Price per sq m - good to justify an offer?

davidmcn

btcp said:

Irishpearce26 said:

Without a survey backing up your claim that the windows are falling apart and the heating needs to be replaced you will struggle in my opinion to get that much if anything off. The survey would tell you how much the house is worth factoring in anything the surveyor feels needs to be replaced. If you came to me asking for £50k off with assumptions id be telling you to do one.

EPC certificate is saying that windows and wall insulation are "very poor", main heating "poor", floor "poor". There are guide prices in the certificate to fix each of the above. The prices seem quite low, say windows replacement is quoted as £6,500 and there is no way I can get this price for 3 bedroom house in central London. Are you saying this certificate is not official enough and I should get a different survey? 

I've never heard of anybody taking the suggested improvements/prices in the EPC seriously - they're as finger-in-the-air as the energy assessment itself. Often the suggestions are just absurd (adding external cladding to a listed building in order to improve insulation, etc).

btcp

I see, thanks for the above comments re EPC report. They (EA) put so much emphasis on it so I thought it is something to use in negotiation. For the windows for example, I didn't think I need a professional surveyor to see the difference between old wooden windows and double glazed.  Same for the floor. If the rules are to wait for the Homebuyer report, I can do. I just fell it would be better to offer discounted price right away and don't go back and forth after. 

Cuddlybearman

I think you just need to decide what you are willing to pay and give yourself a target and stick to it. If you get caught up in whether or not you are paying too much you will send yourself mad. You have to weigh up your desire to buy the house vs your budget and make a judgement call. You may think that its worth say £550K - i could walk along the next day and say its worth £450K - its a matter of a lot of factors.

If you are trying to work it out like a maths problem (ie one brick costs £1 and the house is made from 300,000 bricks so the house must be worth £300K) it doesn't work like that.

Irishpearce26

btcp said:

I see, thanks for the above comments re EPC report. They (EA) put so much emphasis on it so I thought it is something to use in negotiation. For the windows for example, I didn't think I need a professional surveyor to see the difference between old wooden windows and double glazed.  Same for the floor. If the rules are to wait for the Homebuyer report, I can do. I just fell it would be better to offer discounted price right away and don't go back and forth after. 

Unless you can prove the windows aren't fit for purpose it just sounds like the windows don't fit your taste but you want the seller to pay for this. What is wrong with the floor apart from it being concrete? There are no rules but if you genuinely want a reduction you've got to provide evidence that the house value is lower than what its priced at due to the windows/floor/heating. Trust me you'll be going back and forth negotiating that level of reduction that you want, but I don't think the seller will take you seriously anyway as you haven't had expert inspection on the condition of their house.

btcp

Irishpearce26 said:

Unless you can prove the windows aren't fit for purpose it just sounds like the windows don't fit your taste but you want the seller to pay for this. What is wrong with the floor apart from it being concrete? 

As I mentioned above, it is stated in EPC that condition is "very poor". It is not my taste, it is a third party expert opinion. If EPC should not be taken seriously, I'd be happy to get the other survey. I wasn't sure about the value of the EPC expertise.  

Surrey_EA

btcp said:

Irishpearce26 said:

Unless you can prove the windows aren't fit for purpose it just sounds like the windows don't fit your taste but you want the seller to pay for this. What is wrong with the floor apart from it being concrete? 

I wasn't sure about the value of the EPC expertise.  

Very, very limited!
Half of it is guesswork, the other half probably isn't worth relying upon.

davidmcn

btcp said:

Irishpearce26 said:

Unless you can prove the windows aren't fit for purpose it just sounds like the windows don't fit your taste but you want the seller to pay for this. What is wrong with the floor apart from it being concrete? 

As I mentioned above, it is stated in EPC that condition is "very poor". It is not my taste, it is a third party expert opinion. If EPC should not be taken seriously, I'd be happy to get the other survey. I wasn't sure about the value of the EPC expertise.  

The "expert" is a barely-qualified person going around ticking boxes on an app.

Irishpearce26

As others have said an EPC is not expert opinion. If you want the seller to take your negotiating seriously I would recommend investing in expert opinion that also highlights the value of the house in its current state in order to have any chance of getting reductions on the things you would change. If not just know that as soon as you begin negotiating with something like the EPC for 5% reduction and if the seller is wise enough to know it hasn't any standing you will lose any credibility in future negotiations if you do get a expert survey done.

btcp

Irishpearce26 said:

As others have said an EPC is not expert opinion. If you want the seller to take your negotiating seriously I would recommend investing in expert opinion that also highlights the value of the house in its current state in order to have any chance of getting reductions on the things you would change. If not just know that as soon as you begin negotiating with something like the EPC for 5% reduction and if the seller is wise enough to know it hasn't any standing you will lose any credibility in future negotiations if you do get a expert survey done.

it makes total sense, thanks for explaining! 

Irishpearce26

@btcp no worries and good luck with it all!