Vendor wanting too much for property...and won't show us 'valuations' he's had!

Nature_Lover74

Hi folks.  There's a bit more to this story than I'm posting but I'll begin with a brief outline; will give more details if needed but here are the essentials.  (I'll call the person in question 'relative A' so I try and keep it as anonymous as possible!). 
Through a friend of ours, we know of a property that his relative A is about to inherit and he wants to sell it.  We are very interested in this property.  Relative A doesn't want to deal with an EA so we've been speaking to him directly for the past couple of months or so.  (Relative A lives up North, we're in the Midlands). We've now been to view it and it's in worse condition than we expected and he wants way too much for it, in our humble opinion.  We've offered him a lower price but we're around £40k apart.  He tells us he's "had valuations"....but refuses to show us evidence of these valuations (an email of confirmation of valuation from an EA, for example).  My question is: If we had a Homebuyers Report (which I believe is the lowest level of valuation and takes around fifteen/twenty minutes to carry out?) would they go *inside* the property...can we insist that they do so?  It looks nice from the outside but inside it's a pretty different story!  Please forgive my naivety in all this; this is all new to us.  We'd like to buy this property but not to the point that we're paying way over the odds or at an unfair price.  Thank you for any input.  

jimbog

This will explain what is carried out on the Homebuyers Survey. They will go inside
https://www.reallymoving.com/surveyors/guides/homebuyer-report-(level-2-survey)-checklist

Alter_ego

£40k on half a million is not much, but it's a lot on £120k. Where are we talking?

There's no reason relative should show the valuation. However if it's inherited then presumably a valuation has been given for probate, perhaps you could apply for a copy. Not sure if that's possible though.

chrisw

But it's irrelevant. Relative A can ask however much he wants for the property regardless of surveys etc. 

You can either choose to pay it or not.

Nature_Lover74

Thanks @jimbog; I was just curious if they go *inside* on a Level 1 Survey (is that the right phrase?).  When we recently sold our property (STC), our buyer just had a Level 1 valuation carried out.  The chap wandered around outside, then he did come inside the house and the whole process took about fifteen/twenty minutes.  I gather that sometimes, at that level of survey, some will do a drive-by valuation, rather than going inside? If we *were* to buy the property we like, given its condition, we'd like them to go indoors, even for fifteen minutes!  I suppose to cover ourselves we're better off having a Level 2 but I was just curious if we instructed a Level 1 we can insist they visit inside.  Thank you.    

GDB2222

What makes you think that the seller will see reason when presented with the valuation? 

Besides which, he seems not to be in a position to sell right now.

Nature_Lover74

Thank you @chrisw.  We'd have been happy-(ish!) to go slightly over the odds, all things considered, but when we're so far apart, we just can't get there.  It needs too much doing to it.  Boiler doesn't work at all, firstly.  I completely understand he can command what price he wants but if he doesn't go with us and puts it on the open market, I'm thinking that someone else will see what we've seen and offer lower than he wants as well.  Then he may have a chain to deal with, rather than just us (and our buyer who is currently in rented).  Plus  would get a survey (Level 1/Level 2) and they will price accordingly, again, at lower than he wants?  Again, forgive my naivety; this is very new to us.  Thanks for your comment.  

AdrianC

chrisw said:

But it's irrelevant. Relative A can ask however much he wants for the property regardless of surveys etc. 

You can either choose to pay it or not.

^ This, with bells on.

If he wants more than you want to pay, then you don't buy it... and he doesn't sell it to you...

If he's totally deluded on the value, he'll not sell it to anybody.
If it's you who's wrong, then somebody else will pay him that amount.

user1977

Even a normal Level 1 survey would include going inside (assuming access is possible). Though it's not clear why you think that will make a difference (they're not going to test the boiler, for example).

Nature_Lover74

Thanks @Alter_ego.  He's wanting £330K; given its condition our top offer is £300K; we can't go any more than that, sadly.  I know ultimately he can command what he wants but that's not how we'd do it; if it were in reverse we'd have got a couple of valuations and shown evidence of this with any prospective buyer as we feel it would be fair to all parties. I'm not saying we're right and he's wrong but we'd just want to come across as transparent.  Everyone is different of course....that much I'm learning in this process.  Thank you for your comment.  

comeandgo

Rather than get into a family argument can you not wait until it goes on market then buy it?  That way there would be no dispute regarding price.