Offer and Surveys

mimi1234

Hi,

Forgive me in advance as I am not that clever when it comes to buying but I would like some advice.

If I put an offer on a property subject to survey via an estate agent, does the vendor have to drop the price if faults are found or can they turn round and say "sod off"? I know it is not legally binding so I guess they don't have to drop the price. I'm just wondering what other people's experiences are......

However, this house has been up for sale for quite some time. They wanted £125K. I offered £115K and then my final offer was £117,500. The estate agent told me that they would accept £120K but I said £117,500 was my final offer and I had seen another property and was going to put an offer on that, thank you and goodbye. Since then, I have had about 20 missed calls and heaps of answerphone messages. It seems like the vendor is really keen to sell now.

I put an offer on a property earlier this year but it was not via an estate agent. The surveyor found heaps of faults but the vendor told me to do one.

I know the survey would only cost about £500 but I am unsure if I should carry on like this.

Sorry if I sound really stupid.

Thanks all.

staffie1

The vendor does not have to reduce the price for any reason and can insist on whatever price they expect to get for the property. Any property is, however worth only what a buyer is willing to pay for it, so if there are faults, the vendor may have to wait an awfully long time to sell if they do not price realistically.

Jenniefour

I doubt there's any property that doesn't have some faults but what I would be looking for is major issues that will cost a lot to fix - unless it's already factored into the asking price. And sometimes vendors are not willing to budge anyway, they might not need to, especially if they're in an area where there are many more potential buyers than properties for sale.

marksoton

mimi1234 wrote: »

Hi,

Forgive me in advance as I am not that clever when it comes to buying but I would like some advice.

If I put an offer on a property subject to survey via an estate agent, does the vendor have to drop the price if faults are found or can they turn round and say "sod off"? I know it is not legally binding so I guess they don't have to drop the price. I'm just wondering what other people's experiences are......

However, this house has been up for sale for quite some time. They wanted £125K. I offered £115K and then my final offer was £117,500. The estate agent told me that they would accept £120K but I said £117,500 was my final offer and I had seen another property and was going to put an offer on that, thank you and goodbye. Since then, I have had about 20 missed calls and heaps of answerphone messages. It seems like the vendor is really keen to sell now.

I put an offer on a property earlier this year but it was not via an estate agent. The surveyor found heaps of faults but the vendor told me to do one.

I know the survey would only cost about £500 but I am unsure if I should carry on like this.

Sorry if I sound really stupid.

Thanks all.

So why didn't you answer the calls?

You either want the place or you don't.

And you either want a survey or you don't.

Hoploz

If a survey brings up minor points it's useful info for you as new owner of the house as it'll signpost outstanding maintenance jobs to be done in future.

If it brings up major things such as needing a new roof which you didn't expect then with this information you can reduce your offer or walk away. A survey doesn't say '£10,000 of work is required, therefore your seller should accept £10,000 less.' It's all about negotiating. After all, the seller may have lived there for years with no problems from the old roof and see no need to replace it, and why should they pay when they'll get no benefit from a new roof. Therefore sometimes a compromise is reached. Or if you don't want the hassle and will find another property easily which doesn't need the work doing you might buy that one instead.

G_M

To be honest, most sellers know what problems their house has so either

* price the sale acordingly, knowing (knowing it needs a new roof costing £2000, whereas the similar house down the road already has a new roof)

* or try/hope to hide the faults and over-price hoping the buyer does not have a suvey or realise a new roof is needed.

The former is much more common, so if you drop your price by £2000 following your survey they might well say "We've already priced low because of the work needed, so either pay what was agreed or go up the road and pay extra for the house up there that already has a new roof."

Hoploz

BTW it isn't really necessary to state on your offer 'subject to survey' because as you already know, nothing is binding or final until contracts are exchanged. Your offer will be subject to many factors and there's no need to point them all out.

It might just make the seller think you are from the outset going to try and find a reason to reduce your offer further down the line which might make them nervous of accepting the offer in the first place!

mimi1234

marksoton wrote: »

So why didn't you answer the calls?

You either want the place or you don't.

And you either want a survey or you don't.

Hi,

I was busy at work so didn't have my phone to hand and I was kind of deflated because the offer I gave was the highest I could afford so when the agent said "OK, let's leave it then", I was quite miffed. I genuinely did not think they would call me back.

Thanks to all for the information re: the surveys.

I only asked because the last house I put an offer on, the buyer told me there was no need for a survey because he had lived there for ages (alarm bells rang). I had the survey done anyway and the number of problems that came up were quite offputting - there were problems with half of the roof, the electrics were all wrong and the surveyor gave it a "red" rating. Basically, most of the things he checked needed work asap. None of the upstairs windows opened either and so that was a fire hazard or that's what it said in the survey! The vendor said he would not drop the price but wanted to see the survey anyway, so I told him where to get off. The house is still up for sale may I add.

I think I am going to have a long think about this house before taking it any further.

I now understand surveys a lot better and thank you for all the information you have provided. Thank you all.

Davesnave

mimi1234 wrote: »

I now understand surveys a lot better and thank you for all the information you have provided. Thank you all.

Make sure you really do understand surveys.

For every vendor unable to price realistically, there's a buyer unable to interpret their survey in the context of other houses of that type.

For example, the electrical 'red' rating you mention occurs by default on most properties,as the regulations change frequently, and the surveyor is not qualified to assess the electrical system's compliance with them anyway!