright by the vendors and included in sale price, however these have previously been installed (approximately 8 years ago) without building regs certificates and with no evidence of inspection / sign off. Who should pay for indemnity insurance? (Me or vendor), plus would this cause concern to anyone?


Issue 3) A damp issue (low localised damp) was identified on one internal wall by the Homebuyers survey. Would you expect this to be further investigated and repaired by the vendor as this issue was not known when placing my offer on the property?


Any help would be appreciated.


Thank You

arbrighton

1) Drop price of offer by that amount or decide it's not worth the hassle

2) They should as they, or their contractor didn't get sign off. Would concern me yes, as i would wonder what shortcuts had been done, and given we're talking about electricity, it would concern me even more

3) Nope, it was your survey. You can drop your price to reflect this fact but if it's low and localised, depends on how petty you are feeling

Hoploz

I am currently looking for a ride on mower and I wish my seller had given me an option of buying or keeping theirs! How much are they asking? It seems a decent one for us is going to be between £1000 and £1500 second hand, or more than double that for a new one, so if it is in reasonable nick and you are definitely going to have to get one it might be worthwhile bearing this in mind!

stator

steveodan wrote: »

Issue 1) The vendors agreed to include a ride on mower as part of the sale (included in the agreed sale price). They are saying we will have to pay for this (hundreds of pounds!)

Depends how much risk you want to take. Either drop your price or forget about it If the house is perfect and you haven't seen any others you like then forget about it

steveodan wrote: »

Issue 2) Solar panels are owned outright by the vendors and included in sale price, however these have previously been installed (approximately 8 years ago) without building regs certificates and with no evidence of inspection / sign off. Who should pay for indemnity insurance? (Me or vendor), plus would this cause concern to anyone?

Wouldn't concern me. If you find out there's something wrong with them just take them down. Although you might want to get someone who knows about roofs to just confirm they haven't damaged the roof itself and that it's bearing the load okay. I would see solar panels as an added bonus and not part of the house value.

steveodan wrote: »

Issue 3) A damp issue (low localised damp) was identified on one internal wall by the Homebuyers survey. Would you expect this to be further investigated and repaired by the vendor as this issue was not known when placing my offer on the property?

I'd expect the buyer to pay for a proper inspection by an independant specialist (not someone who fixes damp issues!). If there is a serious problem then perhaps negotiate on the price. If it's not serious then no, many old houses have minor damp issues.

onthehill

stator wrote: »

Wouldn't concern me. If you find out there's something wrong with them just take them down. .

Could there be some sort of enforcement on this?

Would the lack of regs bother the mortgage company?

G_M

arbrighton wrote: »

1) Drop price of offer by that amount or decide it's not worth the hassle
I agree

2) They should as they, or their contractor didn't get sign off. Would concern me yes, as i would wonder what shortcuts had been done, and given we're talking about electricity, it would concern me even more
Hmm.. but indemnilty insurance will not help if shortcuts were done. It does not cover shoddy workmanship.
Insurance will only kick in if the council starts enforcingment action, which is as likely as me winning the premium bond top prize.

3) Nope, it was your survey. You can drop your price to reflect this fact but if it's low and localised, depends on how petty you are feeling

If you are worried about the damp, investigate and find the cause. If fixing it will be expensive, re-negotiate the purcase price.

arbrighton

G_M I cannot quote your response as you put it inline to mine

However, at no point did I say that indemnity insurance would help with short cuts or shoddy workmanship, just pointed out it would raise suspicions on my part

G_M

arbrighton wrote: »

G_M I cannot quote your response as you put it inline to mine

However, at no point did I say that indemnity insurance would help with short cuts or shoddy workmanship, just pointed out it would raise suspicions on my part

sorry - I meant to quote steveodan and point out the limitations of indemnity insurance.

Mea culpa.

AdrianC

steveodan wrote: »

Issue 1) The vendors agreed to include a ride on mower as part of the sale (included in the agreed sale price). They are saying we will have to pay for this (hundreds of pounds!)

The only "agreement" that matter is what they've put on the property information form.

Issue 2) Solar panels are owned outright by the vendors and included in sale price, however these have previously been installed (approximately 8 years ago) without building regs certificates and with no evidence of inspection / sign off. Who should pay for indemnity insurance? (Me or vendor), plus would this cause concern to anyone?

If you insist on indemnity, then you ask the vendor to pay. If they say no, you pay, you accept that there's no indemnity, or you walk away.

There's no enforcement of building regs that far back.

Issue 3) A damp issue (low localised damp) was identified on one internal wall by the Homebuyers survey. Would you expect this to be further investigated and repaired by the vendor as this issue was not known when placing my offer on the property?

Not only would I not expect it, I wouldn't even want them to "fix". Any "fix" they do will be the cheapest, shortest-term bodge required to shut you up. Ask for the price to be reduced by the amount it'll cost to fix it properly. If they say no, then either accept that or walk away.

steveodan

Thank you for all the responses.

The ride on mower has been offered for approximately £500 however it is not modern (probably 15 years old) and is very basic and no idea if it even works. This is why I included it in my offer as if it is useless then I have lost nothing.

I understand the limitations of the indemnity insurance and accept these but I do not want to pay £150 for something that the vendor should have had fitted properly from the outset.

The damp is a concern as my understanding is it is hard to diagnose problems. But perhaps this is one I should just accept and take a risk on

AdrianC

steveodan wrote: »

The ride on mower has been offered for approximately £500 however it is not modern (probably 15 years old) and is very basic and no idea if it even works.

Then tell him "Thanks, no thanks". Odds are you'll find him reducing the price or just leaving it anyway.