Our buyer wants us to demolish our shed

Doodles

You could remove it, and then they change their mind and pull out of buying your house.

Another vote for no. There will be another buyer who won't make any noise about it.

LandyAndy

PasturesNew wrote: »

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.

Good luck with that.

Woodyautumn

Hi PasturesNew - the thing is, the shed looks fine to us and if we weren’t moving we would just leave it as it is.

We have obtained quotes and can’t afford to take it down, nor do we want to.

foxy-stoat

Woodyautumn wrote: »

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.
Any thoughts??

Thanks

They are well within their rights to renegotiate the offer price - you are also well within your rights to agree or decline it.

I would just wait for them to make a revised offer then you can negotiate upwards, if they decline then instruct your Estate Agents to put it back on the market.

Cakeguts

No and no. No to taking down the shed and no to the price. Once you start with this kind of thing you never know where it will end. One request is remove the shed the next is will your remodel the kitchen before they buy. If they can't afford to deal with the shed during the next so many years of ownership then they can't afford your house either.

AnotherJoe

Woodyautumn wrote: »

Hi PasturesNew - the thing is, the shed looks fine to us and if we weren’t moving we would just leave it as it is.

We have obtained quotes and can’t afford to take it down, nor do we want to.

But you're fine to impose that cost on your buyer? :eek:

Your position is anyway very clear and simple, you tell your soon to be ex-buyers "this shed with asbestos roof is too expensive for us to have it demolished the cost of that was included in the sale so you'll have to take it as it is or not" and see what they say.

And then start looking for new buyers.

Woodyautumn

Another Joe - nope. We don’t think it needs to be demolished, it’s not something we would do if we were staying.

quantumlobster

AnotherJoe wrote: »

But you're fine to impose that cost on your buyer? :eek:

Abso-bloody-lutely!

So they say "knock it down" and instead of "on you go, my son" you do so; and then they go "Ah, you know, we don't really want this house as much as we thought. Offer withdrawn. Toodles!"

Another buyer comes along and goes "where's the shed gone? No shed? No shed, no offer. Toodles!"

If the OP absolutely doesn't want to advise their buyer to fornicate elsewhere with specific regard to this topic (which is definitely what I would do, were I in their position), they should advise them to obtain a quote for the dismantling and removal of the shed, and then they can take a view on whether they feel moved to reduce the purchase price accordingly.

G_M

I can't believe this even needs debating.

The shed was there when they viewed. It's a useful storage shed. OK not in great condition, but it's up to a new owner to decide whether to remove it, repair it, replace it or leave it as it is.

Politely decline to remove it and if the buyer insists, or demands a price reduction, instruct the EA to start looking for a new buyer.

People make all sorts of unreasonable demands these days and should not be pampered.

PasturesNew

Woodyautumn wrote: »

Hi PasturesNew - the thing is, the shed looks fine to us and if we weren’t moving we would just leave it as it is.

We have obtained quotes and can’t afford to take it down, nor do we want to.

But you ARE moving .... so the shed is something you do need to give serious consideration to. You can't just pout and say "we'd keep it if we were staying", because you're NOT staying.

How much was the quote? How many did you get? How BIG is this shed? (photos?)

You might not want to, but if it's the difference between a sale or not - and if it were done after exchange and before completion then it's no skin off your nose if it's there or gone.

How long did you have to wait for this sale?
How much have you spent already that'd be lost if your buyer pulled out?