First time buyers- seller won't lower price after survey

sabzzox

Hi we are first time buyers 
We made an offer on a 1935 end terrace build property at £167,000. It was on the market for £165,000. It has has tenants in for 5 years so not been really maintained by the owners ( owners are doctors quite well off )
We already knew that the house needed ;
New boiler
Rewiring
General cosmetic work e.g. internal doors / new kitchen

We had a RICS homebuyers survey done and it came up with these points ;

LEVEL 3 PROBLEMS WITH PROPERTY  • Chimney Stack: The property has a stone chimney stack. The stack is shared with the adjoining property. The stack is weathered and the mortar pointing has failed and fallen away. Damp was found internally in the roof and the bedroom due to poor weatherproofing and defects within the stack.
• Roof slates: Some roof slates are damaged slipping and missing • Main outside walls: High damp meter readings throughout ground floor walls. Missing pointing and loose stone near extension floor. Recommended to expose all sub floor areas for decay.
 • Loose floor boards: Roof has loose floor boards inside the attic space.
 • Internal walls: Internal wall plaster in some of the damp affected areas is blown/ loose. Wall plaster in several other areas is damaged, uneven, cracked and loose.
• Floors: High damp meter readings recorded throughout the ground floor. The sub floor timbers attached to the walls will most likely rot. Recommended to check the sub floor timbers.
• Chimneys: High damp meter readings were recorded in the chimney plaster in the master bedroom
• Electric: Electrical installation is dated and in disrepair
 • Gas: Current test certificate not known for gas installation
 • Boiler: Current test certificate not known
LEVEL 2 problems : quite a few but mainly cosmetic


So our family builder said this is about £17-£18k of work ( not cosmetic just structural)
We told the estate agent and we offered £155,000. The sellers have come back and said they won't accept less than £163,000.
I have been on rightmove and can't seem to find anything close to that for that price. We have been looking for 1 year and live with in laws. Husband wants the house. Other family members saying its too expensive. 
Not sure what to do now. My heart is saying go for it but would it be a mistake? Do properties like this have these problems usually? Shall we accept or walk away. Literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Advice from experience people would be appreciated

canaldumidi

£17-18K sounds ridiculously expensive. What is his breakdown of the costs?

If the seller won't reduce further,you either walk away or pay what's agreed.

Ifyou buy, are you happy to arrange the work as opposed to have a pristine home? But you knew it needed work already. 5 years with tenants and neglected maintenance - this is par for the course/to be expected in an old property.

If you walk away, will you regret it later?

Irishpearce26

Just because the survey says it needs to be done doesn't mean that the seller has to foot the bill. I also don't see how all of that would cost £18k. If I were you I would take the £4k reduction before they change their minds and re-market the house. Late Victorian properties will always have more maintenance than newer houses its part and parcel of ownership.

AdrianC

It's an 85yo house. Is it likely to have some issues? Yes... Especially if they've been undermaintained for a few years.

Ignore the last three L3s - they're all backside covering generalities.

Loose floorboards in the attic... Trivial. An hour with a cordless drill-driver and a box of screws.

All the damp issues are likely to come back to the weathered mortar on the chimney and the loose tiles (visible at a glance externally), possibly with a bit of high ground level.

You say they "won't lower the price" - yet you offered £2k over asking, and they've counter-offered a £4k reduction from the accepted offer. What's that if not "lowering the price"?

Chandler85

Has your builder friend actually seen the house or just the report?

I mean sure, you could pay 5k for a full rewire, including lighting rings and everything.  Or it could need additional sockets and a new board and cost £1-2k.  If the house is tenanted, then it should be being tested as part of that, so it should be safe at least.

Same with the boiler, it's old but if tenanted, should be checked annually so should be serviceable and safe.  But a new one is probably £2.5k.

The roof and the chimney stack will probably be fixable in a day (maybe 2) by a competent roofer, so lets be generous and say £1.5k (as this roofer has two labourers as well).

Get the floor joists checked by someone (not a damp proofing person) and see if they are rotten or not and then get a price to fix it.  Maybe they are rotten and it's expensive to sort or maybe they aren't but you need to improve the airflow.  Could be anything from a new floor across the whole ground (£1000s) to extra airbricks (£100s).

Difficult to get close to £17k!

I think the £4k off is probably fair, but get the floor checked.

user1977

Did your survey include a valuation?

sabzzox

user1977 said:

Did your survey include a valuation?

Yes they valued at £167,000
Thanks everyone for your replies

user1977

sabzzox said:

user1977 said:

Did your survey include a valuation?

Yes they valued at £167,000

So your surveyor thinks the property in its current condition is worth £167k. Probably a margin for error in that, given the surveyor hasn't actually got estimates for the work you'd want to do, but £163k doesn't seem unreasonable.

MaryNB

Have the tenants moved out?

I was an FTB and bought a c.1900 house last year. Report was full of reds but it was valued at what I had offered and the surveyor said the issues were expected for a house of that age. I didn't ask for anything off, I've rented rooms in old houses before and know they come with issues but are still perfectly habitable. I also left some money in my budget for work because the vast majority of houses in the area are victorian. 
Were you expecting a perfect house? The report for a 1935 house was never going to be close to perfect, there would have been issues so it would have been wise to acknowledge that when offering. I'm sure the sellers accounted for that and for the fact it was rented out when they put the asking price up, they wouldn't have priced it as a house in perfect condition. 
Your family members may think it's too expensive but the professional surveyor doesn't. What did your lender value it at?

I was a bit nervous about my offer but the lender's surveyor agreed with it. If I didn't buy that house last year I'd still be renting. No houses in my area have come up for sale for anything less than £30k more than I paid. 

theoretica

£165k wasn't the asking price for the house in perfect condition - it was the asking price for the house as it stood.  If you can't find anything close for the price this may well be why.

FreeBear

AdrianC said: Loose floorboards in the attic... Trivial. An hour with a cordless drill-driver and a box of screws.

If the boards are laid on top of 3" joists (typical for a 1930s property), the insulation is going to be minimal up there. Removing the boards and whacking in 200mm+ of fiberglass is going to pay dividends in the long run. If the loft space is still needed for storage, loft legs & boards will cost a bit more.

Sorting out the chimney and loose/missing slates would be a priority though. If scaffolding is needed, £2-3K would cover it. And if scaffolding is needed, it would be wise to do any other high level work at the same time (fascias, gutters, painting).