Radon Rentention bond questions

Dan-Dan

I can only share my experience, i am buying a property in south west wales which is `notoriously` a radon affected area, when we viewed houses in the area not one single house had had any anti radon measures installed

There were vents everywhere though which i guess is a passive method to deal with it

Basically we got the distinct impression from the people down there that no one really worries about it and i already know in my gut that our vendor would refuse straight out should we request a bond to deal with it

I am surprised that your buyer has that power over you to be honest especially if in the area no one else has bothered, if your buyer wants to deal with any radon issues then if your brave enough tell your solicitor to tell him to deal with it when he moves in

davidmcn

I haven't dealt with radon retentions before, but generally, nobody ought to get hung up about who produces an initial draft (generally whoever benefits from it (i.e. your purchaser) ought to - but if it's faster for the other party to produce one they did earlier then so be it).

If you are agreeing one then it will need to be in the contract, so you'll at least need to agree what the terms will be before exchange if not necessarily get it signed.

bouicca21

I think you should stand your ground - buyer can do test after he/she moves in and build remediation into the building works for the extension.

Remember the search will turn up the same result on any property in your area so the buyer will be faced with the same problem on any property.

When dealing with buyer try to pretend you are not at all stressed. Don't give him/her the advantage of thinking you are in a weak position.

Dan-Dan

Agreed, buyer wants protection from radon they should have factored potential remedial works into their offer or deal with it themselves when they take possession

Cannot believe they would pull out over it unless there have been other issues in the transaction that give you cause to think buyer is on the verge anyway

Clutterfree

When we sold our last house in 2002 our buyers said they wanted to do tests for Radon gas. They said they'd exchange and complete but if afterwards the tests showed anything then we'd foot the bill!
We declined.
They still bought the house!

We still live in the same village and have just accepted an offer on our current home. No doubt the issue of Radon gas will appear again.
However, we now have a PIV unit (bought it for condensation problems) and I've just discovered that apparently it also deals with Radon gas issues. :T
Hopefully that will be enough to satisfy our buyer.

If your buyer won't budge and insurance is £1000+ then perhaps consider fitting a PIV unit on your landing ceiling.
Ours cost around £300 I think but if you aren't good at DIY, you'd have fitting on top of that.

Best of luck.

lemontart

thanks guys, the buyer is very keen to move in and a lot rests on how soon he wants to do the work if he is bothered about the radon,. Just a case of waitng and when I know we can sit down and thrash out the details rather than wait for the solicitors to actually write back and forwards. He is aware now that none of the houses in my street have any remedial works, also recently sold houses have no retentions. etc . Just a real nightmare at this late stage,

Thrugelmir

Buyers solicitor will also be following instructions from the mortgage lender. Not their decision to make as to what's acceptable.

lemontart

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Buyers solicitor will also be following instructions from the mortgage lender. Not their decision to make as to what's acceptable.

i have seen the report, The applicants' attention is drawnto the valuer's comments regarding Radon Gas levels in the area, and the contact details to obtain
further advice.

LittleMax

bouicca21 wrote: »

Remember the search will turn up the same result on any property in your area so the buyer will be faced with the same problem on any property.

Yes all properties in Northants are potentially affected, but this has been a high risk area for years and sellers should be aware. We had a check done and were within tolerance levels and so when we sold we supplied a copy of the report to our buyer.

However it is optional for checks to be done and no details are available of any checks that have been carried out other than from the owner of the property. Had the radon levels come back as high, would we have passed this information on?

I would be cautious if a vendor said they had not had the checks done. Have they not had it done or is it high and they don't want to reveal it?

bouicca21

I doubt that sellers always know and I'm not sure that radon searches are always carried out by conveyancers.

I certainly never knew that there was a radon risk in parts of London. I was warned of a risk on my new home. I had no idea that my old house was affected and very much doubt that my buyers were warned, ditto my ex who has also bought in a radon affected area.