Should the buyer or seller pay for a structural engineer?

mdbuk

I'm in the process of buying a ground floor flat and the surveyor sent by my mortgage lender (Natwest) identified:

• damp, and recommended a qualified damp inspector complete a report
• a crack in the front wall of an upper flat, and recommended a structural engineer assess if it is purely cosmetic or signs of something worse.

The estate agent has organised a damp inspection, which is free, and indicated that the seller will be prepared to "talk money", which I took to mean that he'd either be paying for the damp resolution or would reduce my purchase price to allow for it.

On the point of the structural engineer, the estate agent emailed today to say he's waiting for a quote for the report and that I'll be "liable for the cost", which surprised me.

I was assuming that the seller would be responsible for paying to rectify any issues highlighted by the survey so should he not be paying for the report? Or is it right that I pay for the report on the grounds that it's an extension of my survey?

It could well just be cosmetic, and this is what the seller has said, but Natwest obviously want a structural engineer to confirm this before proceeding, which presumably any lender would (they don't want to pay for it if the building is about to fall down!) but what if it does show that work is needed? Would the seller have to pay for this, as with the damp?

Can anyone advise?

- Marc

bryanb

The seller is offering the house for sale "as is" Any survey is normally down to the potential buyer. You can negotiate of course but the seller may just say no to doing any repairs.

Chanes

You could try and persuade them to pay for the engineer but ultimately it is in your interest if you intend to buy it.

bigfreddiel

The seller doesn't have to do anything, you the buyer needs to decide if you want a survey or not.

Cheers fj

kingstreet

It's entirely by negotiation.

There is no "should" on either side.

greatgimpo

Depends how much the seller wants to sell it (he/she pays), or the buyer wants to buy it (he/she pays).

Mr.Generous

If the crack is on someone else's flat higher up there is absolutely no way the seller is going to pay. I'm not sure your getting the property process really. Think of it this way.
Your going to buy an expensive second hand car with finance, and the lender tells you to get a vehicle inspection, the examiner says he believes the engine could potentially have a fault that a computer diagnostic could check for and advises that such a check is also recommended.
Would you expect the seller to pay for the report and also the work? More than likely they wouldn't. With the flat you are talking about a problem elsewhere on the building, there is no suitable analogy for vehicle buying that I can think of. Maybe asking a bus passenger to pay for a puncture repair?
The seller doesn't have to pay for anything unless they really want to. If the seller paid for a report a couple of things to consider. 1, they might not share the results with you if it was unfavorable. 2, If the report was garbage and the place fell down later you would have no contract with the surveyor to take them to task.
On the subject of the damp my suspicion would be that the seller already knows about it and is prepared to drop a few ££ and has a realistic expectation as to what the flat is worth with the damp problem.

davidmcn

It's a block of flats - deciding if/when/how to do any work isn't solely up to the seller (or buyer). You need to work on the basis that you're probably getting it as it is (and if there is a future cost, you'll be bearing your share of it).

mdbuk

Thanks for all your comments. You make some good points.

I think the seller is quite keen to sell quickly because he has already had a survey on the place he's buying and was regularly asking the estate agent to chase me when I was waiting for the mortgage approval. I can see the merits of me paying for the structural engineer but I can also see that if I pulled out of the purchase then the next buyer's survey would show the same issues and they'd be in the same situation.

If there is structural work needing doing then as the flats are leasehold I suppose it would actually be the responsibility of the freeholder. The seller has said that when work like that needs doing (eg. they had some repairs on the roof recently) the freeholder either splits it between the 4 flats or they claim on the building insurance. Would a structural issue be covered by building insurance?

- Marc