Negotiation after survey

Katie_96

Mutton_Geoff said:

How do you know they are paying council tax? Some areas allow exemptions for empty properties for a period of time. As for bills, basic standby heat through the winter might only be £30 a month.

"Dodgy electrics" are solved by a £4k rewire. Which will add value back into the property.

Just because your finances don't allow you to buy and bring the property up to your standard does not mean the vendor has to come down to meet you.

Because we viewed multiple empty houses in the same local authority, there is no exemption. It's a fairly high council tax band as well. Another house we viewed, with the vendor themselves, said they were really feeling it (I felt quite bad for him), they were in an identical situation to the one we're buying.

No, they don't have to drop the price. I never said they did. If it was me, I would after a proper quote, so it didn't fall through. 
It's not about bringing it up to our standards. If that was the case, I'd want them to pay for ripping out the kitchen and everything else that is very dated in the house, but that's not what I'm expecting. Things that are likely dangerous on the other hand, when we didn't know about them when we made the offer, are another thing all together. 

I did a lot of research before emailing the estate agent. From everything I have read from lots of different sources, when something major is found on a house that had an offer accepted very close to the asking price, negotiations are relatively standard. I initially thought that because the vendor had been so stubborn on the price initially, there was no way that he'd come down, at which point my partner's dad called me naive and said it's quite a normal part of the process and most sellers would knock something off post-survey if anything costly was found (not necessarily the entire cost of any work, but something).

lincroft1710

It doesn't really matter what was found in the survey, what matters is what the survey valued it at. In this case, the valuation came back at £144,000, which is the same as your offer. Therefore the surveyor is of the opinion that the your offer price reflects the defects.

You stand to lose more than your vendor. They can play hardball. Either you want the house or you don't. If you do the price is £144,000. If you can't afford this and the money needed to make the house how you want it, walk away.

Katie_96

You stand to lose more than your vendor. They can play hardball. Either you want the house or you don't. If you do the price is £144,000. If you can't afford this and the money needed to make the house how you want it, walk away.

We literally do not have the cash to do the work after putting the deposit down. It's not a case of playing hardball and it's not a case of making the house how we want, it's a case of making it safe and not having the kitchen ceiling cave in. I really do not have the personality to play hardball - hence why we're only pay £950 under the asking price. 
We really want it and if we had the cash, I don't even think I'd bother with the stress of trying to negotiate the price down - I want an easy life. 

notrouble

Let's hope if the chimney does fall down there's no one standing anywhere near. Since you're aware of the risk, if you ignore it, you could find yourself liable for a compensation claim for negligence. Or even a manslaughter charge. Unless it's you who gets knocked down....

Katie_96

notrouble said:

Let's hope if the chimney does fall down there's no one standing anywhere near. Since you're aware of the risk, if you ignore it, you could find yourself liable for a compensation claim for negligence. Or even a manslaughter charge. Unless it's you who gets knocked down....

Highly unlikely, there's a fair bit of land around the house. The chimney would have to jump off in order to hit someone. We can always put a postbox at the end of the drive for the postman. It's a risk we can live with for 6 months. 

SMR710

I have to say the answers Katie comes back with on this thread have kept me entertained on this wet & windy dull February afternoon !!!!! 

Katie_96

SMR710 said:

I have to say the answers Katie comes back with on this thread have kept me entertained on this wet & windy dull February afternoon !!!!! 

Well I'm glad my world feeling like it's falling apart is keeping you entertained. 

comeandgo

You can't afford this house.  Give the vendors a break and pull out.  First time buyers are a pain, I have never and would never sell to one.

Katie_96

comeandgo said:

You can't afford this house.  Give the vendors a break and pull out.  First time buyers are a pain, I have never and would never sell to one.

The advice our solicitors have given is asking for a small percentage off is not unreasonable as long as it only amounts to quoted work and is very common when surveys come back like ours has. It is especially reasonable in this case because there were a lot more things in the survey that were flagged but we are happy(ish) to sort out ourselves. A majority of vendors would negotiate to some extent. 
She said the response from the estate agent, if an accurate representation of what the vendor has said, makes him sound like he's being unreasonable. 

kirtondm

I think realistally if your upper limit is 140k you shoudn't have offered more. The problem is now that the survey has valued the property in its current state for asking price and I and probably a lot of vendors would view an attempt to renegotiate the price now as not on. I would be wondering whether you planned to drop the price further just before exchange etc. I think most people biding on a 1960's house would expect their to be a fair amount of work to do and the surveyor agrees the property is fairly priced for the condition.
If I am selling an empty house I am afraid their really is no advantage to you being a 1st time buyer as their is no upward chain etc and to be frank have had more problems with 1st time buyers in the past.
If you hold out for the 2k reduction and they accept you will have lost goodwill and if it falls apart later you may well end up losing more.

If you had done this again I would have left the 140K as your maximum and left it on the table for a bit  - they may well have accepted with less loss of goodwill than you are in now.