Buying a house that needs work-seller knew but didn't divulge

Cakeguts

The seller doesn't have to tell you what you might choose to spend your money on. You say the repair needs doing but the seller is living in the house now without it being done. I expect you could also live in the house without doing the repair? If you do the repair then that is your choice. Nothing to do with the seller.

konark

I think it's called 'caveat emptor'.

Davesnave

u0362565 wrote: »

it's just a shame people don't play fair..

Yes, I know, but those halcyon days when Britain was Great and everyone knew how to behave are long gone now.

I knew the rot had set in back in 1975, when I bought a car which the dealer said would "do me a few years," but it was rotten and failed its MoT.

"The dastardly cad!" I thought, "it's this bloody Common Market!"

Turns out I was right, and your story just confirms my thinking.

Caveat emptor? Huh! That's foreign for a start....:mad:

getmore4less

u0362565 wrote: »

Hi all,

Where do you stand If while buying a house you find out some work is required and the seller knew about this before an offer was made but they didn't divulge the information?

wait till you find all the other little things that needed doing but the vendor did not think needed doing.

You should spot all the obvious things at viewing that your want /need doing and adjust offers for those.

How have you stumbled on this "needs doing" if you are still pre survey?

AnotherJoe

u0362565 wrote: »

It's not a huge job but a few thousand pounds worth, so would have been nice to know about this at the outset prior to making the offer. We are having a survey done which should again pick up on this issue but as I understand sellers aren't obliged to knock money off if issues are found. It really seems like buyers are at the mercy of sellers..

And buyers aren't obliged to purchase at the stated price either. You appear to have decided that the seller won't reduce their price, but if they won't, and can sell to someone else at the same price, then it's a fair price including the work that needs doing.

You also don't need to wait for a survey you can lower your offer in the light of your new knowledge right now , and the seller is free to say "the current price includes an allowance for this". And it's your choice as to whether that is correct,

constantinouBros

It's not in this way dear u0362565.

I was a victim of this occasion so before sign to any contract you must make a brief research.
Firstly, you have to see the land or the property only with lights corner by corner.
Then if you are 100% sure that this is the property you want to live for x years start looking for the real estate agent's info and past customers, both online and offline. Ask a lot of questions, no matter if it's useful, it's going to be helpful for you to recognize more about the property. Lastly, try to find previous residents and ask neighbors for info.

Marvel1

If you don't specifically ask the seller they sontbhabe to disclose, that is whqtvthe survey is for.

You can either revise your offer and drop the offer, seller can either accept or reject. If reject you either accept or just walk away.

getmore4less

Why are you going ahead with the survey if you already know about this issue start negotiations before spending more money.

JencParker

u0362565 wrote: »

Yes the buy is subject to survey but if we do ask for a reduction equal to the value and the seller says they won't then what? As I say it's not huge money but it just doesn't seem right, but not willing to back out over it.

Unfortunately, there's a lot about house buying and selling that doesn't seem right - buyers can be just as unscrupulous. I'm afraid that you just have to accept that and either negotiate a new price or walk away.

frugalsmurf

I'm confused too. How do you know what needs doing before a survey? If it was noticeable, why did you adjust your price at the beginning.?