Seller giving us money for repairs to house

Albala

Personally, I would be candid with my solicitor and ask their advice. You don't want to get in trouble with your lender or HMRC, for example. If this idea was not a good one, a solicitor may be able to think of a sensible, and legitimate, alternative.
It would worry me if an EA (acting for the seller, not the buyer) was encouraging me, as a buyer, to do things and keep my own solicitors in the dark. A buyer's solicitors are the only people working for, and with a duty to protect the interests of, the buyer. It's their job to keep you out of trouble, and they can't do that effectively if you aren't straight with them.

Mossfarr

My son was in a similar situation when he bought his house (in Canada)last year.

The survey identified storm damage to the roof which would cost $10,000 to repair. My son asked the vendor to reduce the price by $10,000 but the vendor refused as the damage was covered by his buildings insurance. They agreed (via solicitors) that the purchase price would stay as it was but the vendor would pay the $10,000 to my son as soon as his insurance settled the claim. He received the money a couple of weeks after they moved in.

If the same situation occurred here in the Uk the purchase probably wouldn't complete until the work was done. In Canada, the buying/selling process is usually completed within 14 days of the offer being accepted.

SeaVixen

Many thanks for the advice and experience sharing all!

I'll raise it with my solicitor and see what they say. I don't want to do anything that isn't completely above board.

We're on 75% LTV currently, and the next step seems to be 50%, so taking £5k off the house price and keeping the deposit the same wouldn't let us get a better mortgage rate.

It would be ideal for the works to be done before we move in (particularly some damaged artex removal, so it doesn't have to be done around our belongings) but it's not absolutely essential. So there is the possibility for us to keep the deposit the same and do the works when we can afford to.

Thanks for your time all!