Am I about to lose the house?

JamesBro

Hi.

Agreed to buy a house for £320k.

Two bed Victorian in London.

Pretty old and needs major modernisation.

The valuation survey said (two months after the report!) that we needed an electrical and damp and timber report.

We've had both of those and they've both come back with big problems.

Could set us back £5k-£8k (still waiting for definite quotes).

We simply haven't got the money to pay for these straight away. We've been told to expect the lender to offer a retention.

So I'm expecting them to hold back £5k-£8k and we won't be able to make up the gap.

What are my chances of going back to the vendor and getting a deduction on the price? If so, by how much? The estate agent has already warned us that, given the few months it's taken to get our mortgage approved, the vendor is "well within his rights to put it back on the market". But surely anyone buying the house will have these problems, or not?

We're first time buyers and this is probably our only chance of buying something in London, where we unfortunately have to work. We're pretty despondent.

What are my options and shall I just prepare to lose out?

Thanks.

quotememiserable

Just set it out calmy and ask tell them you have to lower your offer. Either they accept or they don't.

Grenage

Another buyer may not be stretching themselves as far, and could afford the difference. All you can do is go to the seller and ask; the answer is impossible to predict.

davidmcn

If it was obvious that the property needed major modernisation, to what extent are the electrical / damp/timber reports surprising?

Adly812

Your in the predicament you could lose it anyway if you can't afford the 5-8k repairs. Therefore what have you got to lose if you ask to lower your offer? If you don't ask, you risk losing it anyway if you can't afford it surely?
You may risk another buyer or investor swooping in. But if you have proof of survey reports that justify this repair work, the vendor needs to consider it a worthy cause to accept the lower offer to account for the repairs, in reality.. But it's london so ... Good luck.

G_M

JamesBro wrote: »

Agreed to buy a house for £320k.

Pretty old and needs major modernisation.
So presumably ou have a substantial fund for modernisation.

The valuation survey said (two months after the report!how did this new info arise if not within the report?) that we needed an electrical and damp and timber report.
Really no surprise there.
But was this in your survey, advising you. Or was it in a mortgage lender's Valuation Survey, advising the mortgage lender who then told you to get the additional reports?

We've had both of those and they've both come back with big problems.
I'm always sceptical when I see that on this forum. What exactly are the problems?
* electrics not up to current standards....?
* damp registered with a damp meter? Caused by....?

Could set us back £5k-£8k (still waiting for definite quotes).
Who is providing the quotes?
Hopefully not the same salesman as wrote the reports........

We simply haven't got the money to pay for these straight away. We've been told to expect the lender to offer a retention.
Told by who?

So I'm expecting them to hold back £5k-£8k and we won't be able to make up the gap.
Then maybe a renovation/modernisation project is not for you

What are my chances of going back to the vendor and getting a deduction on the price?
Errrrrr.. 25%. No, sorry, 53%. Hmmm, make that 71%

If so, by how much?
£2,421
The estate agent has already warned us that, given the few months it's taken to get our mortgage approved, the vendor is "well within his rights to put it back on the market". But surely anyone buying the house will have these problems, or not?
Another buyer, looking at a Victorian property in need of modernaisation, will have anticipated this.

What are my options and shall I just prepare to lose out?
.

Options.

1) walk away
2) wait to see what the lender says
3) reduce your offer and renegotiate the price
4) find a contingency fund for modernisation

JamesBro

Agreed to buy a house for £320k.

Pretty old and needs major modernisation.
So presumably ou have a substantial fund for modernisation.Modernisation, as in the decor is of old fashioned taste. We had different advice from various people to suggest that the house was in good order otherwise. Indeed, we had a HomeBuyers survey that confirmed as much.



The valuation survey said (two months after the report!how did this new info arise if not within the report?) that we needed an electrical and damp and timber report.
Really no surprise there.
But was this in your survey, advising you. Or was it in a mortgage lender's Valuation Survey, advising the mortgage lender who then told you to get the additional reports?

Yes, to clarify, it was in a mortgage lender's Valuation Survey. Is it then normal to originally be told that everything was fine and then two months later come back to be told we won't get a mortgage offer unless we had those checks?

We've had both of those and they've both come back with big problems.
I'm always sceptical when I see that on this forum. What exactly are the problems?
* electrics not up to current standards....?
* damp registered with a damp meter? Caused by....?

The house needs re-wiring. Given a £3,500 quote by the electrician who did the report. We've got a second opinion tomorrow.

Could set us back £5k-£8k (still waiting for definite quotes).
Who is providing the quotes?
Hopefully not the same salesman as wrote the reports........

We simply haven't got the money to pay for these straight away. We've been told to expect the lender to offer a retention.
Told by who? Our broker.

So I'm expecting them to hold back £5k-£8k and we won't be able to make up the gap.
Then maybe a renovation/modernisation project is not for you Renovation, no.

What are my chances of going back to the vendor and getting a deduction on the price?
Errrrrr.. 25%. No, sorry, 53%. Hmmm, make that 71%

If so, by how much?
£2,421
The estate agent has already warned us that, given the few months it's taken to get our mortgage approved, the vendor is "well within his rights to put it back on the market". But surely anyone buying the house will have these problems, or not?
Another buyer, looking at a Victorian property in need of modernaisation, will have anticipated this. Yes.
We took a risk, calculated by advice that we had received.
We are FTB and obviously are naive. But also as keen as anything to get on the housing ladder as we feel as though it'll never happen if we didn't do it now, as we'll be priced out of the entire market within the next few months. Our broker was confident with our finances. A known-to-us surveyor thought the house was reasonable. The area is very up and coming. There were plenty of reasons to go for it. And the couple who had lived in the property for 40 years were said to have taken a lot of care of the property,
and it seemed as though that was the case when we looked around.

What are my options and shall I just prepare to lose out?
.

JamesBro

Smb3088 wrote: »

Your in the predicament you could lose it anyway if you can't afford the 5-8k repairs. Therefore what have you got to lose if you ask to lower your offer? If you don't ask, you risk losing it anyway if you can't afford it surely?
You may risk another buyer or investor swooping in. But if you have proof of survey reports that justify this repair work, the vendor needs to consider it a worthy cause to accept the lower offer to account for the repairs, in reality.. But it's london so ... Good luck.

Thanks. I accept that predicament. I guess we would just have to lower our offer and see what happens.

JamesBro

davidmcn wrote: »

If it was obvious that the property needed major modernisation, to what extent are the electrical / damp/timber reports surprising?

Modernisation in the sense of updating the decor. The structure, fittings and general wear and tear seemed to be OK. Our Homebuyers survey (granted, this doesn't tell us everything) flagged up very few problems.

Cakeguts

If the house was cheaper than you expected or would expect to buy in the surrounding area then the price takes into account that it needs modernising. Expect the vendor to put it back on the market because there will be people who will want to buy it so that they can modernise it.

The modernisation is part of the price so if you can't afford to modernise it you can't afford the house. A house like this will need a lot of money spent on it to get it up to modern standards.

Hoploz

If this report has come in two months after the survey was done (bit confused how this delay has happened tbh) then it sounds like you're pretty far down the line by now. Is there a chain upwards, ie are the sellers buying another property? If so then they are expecting exchange quite soon and everyone's under pressure at this stage ... It could be that you explain the predicament and they agree to come to an arrangement such as meeting you half way and giving £3k discount, for example. Assuming this still gives them enough to proceed on their house of course.
The EA is correct - they are within their rights to remarket - but whether they choose to do so depends whether they want to sell urgently, or whether they can afford to wait for a new buyer to start all over again.