Seller wants to complete before my homebuyer survey is done

DavidBrentsLifeCoach

Hi, I am purchasing a 1 bed ground floor maisonette. The seller, understandably, wants to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday. Exchange date is set for next week already but  I haven't been able to find a surveyor that can do a homebuyer survey before then. (Broker was late getting the mortgage offer and the searches weren't straightforward either) 
Bottom line is that I will have to exchange and complete without a homebuyer's survey, which I feel worried about. OTOH the property (about 100 years old) was last sold in 2016 so I am assuming its condition hasn't deteriorated drastically since then. The seller has also done some refurb (floor insulation, new kitchen etc). 

I feel it's unwise to proceed without having a survey done, but if I put my foot down and say I want to wait for a survey, the seller may need to pay an extra £10k in stamp duty, but then they couldn't afford to move (according to the agent - he was rather aggressive about it, and made me freak out tbh as if it were my fault). 
Any thoughts please? How would you proceed? TIA 

m0bov

Don't even consider it.

AnnexeRegular

Tell them where to go. You're under no obligation to the seller at all.

grumiofoundation

As above.

If you want to have a survey done before buying then don’t exchange before this is done.

TBagpuss

Don't even consider it. You don't know what you might find . Don't exchange until you have had your survey and valuation, otherwise you'll stuck with a requirement to complete even if it finds something major, and would be unable to negotiate on price or to pull out. 

Plus, they are hardly likely to find a new buyer now who would be able to complete before the end of the month so it's highly unlikely that they would be be any better of if they seek to pull out of the sale.

And your survey should also be able to give you an accurate valuation for the property to ensure that you don't pay over the odds. It's not your fault that the seller hasn't budgeted properly .

You're better off losing the money you've spent on searches, if the sale collapses, than getting stuck with a property with major problems.  And if the seller can't afford their current property then you may have a delay while they try to negotiate with their seller, or to find a different property at a slightly lower price. Or the seller can try to get a bridging loan and go ahead with their own onward purchase, if they want.  this is not your problem to fix. 

it would be different if you wanted to delay for persona reasons, where there might be room to negotiate (perhaps with them agreeing a small price reduction for the inconvenience) but going ahead without a proper survey, especially on an older property? Nope. 

Gavin83

I agree with the above. I'd be suspicious of a seller who was putting pressure on me to exchange without a survey having been completed. I'd wonder what they were trying to hide.

LAD917

The vendor is under no obligation to this buyer either.  The OP has presumably known they're purchasing the property for a long time -- why have they waited so long to book a survey?  It sounds like the OP has been late with mortgage, late with searches, then set an exchange date, and is now looking to push it back because they can't find a surveyor?  No wonder the vendor is annoyed.  It's the 7th of June.  There are still more than three weeks to the stamp duty deadline.  Figure out a way to get it done if you want the property.  Otherwise, if the vendor truly can't afford to move, expect the vendor to pull out or raise the price by the amount of extra stamp duty they'll have to pay.

purplebutterfly

I'm a bit confused (FTB so don't understand all the ins and outs) but I thought a survey was generally done before all the pre-contract enquiries and searches were completed (assuming a survey is being done).

My survey has thrown up issues that need to be looked into by my solicitor so we can't even contemplate exchange until those queries are answered. 

prowla

It's reasonable to push for the stamp duty deadline; why would the seller just want to give away thousands because the buyer is dithering. £10k is a heck of a lot of money!

OTOH, that's not the buyer's issue; they want to be sure what they're buying is in order and ship-shape.

AdrianC

DavidBrentsLifeCoach said:

Hi, I am purchasing a 1 bed ground floor maisonette. The seller, understandably, wants to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

For his onward purchase, presumably?
How many links in the chain?

Exchange date is set for next week already

Exchange is set by mutual agreement amongst everybody.
You don't want to exchange yet, you aren't exchanging yet.

but I haven't been able to find a surveyor that can do a homebuyer survey before then. (Broker was late getting the mortgage offer and the searches weren't straightforward either)

When was your offer accepted?
Why couldn't you get the survey done in parallel with the searches and mortgage?

Bottom line is that I will have to exchange and complete without a homebuyer's survey, which I feel worried about.

So don't.

I feel it's unwise to proceed without having a survey done, but if I put my foot down and say I want to wait for a survey, the seller may need to pay an extra £10k in stamp duty, but then they couldn't afford to move

Will the entire chain fall through because somebody buying a £450k property needs to find another £10k?
Is it an empty threat?

theoretica

Did the agent perhaps provide a list of potential surveyors who can usually respond to a short deadline?