Renegiotators, chipping and other tactics..

sderrick

I'd like to hear from both sides. What do you find morally acceptable? Is all fair in love and home buying?


Have you had it done to yourself and changes chances later in life?


I'm currently selling a flat with an agreed price of £245,000. Cash buyers.


They had their survey done and found a number of problems, artex ceiling which "need" removing, re-wire the whole flat etc.


Reduced offer by £15,000, then £7,500...we offered £3,000 off and that was final and now they come back with £5,000! At this point, it's not even about the work, they are just renegotiating and trying to chip off the price the closer it gets to exchanging.

hazyjo

Any reduction for the Artex would get a big fat no from me. As for the rewire - well, it depends on the wording. Have they actually had an electrician round or are they going by the usual survey wording of 'does not meet current regs'? That does not mean a rewire.


It would depend what I could afford and how fair their requests were. I'd not agree the lot, maybe half (which at a guess would be no more than £1500 and that is if the rewire was actually necessary.


I would have no hesitation in telling someone no. If they walk, they walk. I have dropped prices several times as a seller and buyer. But nothing to take the p'.

sderrick

hazyjo wrote: »

Any reduction for the Artex would get a big fat no from me. As for the rewire - well, it depends on the wording. Have they actually had an electrician round or are they going by the usual survey wording of 'does not meet current regs'? That does not mean a rewire.


It would depend what I could afford and how fair their requests were. I'd not agree the lot, maybe half (which at a guess would be no more than £1500 and that is if the rewire was actually necessary.


I would have no hesitation in telling someone no. If they walk, they walk. I have dropped prices several times as a seller and buyer. But nothing to take the p'.

Usual Survey wording, I've had two independent electricians come in and do themselves out of work by saying it doesn't need re-wiring, just a new fuse box.

Feel like I am getting ripped off here, I always thought I was quite ruthless in negotiations but I'm not sure I could pull this on someone else trying to sell their home.


Maybe if there is genuine work, but my buyers are property investors they know how to play the game!

davidmcn

If they're property investors rather than naïve FTBers, even less excuse for them not spotting artex or old(ish) wiring on first viewing.

NaughtiusMaximus

hazyjo wrote: »

Any reduction for the Artex would get a big fat no from me. As for the rewire - well, it depends on the wording. Have they actually had an electrician round or are they going by the usual survey wording of 'does not meet current regs'? That does not mean a rewire.

It would depend what I could afford and how fair their requests were. I'd not agree the lot, maybe half (which at a guess would be no more than £1500 and that is if the rewire was actually necessary.

I would have no hesitation in telling someone no. If they walk, they walk. I have dropped prices several times as a seller and buyer. But nothing to take the p'.

Pretty much agree with all of this. My thoughts are no discounts for anything which is either apparent on viewing or is to be expected for a property of the age and type in question.

hazyjo wrote: »

I would have no hesitation in telling someone no. If they walk, they walk. I have dropped prices several times as a seller and buyer. But nothing to take the p'.

Asking for a reduction based on the artex definitely falls into that category, did they forget to look up when they viewed the property? A £3,000 reduction for re-wiring is very reasonable on the OPs part, I would stick with that and not go any lower. One of the risks with these sort of 'investors' IMO is if you give in to them at an early stage they'll see you as a soft touch and try to push additional price reductions further down the line.

hazyjo

I've been lucky with investors in the past, but, if they are investors, they often get bad press on here as they can try large price drops, especially before exchange.


In that case - I'd tell them to whistle and remarket immediately.


Doesn't really matter if they spotted the Artex or not when viewing - still no reason to drop the price. Agree thought that investors should know what an old fuse box looks like. Consequently no price drop needed there either. Not like they needed a surveyor to point that one out, it was all there at the viewing. Say the flat was for sale with that taken into account anyway.

Cakeguts

Check that they are actual cash buyers with the money in the bank and they don't have to sell a property to get the cash.

If they don't like the survey results they don't have to buy your property.

Katapolt

I did negotiate almost £5k off of the price originally agreed, but that was due to damaged roof, brickwork and asbestos in the loft that we hadnt been allowed to go into on viewing.

In hindsight i feel bad- but he needed a quick sale and as FTB we didnt know what to look for or expect really. We went for it with a "dont ask dont get" mentality and would've gone ahead, albeit a bit saddened, if theyd declined.

ACG

If there are problems with a property that you/the vendor were unaware of renegotiation is fair game.

Artex is not a reason to negotiate, you have offered more than I would have in your shoes. That will not affect the value and artex does not necessarily mean there is asbestos in it.

sderrick

davidmcn wrote: »

If they're property investors rather than naïve FTBers, even less excuse for them not spotting artex or old(ish) wiring on first viewing.

Oh even worse, they asked about artex ceiling before viewing and I told them. It's all just a ploy for more money.


I am over the barrel on this one, as it's the first offer we have had on the flat since marketing it - over 6-7 months. I want to tell them FO but we have an offer accepted on a house we really want and they probably know this.

ReadingTim

Whilst a certain element of "negotiation" is customary, there comes a time when the games need to stop and the deal needs to be done - or it's recognised that the deal will never be done, and the parties walk away.

Pre-survey, anything goes. Post survey, you're generally down to things which aren't obvious to the naked eye (ie the reason you hire a surveyor). After that, then you have to ask whether such gamesmanship is in order to achieve a result, or simply to keep playing a game.

But it takes both sides to play this game and keep playing it, so if you're getting sick of it, stop playing. By starting to say what you mean, and mean what you say you soon force the question as to whether a deal can actually be done, or not.