URGENT: Buying dream house, structural problems - what to do?1?!

gabjam

Hi all!

My girlfriend and I are in the middle of buying aground floor flat in a victorian end of terrace house. The house itself is perfect; it's by the rail station, has a large south facing garden, a garage, 2 bedrooms, next to the cycle ways into the city and to work and is in a very nice area of the city. Essentially, it's gold dust in a city that famously has no parking or gardens of any sort. Has features no other property has and we won't find anything like it again. We had our offer accepted at less than the price you'd get just a flat for here.

However, we've had a survey done and it's come back with extensive damp (50% on some walls), blown out rendering on the back, potentially rotten floors, it doesn't have dry lining and other bits and bobs. Essentially, the surveyor has estimated repair costs at between £10,000 - £25,000....

We offered £230,500 for the house. We would obviously need to renegotiate the price, and take repair costs our of our deposits (£60k atm). It's also a shared freehold; another person owns the flat above. What are the chances they'd contribute to the wall repairs? The major questions that need urgently answering are:

a) If we renegotiate our offer, what would a realistic offer be? My gf wants to offer £205,000 (20k less). I want to offer £210-215k. Realistically, we both have no experience in this. We are first time buyers.
b) Given the extent of the damage, do we walk away? Bearing in mind we would never, ever get a property with this many great features for anywhere close to this price again.

Thanks guys!!

DTDfanBoy

gabjam wrote: »

it's gold dust in a city that famously has no parking or gardens of any sort. Has features no other property has and we won't find anything like it again. We had our offer accepted at less than the price you'd get just a flat for here.

What makes you think that it hasn't already been priced to reflect the work that needs doing ??

eddddy

Obviously, it's entirely up to the sellers how far they will negotiate.

Some vendors might say that you could see it was damp when you offered - and so refuse to budge at all.

Others might be desperate to sell - and so give in easily on price.

Or they might need your full offer price in order to buy their next house - so cannot afford to budge.

But I guess you can try adjusting your offer low, and then move upwards.

Expect the EA to push back very hard when you start talking about lowering your offer. You will have to make the EA believe there is a real risk of you walking away, if the vendor doesn't renegotiate.

gabjam

I was under the impression if they were aware of the issues they were legally obliged to make buyers aware?

gabjam

Hadn't even thought about it like that, see this is why I ask for advice!

eddddy

gabjam wrote: »

I was under the impression if they were aware of the issues they were legally obliged to make buyers aware?

Nope.

But if asked, the vendors shouldn't say anything misleading - but even then it would be difficult to make any kind of claim against them.

It's only when they answer formal pre-contract enquiries via solicitors and exchange contracts that the answers become contractually binding.

Elfbert

gabjam wrote: »

I was under the impression if they were aware of the issues they were legally obliged to make buyers aware?

Only if you ask about damp and they are actually aware.

They could claim to have no idea about the damp, or say 'oh, we don't know, it's never bothered us' (and it would be hard for you to prove they were lying)

And did you actually specifically ask about any signs of damp you saw - eg the blown render? If you didn't ask, they don't have to say anything about anything!

Get a reliable builder around to look at it all - maybe two!

And remember if all this is showing up, your mortgage provider may well decide the property isn't worth as much as you've offered...you might not get a choice!

KiKi

gabjam wrote: »

We had our offer accepted at less than the price you'd get just a flat for here.

There's probably a reason for that...

We offered £230,500 for the house. We would obviously need to renegotiate the price, and take repair costs our of our deposits (£60k atm). It's also a shared freehold; another person owns the flat above. What are the chances they'd contribute to the wall repairs?

That's not about 'chance', it depends what the leases say. If the leases deem that walls and rendering are shared costs, then that's what they are. Of course, getting the other leaseholder to agree and actually pay is another matter.

a) If we renegotiate our offer, what would a realistic offer be? My gf wants to offer £205,000 (20k less). I want to offer £210-215k. Realistically, we both have no experience in this. We are first time buyers.

Forget this for a moment, because at the end of the day this will come down to whether or not the vendor is prepared to accept a reduction in price.

The reality is this: are you prepared to pay £230k PLUS £25k for this flat. Is it that important to you? Are there really no other flats that will do? Is that lovely Victorian archway really worth all your floors being taken up? Is that original fireplace really worth the scaffolding and damp for the next year? If so, then just go in at a price that you think the vendor will accept, and accept that it's going to cost you, and that you're going to have a lot of hassle whilst it's sorted out.

(Question: how many flats did you actually see to be so certain you won't ever find anywhere with these amazing features?! I live in Brighton, full of Victorian conversions, where many, many flats have fantastic, original features.)

b) Given the extent of the damage, do we walk away? Bearing in mind we would never, ever get a property with this many great features for anywhere close to this price again.
Thanks guys!!

And this is the big question: is the flat this valuable to you? Is £25k really the top price you'll have to pay? Is the other freeholder going to contribute?

To be honest, you sound like you've already made up your mind: this is the best property with such AMAZING features for an AMAZING price. But there will be a price tag somewhere, and right now it's around £25k.

So could you get a similar property for £255k, without the hassle??

At the end of the day it's down to two things:
a) are you prepared to pay £255k in total?
b) will the vendor accept a reduction?

Personally, unless it was the house of my dreams, I would walk for that much work, especially as a first time buyer with limited funds. I'd be wondering what more you'll uncover when you start the work, and why your low offer was accepted. If I was going to ask for a reduction, I'd go at £210k, that's more palatable than £205k.

Also, will your mortgage provider allow you a lower deposit? And if they do, will they still apply the same interest rate? You need to find that out as a priority otherwise everything else is moot!

KiKi

davidmcn

What has your surveyor valued it at?

gabjam

Guys, you're all great!

Alot of things I need to think about that you've brought up! Really could do without this stress, house buying is the worst!

Well they're certainly going to be aware of the damp once the estate agents are given the survey summary.

And ultimately, we're not willing to pay 255k for it as KiKi pointed out...however if we did successfully renegotiate on price I'd be more tempted. The hassle of getting all of the work done, particularly if there is dry rot under the floors, is starting to put me off. We may have lost £1000 in the process of trying to buy it, but better than buying an unliveable house....

We've put forward our findings to the estate agent and asked if the vendor would be willing to do the remedial work before we move in, or at least a good chunk of it. That way we'd still have our mortgage as is.

Having said that - given the extent of the damage you are right in pointing out that the bank may not even lend after their survey!! May end up having no choice. In which case that would put alot of pressure on the vendor to fix it up I guess...

I'm also going to request my solicitor to find out the terms of the leasehold and whether or not the other owner is obliged to carry out some of the repairs.
Damnit though, I really want this house

gabjam

davidmcn wrote: »

What has your surveyor valued it at?

Hasn't yet, he was concerned about it so phoned us this evening. He's sending us the summary to put to the EA tomorrow, then the full survery report to follow.