Negotiating offer after survey HELP!

purpleapple1989

Hi there
We are first time buyers without many people around us for advice.
The house we want to buy has had an offer accepted for 273,000 ( we have a 20%deposit). Since the. The lift extension and rear extension have been proven to have no planning permission or building regs. We have been offer an indemnity for these.

We have had a structural survey done as well as a structural engineer have a look at it. They have raised that the chimney needs repair and reprinting, a tree needs to be removed, and new guttering as urgent with other issues raised for more long term. The structural engineer has stated that he feels there is about 2500 of work to get to building regs standard.

The seller has offered us £2000 off which includes paying for the indemnity. We have discussed with our solicitor that we are just concerned about the loss of a bedroom and whether more should come off the price. We stated that we would put this to the estate agent and she has said that it may be asker to ask for works to be done rather than reduce cost as this would have to go back to the mortgage company.

Overall I am very confused. We really like the house and it is in our ideal location. We are also continuing to spend money on rent whilst we await this move. Are we able to put in one last reduction in price or should we follow the estate agents views.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

marksoton

You can put in whatever you want.

Personally i'd run a mile.

AdrianC

When were these extensions built?

purpleapple1989

The rear extension about 15 years ago and the loft about 7 years ago.

AdrianC

purpleapple1989 wrote: »

The rear extension about 15 years ago and the loft about 7 years ago.

So there's nothing either building control or planning permission can do about either of them now.

G_M

purpleapple1989 wrote: »

.....We stated that we would put this to the estate agent and she has said that it may be asker to ask for works to be done rather than reduce cost as this would have to go back to the mortgage company.

....

Getting the work done by the seller is much easier for the estate agent. No mortgage fuss, no arguments, and the sale goes through giving them their commission. :T


But for you? What guarantee do you have the work will be done? More to the point, What guarantee do you have the work will be done to a good standard? The seller will do the cheapest, fastest job possible. Just you try and complain later that it was a bodge job - They won't care - they'll be gone.

Either walk away or reduce the price.

purpleapple1989

Oh I have just realised that I said it was the estate agent who said to get repairs not price but this was our solicitor which threw me...

HouseBuyer77

The structural engineer has stated that he feels there is about 2500 of work to get to building regs standard.

That doesn't sound too awful, a few corners cut when building rather than a complete bodge job that needs redoing.

we are just concerned about the loss of a bedroom and whether more should come off the price

Why would you loose a bedroom? Is the £2'500 to get it up to standard for building regs compliance provided the extension isn't used as a bedroom as it currently is? If so you should definitely be looking for more than £2'000 off the price!

AlexMac

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

That doesn't sound too awful, a few corners cut when building rather than a complete bodge job that needs redoing.
Why would you loose a bedroom? Is the £2'500 to get it up to standard for building regs compliance provided the extension isn't used as a bedroom as it currently is? If so you should definitely be looking for more than £2'000 off the price!

Agree that this doesn't sound too bad at all- if that's the only problem revealed by a full structural survey it seems a good buy,

...but disagree withHB77 in that £2k off the price seems more that fair;
and no-one's saying you can't actually use the 15-year old extension and the 7-year old loft room?

By the time you come to sell on, the extension and loft will be ten-30 years old, so even less of an issue.

And unless the lender requires you to remove the tree or it's actually causing damage, why bother? Round here there are massive street trees immediately adjacent to houses ranging in age from 15-150 years (the houses that is), and none of them are cracking; even surveyors can be oversensitive to trees?