Revised offer on house after first offer accepted

NOVASTAR

Hi All
My OH and I have just received the Environmental Search back for a house that we had an offer accepted on 5 weeks ago. We are slightly concerned as it shows the house is built 25 meters from a contaminated area of a previous landfill site it may affect the value of the house when it comes to the re-sale.
We have therefore decided to drop the offer by 5k and are waiting for the EA's to get back to us.
What I would like to know is whether we are doing the right thing. I have updated our Sols on this developement as she was the one orginally to tell us that a house she was handling the conveyancing for across the road has now fallen through as a result of the search.
Has this happened to anyone and if so I would be really grateful for any advice.
Many thanks

Badger_Lady

Sounds perfect to me. Particularly if another one's fallen through, there could be added pressure on the vendor to reduce the price.

However, it all depends on the indivudual situation:
1) Did you get a good price on it originally? How did it compare to the sale price of the other house?
2) How much do you like this place, and how would you feel if it fell through?
3) Would you walk away if you couldn't get the lower price?

But there's no real harm in putting it to the vendor (other than general stress) - when you get a reply from them either way, you can decide what to do next.

NOVASTAR

Thanks for your reply Badger_Lady.
The other houses in the street do seem to be going for a bit less - although we do have the bonus of a conservatory and a corner plot.
We were advised by MIL who does a few BTL'S to put in a lesser offer, but I think that its a fair price - although my OH was not too sure until we looked at some houses this weekend, but nothing compares to this one and personally I would be gutted if it fell through. We have decided that we would still have it if they did not agree to the less amount. It was on for £198500 and we agreed on £189000. Now we'll just have to wait and see what the EA comes back with.

pinkshoes

I'm presuming the vendor already knew about this landfil site, so had perhaps already encorporated this into the price? (Or upped the price by £5k knowing that people would want a reduction!!). Maybe this is why they agreed to sell at £189k not £198k?

By all means ask for a reduction, but you need to decide if this is something worth loosing the sale for. Did they have any other offers on the table?

dragonsoup

I would be more concerned about the nature of the contamination than the price you have offered.

If it was likely to put my health or that of the family at risk I would not purchase at any price.

NOVASTAR

Thanks to dragonsoup and pinkshoes.
The vendors would have known about this search as they bought from new (12 years ago) and would have surely had a search done for themselves. I find it very strange that the EA seemed shocked to find out about the search findings !??!) They are an established local firm and so I find this very hard to believe.
All I know is that the landfill site was household waste some 30 plus years ago. The vendors have a child of about 9 years old and he doesn't appear to be an odd colour or have two heads, so am willing to take the risk that there are no problems.
The houses in the same road have been sold for about 5-10k less (good old upmystreet).
We now have to wait for the EA manager to make a personal visit to the vendors to discuss this and see what comes back to us.

SquatNow

If your going to drop the price I'de do it the day before completion.

Check the land registry to find out what sort of mortgages are on the place... find out how desperate they are to sell.

Let them move out first too. Gives them no-choice but to accept the new price... they'll spend £5k easily if they have to spend 6 months paying 2 mortgages until they fnid a new buyer.

It's also worth noting that so-far since september effective prices have dropped about 20%.

jonewer

SquatNow wrote: »

Check the land registry to find out what sort of mortgages are on the place... find out how desperate they are to sell.

It's also worth noting that so-far since september effective prices have dropped about 20%.

1. I wasnt aware that you could find out what the vendors mortgage is? How do you do this?

2. :rolleyes: no. they. havent. :rolleyes:

david29dpo

Its impossible to drop the price the day before completion and the register only says if there is a mortgage and who with, not how much.