Buyers being unrealistic after house survey

tangfastics81

Hi All.


We are presently selling our house and negotiated a fair price.
After an independent survey being carried out by the buyers, which is not RICS approved, it has come back with some remediation of parts of the property.


The report does not suggest the 1,2,3 remediation work as a normal ROCS survey, so we cannot determine what needs to be done right now, or what should be done in the future.


The surveyor has estimated the work to be approx. 12k, and so the buyers are categorically saying they want the property for 12k less than the accepted offer.


They seem to be very unreasonable, and so we have rejected that offer.


As sellers, we are happy to negotiate with the buyers, but feel they are being unreasonable, and asking us to pay for things everything that some are probably a nice to have, or years yet to get done...


Does anyone have any advise on what we should do, as we would like to move, but we only have so much movement for us to be financially stable to do so...


Appreciate anyone's advise for this, and have thought about if we were in this situation what we would do, and still think what they are asking for is completely unreasonable and would look at less than half, as surveyors always estimate costs and also the work to cover themselves.


Thanks Guys.

CocoLouie

What did the surveyor value the house as in it's current condition?

PasturesNew

If the house is priced "as it is", then they're unrealistic. You're not selling a brand new or newly refurbished house....

If you can wait for another buyer, tell them to do one.

If you've over-priced it and know it, sit and have a slow beer and think it through.

Over to you.

ReadingTim

I'd suggest that the purpose of the survey is to pick up things which aren't obvious to a reasonably intelligent/observant layman - properties are "sold as seen", therefore the survey is really to check whether everything is as it appears, or is supposed to be.

If something is not as it appears, then you have a good case for price negotiation. But if the survey merely confirms the visually obvious, and a buyer tries to negotiate a price reduction on that basis, I'd be telling said buyer to jog on.

The question you need to ask yourself is how realistically your price reflects the condition the place is in? Similarly, you need to consider the extent to which you want to compromise / meet in the middle, and gauge whether they want to or not. Sounds like neither of you wants to budge, so it's a case of who blinks first in terms of pulling out of the proposed deal.

glentoran99

What are the issues? are they obvious?

G_M

Has the buyer shared with you those parts of the report that specify what remedial work is needed?

If not - refuse pointblank any reduction in price and instruct your estate agent to place the property back on the market.

If yes- consider each issue separately & objectively:
* is it really an issue?
* is it an issue now, or a "may need renovating/replacing in the future" (which applies to everything in a property!)
* is the price being quoted for that issue realistic
* should the buyer have been aware of the issue already from their own viewing ie was it an obvious one?
* did it fall within the surveyors area of compitance (or was it related to gas, electrics etc)?

Even if ALL the above apply, you still don't have to agree the reduction in price - do you think you could easily find another buyer at the original price?


Remember: when push comes to shove, the buyer has already paid out £ (for the survey report, for some initial legal costs, probably for a mortgage application etc). Will they really throw those costs away and re-start their search....... however dogmatic they are now sounding?

jonnygee2

Appreciate anyone's advise for this, and have thought about if we were in this situation what we would do

The only question is - if you put the property back on the market, is the same thing likely to happen again? Basically, are you likely to get someone who will pay higher than what they are offering now.

By the sounds of it, the answer is yes. Which means the house is worth more than the buyer is willing to pay.

I'd never undersell my own house unless the situation was very urgent. It's probably the most valuable asset you own, getting everything you can out of it is very important.

eddddy

tangfastics81 wrote: »

After an independent survey being carried out by the buyers, which is not RICS approved, it has come back with some remediation of parts of the property.

Just to cover all bases - have you checked out the surveying company to make sure they are legitimate, and it's not a friend of the buyer.

But even then, the surveyor is employed by the buyer to look after the buyer's interests. So this might mean that they exaggerate problems and costs, to help their client negotiate a lower price.

Maybe even more so as they are not RICS affiliated, and so they don't have to adhere to RICS rules and ethics.

So I would ask for a copy of the survey report, and check it carefully.

Crashy_Time

jonnygee2 wrote: »

The only question is - if you put the property back on the market, is the same thing likely to happen again? Basically, are you likely to get someone who will pay higher than what they are offering now.

By the sounds of it, the answer is yes. Which means the house is worth more than the buyer is willing to pay.

I'd never undersell my own house unless the situation was very urgent. It's probably the most valuable asset you own, getting everything you can out of it is very important.

But that takes a buyer. Not worth losing a buyer for 12k IMO.