Estate Agent wants copy of Survey

mattyprice4004

If someone was asking me for £50k off, I wouldn't be forthcoming at all without a copy of the survey.
How do they know you're not just having them on? 

verytired11

I don't understand why you are asking for £50k off when the survey shows £30k of work, nor why the surveyor doesn't want you to show the survey to the vendor.  I would spend some time doing a bit of research, working out what is genuinely a problem and what is surveyor covering their backs, get a quote for the roof and then make a reasonable offer backed up with extracts of the survey.  Expect the vendor to meet you half way.

TBagpuss

It's normal to provide the relvant sections of the report, that's your justification for any lower offer. It would be appropriate to send it via your seller's solicitors

StandingInTheSun

Providing relevant extracts from the survey is normal practice. Sending a full copy of the survey is not.

There's not a chance you get £50k off as this is thousands more than the repairs will cost. However there are clearly very serious issues there which weren't priced into consideration when you first offered.

I would get out some specialists for what you consider the most pressing issues, and get quotes. Use these quotes to renegotiate.

StandingInTheSun

Providing relevant extracts from the survey is normal practice. Sending a full copy of the survey is not.

There's not a chance you get £50k off as this is thousands more than the repairs will cost. However there are clearly very serious issues there which weren't priced into consideration when you first offered.

I would get out some specialists for what you consider the most pressing issues, and get quotes. Use these quotes to renegotiate.

StandingInTheSun

kingstreet said:

If the vendor was my client, or I was their EA's advisor I'd be asking for a copy of your lender's mortgage report and valuation to back up your request for a price reduction, not this homebuyer's report.

Mortgage valuations aren't worth the paper they're written on unless they were part of a thorough survey. 

In the OPs case the valuation and survey were done separately and therefore it's meaningless.

Crashy_Time

verytired11 said:

I don't understand why you are asking for £50k off when the survey shows £30k of work, nor why the surveyor doesn't want you to show the survey to the vendor.  I would spend some time doing a bit of research, working out what is genuinely a problem and what is surveyor covering their backs, get a quote for the roof and then make a reasonable offer backed up with extracts of the survey.  Expect the vendor to meet you half way.

Chances are it is well overpriced anyway, 50k off or walk away IMO, but do you really want to get involved in building/repair work OP?

PollyWollyDoodle

I’m waiting for my buyers to have a survey and I fully expect that they will raise some issues, there is some damp. I’m prepared to negotiate for things they couldn’t have seen when they viewed but the house is almost 100 years old, it’s clearly in need of some updating and I will not be discounting for the age of the boiler, for example. 

If they ask for a reduction I would want them to quote exactly what their surveyor has said. You don’t have to send the whole report but I would want details.  

ele_91

DancingQueen93 said:

We are FTB in the process of buying a 1930s detached house with extension. We had through the results of our Homebuyers Report last week and it has uncovered several serious issues. The majority of survey was marked as 3-serious with the rest 2 and only a couple of 1 ratings. The biggest issues are: penetrating and rising damp throughout. Penetrating is likely due to deterioration and inappropriate methods of fixing the outer render (surveyor says render is blown in many places and really all render needs to come off and be done again as it’s in terrible condition having been bodged with mastic sealant), rising damp due to failing of existing DPC (this looks like it was a DIY job) and ground level is above 150mm below DPC in places, main roof now needs replacing as it is original 1930s roof, wet rot in exterior joinery and facias, boiler and central heating system needs replacing due to age (has not been serviced since before lockdown 1 and no certificate given), flat roof of extension is significantly beyond life expectancy and needs replacing, front porch shows significant settlement and needs full reconstruction to ensure it is safe. Alongside this he commented the electrics seem to be a “bodge job” and would require at least partial re-wiring, however the seller provided us with a certificate to show it was fully tested 10 years ago so we have excluded this point. In addition there is no completion certificate for extension or any internal structural changes (removing and adding walls, done between 2005-2010) and asbestos is likely present throughout as artex has been applied to most ceilings. 

Due to all this, the surveyor estimated it would be around £25,000 - £30,000 of work we would need to do urgently so we want to re-negotiate the price with the seller. The property was not listed as “in need of renovation” though of course we expected some work as it’s 90 years old - but not to this extent. The surveyor said it is much more than he would normally find in a property of this age and instructed us to not send a copy of the survey to the estate agent/sellers under any circumstances! 

Obviously we will want to get quotes drawn up for all work needed and have sent a bullet point list of the issues to the estate agent notifying him we will want to renegotiate the price and that we would like permission to have further surveys carried out to get quotes for the work.

He has replied asking us to send him a copy of the full survey and an idea of the lower price we would like to offer. We obviously don’t have an accurate estimate yet apart from what the surveyor suggested and my family have advised us to offer MUCH lower to account for all work needed, the lack of completion certificates and inconvenience to life having all this building work carried out (ie £50k lower!!).

My questions are: we have been told NOT to send the survey report, however to back up our points about work needed, should we!? My partner is dead against sending even screenshots of relevant sections as we paid for it and it’s ours.
Would offering £50k lower be an insane idea and likely to make the seller pull out or would it provide a first step for negotiating to a more realistic price?

* note the seller has already moved out and overseas and wants to complete fast due to “financial commitments”. If we can’t reach an agreement we are more than happy to walk away.

Render - I would get quotes for possible price reduction. 

DPC - did you see or smell damp on viewing? If not I would be tempted to look at improving the DPC eg lowering ground level around it once I moved in.
Roof - has it failed or did you see signs of damp? I just sold a house built in 1890 with the original roof, never had any issues with it leaking so I certainly wouldn’t have offered money off 
Wet rot - again I would get a quote to fix this or get a second opinion

A flat roof always has a limited life. Again are there signs it has failed eg damp? 

Surveyors don’t usually comment on electrics or heating systems as they are not qualified. You could ask the vendor to get the boiler serviced, they may oblige or may say no. It’s not a legal requirement and won’t guarantee the boiler won’t break the day you move in. If the boiler is old I would budget for replacing it in the next year or so. 

Regarding the lack of completion certs, they can offer indemnity which will suffice against councils taking enforcement action (they won’t do this anyway). If the surveyor was happy with the quality of the work I would be less concerned. I can’t see asbestos being an issue as it is likely present in all properties this age and it is fine if not disturbed.

Unless the roof and other areas have failed, I would get a sensible quote for the costs of the render, wet rot problems and possibly get a damp and timber survey which would help shed light on the extent of the damp. Where does the £50k figure come from? You can copy and paste the relevant parts of the survey when negotiating the reduction and send any quotes for work to justify.