Who pays for House repairs-Buyer or Seller?

AdrianC

pradeepa wrote: »

I want to do the work before moving in

You don't own the house before completion, remember? So you ain't going to be doing the work without the vendor agreeing. And why should they live in a house that your builders are busy knocking around?

Is your flat rented? If so, there's your answer. Stay in the flat after completion, while you get the work done.
If not, you're reliant on the chain, and you don't have friends or family you can stay with - then you're going to have to ask VERY, VERY nicely for the vendors to play ball with you. And you're not exactly getting off to a good start, by the sound.

You seem to have built a VERY minor thing into a huge show-stopper. I have absolutely no idea if there are blisters inside my drains or not. Nor do I much care. The effluent is flowing, is it not? The pipework is not about to suddenly explode in a storm of, umm, sewage.

Are these cast iron pipes, or plastic?

Surrey_EA

pradeepa wrote: »

Can't imagine a situation where the toilet is overflowing and me standing with two kids around me desperately need to use it.

Neither can I, as it sounds pretty unlikely.

If you are not selling another property to buy this one, perhaps you can have the work done after completion, but before you move in.

As has already been said, who pays is a matter of negotiation.

Robin9

OP whatever house you buy there will be work that needs to be done and some surveys can be alarming. Sometimes ignorance can be bliss.

My house is 1973 (bought in 1996) - Never had any work done on the sewer pipes - the plastic ones will last for ever. Roof retiled yes; new kitchen yes; new boiler yes (twice); revamped it following an inheritance; needs redecorating.

I would ignore the blisters, buy it and make it your home.

G_M

You know what? I don't think you should buy this house.

In fact I don't think you should buy any house.

Your temperament is not suitable for home-ownership. The level of anxiety you are displaying is such that as a house-owner you will be in a perpetual panic.

Rent.

Then if/when a problem arises (overflowing toilet, leaking roof, squeaky floorboard, doorbell stops ringing) you can call the landlord and get it fixed. At no cost.

Dird

cjdavies wrote: »

Why would they spend £4000 on something that has no benefit to them? Suggest a price drop instead.

They only offered to pay £1k and they have not exchanged. If someone volunteered to pay £3k to your house repairs, allowing you to sell at full price to someone else rather than accept a £4k price reduction, wouldn't you?

saajan_12

pradeepa wrote: »

Yes, I need the house desperately, as all my kids stuff is overflowing in my two bed flat. This house was built in 1970s and never had any drainage pipe work done. I want to do the work before moving in, because the CCTV footage showed big blisters from within the pipe that was worrying.Can't imagine a situation where the toilet is overflowing and me standing with two kids around me desperately need to use it.

You mentioned you're FTBs - where are you living now? If you aren't in a chain with a dependant sale, then it should be easy enough to overlap your purchase and current living situation. If you complete on the purchase a few days/week before after you need to move out of your current place, you can use the time to do any works between completion and move in.

Otherwise, you'll need to live around it I'm afraid. Until completion, the property belongs to the seller who is under no obligation to fix nor allow you to fix anything. As a homeowner I doubt this will the the last time something breaks and you live without the facility temporarily.. children or no children. They may not be glamorous, but there are plenty of alternatives.. public bathrooms, week's gym pass, bathrooms at works/school, neighbours, family, potty.

Person_one

pradeepa wrote: »

Can't imagine a situation where the toilet is overflowing and me standing with two kids around me desperately need to use it.

Call a plumber, get the kids to use a bucket and/or the bath depending on, er, requirements.

Relax, calm down, this is not a huge problem! In all the years you will own this house or any others that come after it, things will go wrong, you will survive, I promise. Just make sure you have good insurance!

fezster

pradeepa wrote: »

There is another point from the survey report which I am not sure if I need to be worried about

// My engineer feels that there is a buried manhole under the extension which should be accessible under water bylaws, if this

is found to be the case we can supply a further quotation to expose and raise the cover to floor level.//

I'd be more worried about this than the blisters in the drains. This is an immediate problem if it turns out to be the case. Build over agreement should have been obtained from the water company and this will probably necessitate an indemnity. If there is a blockage and the manhole is inaccessible, this could be a costly repair to gain access.

FBaby

What exactly are you looking to achieve? You agreed on an original price, then following the survey, you've identified an issue. This survey is for your benefit, so that you can make a knowledgeable decision as to whether you still want to go ahead with the purchase at that price.

Either you still want the house very much despite this issue and go ahead with it, but at least you have the knowledge that some work will need to be carried out at some point, or you decide that this issue is not worth the asking price, so either you negotiate lower to a point you're happy or you walk away.

As it stands, they've agreed to a reduction of £1,000 (or paying £1,000 towards the repairs, which is the same) so are you going to accept or not?

marksoton

fezster wrote: »

I'd be more worried about this than the blisters in the drains. This is an immediate problem if it turns out to be the case. Build over agreement should have been obtained from the water company and this will probably necessitate an indemnity. If there is a blockage and the manhole is inaccessible, this could be a costly repair to gain access.

Caveat on that one. Why do they "feel" this.

Smacks of job creation to me.

Sewers for adoption states MH's are required where there is:

A change in direction
A Change of pipe material
A change in pipe diameter
Varying distances of pipeline dependent on water company

I don't know if Dynorod have access to GIS ( The mapping service Thames use ) but even if they do it cannot be relied on.

I've started a project where there's a 20 metre deep shaft 12 metres wide and it's already showing on their system before we've put a shovel in the ground!