Reduced offer after survey

RoonilWazlib_2

Hello (long time lurker - first post)

First time buyer so apologies if this is a silly question

Partner and I offered and were accepted on a property. Our lenders survey indicated a problem with water ingress at the shower and recommended this is fixed.

Surveyor indicated they agreed with home report valuation (72k). Our offer was 73k.

We asked vendor if they would have repairs done. They have said no, but will accept reduced offer at 72k to proceed and we can carry out the work. Lender ok with this as long as we get work done within 12 weeks of completion.


So ...

Can we take it that the surveyor is saying the work that needs done would cost in the region of £1k (or less).... Or to put it another way, how invasive are surveys? Enough so that a reasonable judgement of work required could be made?

Alternatively we could ask for access to have someone give us a proper quote?. Would this be normal practice? I assume it is allowed as long as vendor agrees? (I accept vendor could refuse access although not sure why he would if it might stop the sale - and he does seem keen to complete quickly)

It's a fairly new property (8years) so hopefully the repairs are not extensive.

Thanks

davidmcn

Any more detail on what the problem is? Surveyors tend to make ar5e-covering comments about shower/bath seals so I'm sceptical about whether this is actually a problem (especially if it's come out of a mortgage valuation, which is usually quite superficial - I very much doubt anything invasive would have been done by the surveyor).

Anyway, access for quotes etc is a reasonable request, and yes in the absence of any recommendation for a retention I think you can take it that the surveyors don't think the cost of the repair is likely to be significant.

RoonilWazlib_2

Thanks David

Had to go back and check the wording ....

'water penetration outwith shower cubicle - advised to investigate and repair'

Home report didn't pick this up so I did wonder if it was the surveyor just covering themselves.

(Home reports I'm guessing are a lot more thorough than surveyor would be)

G_M

RoonilWazlib wrote: »

..... Our lenders survey indicated a problem with water ingress at the shower and recommended this is fixed.

Meaning what?

A major leak from a pipe imbedded in the wall and feeding the shower?
A bit of damaged mastic seal round the shower tray?

Huge difference in repair cost!

martindow

RoonilWazlib wrote: »

We asked vendor if they would have repairs done. They have said no, but will accept reduced offer at 72k to proceed and we can carry out the work. Lender ok with this as long as we get work done within 12 weeks of completion.

It is far better that you carry out the work. The vendor would do the cheapest repair possible which could just be superficial and cosmetic.

It would worry me that they have dropped the price by a thousand so easily. It suggests that this could be something expensive to sort out. You need to check out with a builder or surveyor what work needs doing and price it up.

cloo

It sounds like 1k off is more than fair to me - it could cost more, though, as G_M says, if it involves invasive work and could amount to a partial/full bathroom replacement if it's really bad. But if you want the house I say go for it, but make sure you have enough in hand to potentially replace things/retile in the bathroom.

sheramber

Our survey said the bedroom wall adjoining the shower in the bathroom was damp.

Seller had not seen any sign of damp. My husband tested wall with damp meter- no damp shown.

Since we moved in 10 years ago there has been no sign of damp in that wall.

ruby_eskimo

I'd get a plumber in to give you a quote for the work - our surveyor said we needed a few tiles replaced on our roof so we got a couple of roofers to go round (arranged through the estate agents) and and it turns out we need about £3k of work doing instead! Seller was going to get the work done as she knew someone apparently but we said we were happy to do it if she dropped the price by the £3k we've been quoted. She's more than happy to do that so as soon as we're in the work will be done.

G_M

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

I'd get a plumber in to give you a quote for the work - our surveyor said we needed a few tiles replaced on our roof so we got a couple of roofers to go round (arranged through the estate agents) and and it turns out we need about £3k of work doing instead! Seller was going to get the work done as she knew someone apparently but we said we were happy to do it if she dropped the price by the £3k we've been quoted. She's more than happy to do that so as soon as we're in the work will be done.

Aeeeh! Those roofers saw you coming!

Indout96

When we bought our last house before this one back in 1989 the survey pointed out damp - "might" need a new DPC and also possible wall tie corrosion problems which was all the rage at the time.

The house was built in 1926 - metal wall ties had not been invented.
The damp was down to the fact that the owner had died and house was empty over winter.
the BS surveys are a joke

Hoploz

Take the £1000 and see how it seems when you move in.