Price negotiation after survey

Gr125flaherty

Help! I'm a first time buyer in the process of buying a house and in need of some advice.
I've just had the building survey done and there are a few things that have come up that are concerning me. I'm a little unsure if my concerns are valid though having had no previous experience with all this and would really appreciate any advice!

1) The surveyor has valued the house between £10,000-5000 lower than the agreed price.
I offered the full asking price on this house due to two previous scenarios on other properties where I lost out in bidding wars. The market in this area seems to be pretty buoyant however this was prior to Brexit. It's a pretty cheap property in any case.
Further background I should include here is that my first lender also valued it £10,000 lower than the asking price as well which meant I had to find another lender who would agree to the price, which I eventually did.
However this is now all making me question if I'm paying too much over the odds.

2) The house is 100 years old and naturally the building survey has thrown up a number of problems but there are a few things in particular that I'm slightly worrying about.
The first one is the roof that has a possible insect infestation affecting a number of roof timbers, some of which have decayed as a result. There are also undersized timber purlins. The survey recommends to get the infestation problem looked at by a specialist and replace all the purlins which sounds like it could be pretty costly.

3) Damp issues
High moisture readings in the lounge and kitchen possibly due to the age of the house and insufficient effective damp course treatment. I am advised to get a specialist to look into this. So this may or may not be a big problem.

4) The Boiler
As far as I'm aware the vendor has never had it serviced and has owned the property for 10 years. I know the cost of a boiler can be very substantial and I'm worried that it could breakdown imminently.

I've read on a few threads that surveyors often need to cover their !!!!!! with all this stuff and some things could just be precautionary.
In light of all the above though I now need to decide what to go back to the estate agent with.

Ideally I'd like these jobs done as a condition of the sale but I'm now also wondering if I should put in a lower offer as well with the valuation being quite a bit lower? Obviously I don't want to be unreasonable but I also don't want to pay over the odds for a property that's not worth the money.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!

jimpix12

There will shortly be several posters on here with anecdotes that their own survey warned them about problems but they ignored them and proceeded and now have 50k in equity. What they won't mention is that this was in 2004 when prices were rising weekly... not a month after one of the biggest economic moments of the last few decades. Whether you choose to listen to their advice is up to you.

But here's mine: you've had 2 warnings that you're overpaying on price alone not including the other factors. The fact that one lender would rather not lend to you than risk over lending on the value is surely a red flag no? Take a step back and spend the weekend imagining how you'd feel in negative equity because of a decision made in haste.

Jimmy_Neutron

Walk away. Looks like this house could be a money pit because you you will be paying over the odds for it and also having to spend money rectifying the problems that you know of now - what type of survey did you get?

AdrianC

Two surveyors say the place is over-priced. You go looking for one who doesn't... then start worrying if it's over-priced?

Boiler - that's backside-covering.
Damp - that may be backside-covering, or there may be an actual problem. Be very careful with getting a "specialist survey" done - many of those are just a sales job.
Roof - that sounds like it may be a more serious issue. Definitely get a specialist to look into that.

If you've got two surveys which say £5-10k over-priced, and specialist surveys confirm the issue, then you've got grounds for renegotiation. If the vendor doesn't agree, then you have a choice - pay the full asking price (depending on whether the lender wants a retention that will leave you able to afford to buy it) or walk away.

Gr125flaherty

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and advice this is really helpful.

I think the general consensus confirms my own feelings.
Reckon I'll offer £5000 lower with major works done or walk away.
It's so frustrating and disappointing having come this far and lost out on 2 other houses previously. All I want to do is get on the ladder and it just seems impossible! But anyway, I guess thats just how it is sometimes. I know it's better to walk away than be saddled with a potential negative equity scenario and a money pit to boot....

We'll see what happens.

Thanks again

jimpix12

Out of interest what is the price of the house you agreed to?

BTW, I don't know where in the country you are but getting on the ladder now might not be the best of ideas in hindsight, but you pay your money and you takes your choice etc.

Hoploz

You sounds as if you're thinking of knocking the £5k off and asking them to do the work as well. I doubt they will want to do both.

Also, it is in your interests to have the work done yourself, as then you know who is doing it, and you'll benefit from any warranties.

Get someone in to look at the roof. I wouldn't worry about the other things at this stage