Our buyer wants us to demolish our shed

Woodyautumn

The buyer of our house did a home buyer survey and has now come back and said that our brick garden shed needs to be taken down by us or they want to renegotiate the purchase price.

The shed does look a little shoddy but works just fine for us, we keep our kids bikes and the lawnmower in there and have never felt it was unsafe. It’s not the type of shed you would sit in or anything, just a small brick shed for storing stuff. We were aware when we bought it that it had an asbestos roof and it’s best left alone.

Apparently the survey said it has some rot in the timber (visible from the outside) and a structural crack (visible from the back).

We frankly can’t afford to take any money off as it will affect our purchase and don’t want the upheaval of having it removed, and feel that we accepted their lower offer based on the condition of the house and garden.

Any thoughts??

Thanks

martinthebandit

Tell your buyer 'no' would be my thought

quantumlobster

I'd be minded to advised them to continue their perambulation, dependent on the velocity of the market in your area and whether you've got other interest.

EachPenny

martinthebandit wrote: »

Tell your buyer 'no' would be my thought

That would be towards the politer end of the range of responses I'd consider.

Woodyautumn

Sorry but I’m not sure what you mean by this! Please could you elaborate? Thanks

LandyAndy

Another vote for 'no'.

Davesnave

The shed was there when they viewed and offered. What is there in the survey that makes it so burdensome now?


I'd be tempted to say, "Oi, it's just a bloody outbuilding, get over it!" but I would probably just ask for the proof as to why it's some kind of immediate liability.

AnotherJoe

I would also have said tell them to "jog on" apart from this snippet

We were aware when we bought it that it had an asbestos roof and it’s best left alone.

Given that, I would agree to take it down stating it will be removed between exchange and completion.
Depending what type of asbestos it could be dismantled by you and each sheet wrapped in bags and taken to dump or you can pay someone.
If they pull out and it comes to light with future sellers the reason was :eek: "asbestos" :eek: most likely everyone else is going to insist on this anyway.

PasturesNew

The buyer is also not in a position/not willing to have to deal with a shed with rotting wood and an asbestos roof.

One of you has to give.

I'd take some photos of it and get some quotes to get it removed (on Facebook of all places) stating clearly ASBESTOS .... rotting wood... crack. Then see what prices you get given. Make sure anybody doing the work holds a Waste Carrier License (if they dump it in a lane it's your responsibility and the authorities would come after you).

It might only be, say, £50 .... or it might be £150 ... but unless you ask "how much...?" you can't move forward.

Work involved would be: take the roof off, take it away. Pull at the wood/stack/load/remove. Sledgehammer, smash he bricks out... pile up, stack, remove. Sounds like 2 blokes 1 day to me.

You are the one who really needs to at least get a grip of the cost/hassle of getting rid of it in order to move the negotiations forward. To them it's "the great unknown" - you have access to it and can more easily get quotes.

Merlin139

Say you are not renegotiating and are putting the house back on the market.

They can take it at the agreed price or go and do one!

Woodyautumn

From our point of view from previous advice given to us, a lot of structures built between the 50s and 80s used asbestos and it’s best to leave it undisturbed, which is why we didn’t worry about it when we bought the house.