Surveyor's valuation and negotiation approach

ypapandr

I have received the surveyor's report on a property I am thinking of buying. The surveyor's esteem is just 5 k below the agreed offer price and mentions around 5 k in essential repairs. Are surveyor's valuation in your experience in line with actual market price or below the actual market price? Also, I am thinking of telling the vendor that she can either lower the price by 5 k or she can pay for the works (these are all marked 3 in the surveyor's report with some other marked 2 which also worry me (mainly roof insulation)). What approach would you recommend?

davidmcn

The whole point of them is that they're the best guess at the actual market price. It's not an exact science though - what's 5k as a percentage of the value?

Generally you buy the property in the condition it's in, rather than expect the vendor to do repairs/upgrades for you (which they might not do to the standard you expect), so if any adjustment is needed it's better to get a discount on the price (if it doesn't already take the condition of the property into account) and do the work yourself.

ypapandr

davidmcn wrote: »

The whole point of them is that they're the best guess at the actual market price. It's not an exact science though - what's 5k as a percentage of the value?

Generally you buy the property in the condition it's in, rather than expect the vendor to do repairs/upgrades for you (which they might not do to the standard you expect), so if any adjustment is needed it's better to get a discount on the price (if it doesn't already take the condition of the property into account) and do the work yourself.

It's about 0.8 per cent of the purchase price. Agree - I was thinking of doing that but first getting two recommended builders to see it and quote for the works

davidmcn

ypapandr wrote: »

It's about 0.8 per cent of the purchase price.

Ok, that's nothing, realistically. Usual margin for error is +/- 5%. Properties can easily go up or down in value by more than 0.8% during the conveyancing process anyway.

AdrianC

Don't ask the vendor to do the work - they'll do the cheapest, quickest job they possibly can.

Ask for the reduction. If the vendor says no, then would you really walk away over £5k?

Does the £5k make a difference to any mortgage LtV?

ypapandr

AdrianC wrote: »

Don't ask the vendor to do the work - they'll do the cheapest, quickest job they possibly can.

Ask for the reduction. If the vendor says no, then would you really walk away over £5k?

Does the £5k make a difference to any mortgage LtV?

I don't think they would given that I am not a chained buyer and they have an offer on another property (chain free too) and are under quite a bit of pressure to get this done. The EPC is quite low (43) and the survey also mentioned issues with isolation of roof. Any idea of how much it would cost to improve the insulation?

AdrianC

How long's a piece of string?

How big's the roof? How good's access? What's already in there? How much do you want in there?

ypapandr

Fair enough, silly question without the infos. See attached photo of the house. I am thinking of avoiding to do the full conversion (too expensive) but I feel the insulation must be improved otherwise the house will be very cold in winter.


https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/50600737?search_identifier=11ceda80ecea7f674c7a84aefd303f61

AdrianC

It's going to be very, very hard/expensive/disruptive to improve the insulation in the converted part...

Above the bathroom and in the eaves storage? Not hard. But far less effective if you can't do the actual habitable bits...

I suspect the EPC has simply given a default low score because the inspector couldn't lick or chew what was behind the slopes in that conversion - if it's been done vaguely recently, then BR sign-off will have included insulating to a minimum standard anyway.

(Nice gaff, btw - I like the way that's been done)

ypapandr

AdrianC wrote: »

It's going to be very, very hard/expensive/disruptive to improve the insulation in the converted part...

Above the bathroom and in the eaves storage? Not hard. But far less effective if you can't do the actual habitable bits...

I suspect the EPC has simply given a default low score because the inspector couldn't lick or chew what was behind the slopes in that conversion - if it's been done vaguely recently, then BR sign-off will have included insulating to a minimum standard anyway.

(Nice gaff, btw - I like the way that's been done)

ok - do you reckon the loft room will be freezing and very uncomfortable in winter?

AdrianC

I have absolutely no idea because - like your surveyor - I don't have x-ray vision to see through that ceiling.

Upstairs was in the roof at our old place, with zero insulation behind the lathe-and-plaster ceilings - just straight onto the back of the tiles, not even any underfelt. It really wasn't that cold. When we redid upstairs, we put a lot of insulation behind the plasterboard... but removed the hideous secondary double-glazing, to highlight the lovely old steel Crittall single-glazed leaded windows.

Old houses like to breathe.