Vendor refuses to renegotiate

canaldumidi

Are these solid hardwood windows, or upvc? How many windows?

A quote of £17K suggests either

* a huge house with many many windows or

* hardwood frames (and a fair number of those too!)

* a rip-off company

SpiderLegs

OliviaWw said:

The house we are buying came to market in September originally for £600k, then reduced to £550k late October. Our offer got accepted for £532k early November. 

We’re very close to exchange of contracts - no chains involved. But the building survey came back reveals that most window frames have come to the end of serviceable life and double glazing has failed mostly. There are other issues like fuse box, rewiring needs etc. 

we got a window fitter to quote on the windows and patio door, they came back with £17k after some discount. We probably can negotiate it a bit further down, but I don’t think it would be far off. 

We asked the sellers to reduce £6k against the agreed sale price. We thought it’s very reasonable. 

We have communicated with the EA about the reason for the request of £6k reduction. 

- survey result indicates big repair cost, it’s a surprise to all parties. 

- We are willing to shoulder costs regarding major repair needed discovered by surveyor, which can be easily over £25k
- agreed price is already higher than market value (listings of those two properties can still been seen on Rightmove, a house opposite the road was in a much better condition, and semi-detached (v.s terraced for the one we are buying) was selling cheaper. We had trouble deciding on the two then, but I guess the reason we went ahead with this one is that it has a front door entrance while the one opposite only has side entrance)
- we are not asking a reduction of £17k or higher because we really want to proceed with the purchase

The vendor said he is not gonna reduce the price further, because he has already reduced £18k. But that £18k was not intended for window repair while our offer was accepted. 

What are your insights? Should we walk away or accept the fact that the seller is not reducing the price?

You asked for a reduction of 1.12% and the vendor probably cannot be bothered with penny pinching trivialities such as this tbh.

Regardless of what the vendor thinks though, if you believe that you have over-offered given the survey and other properties, then walk away. But don’t do it just over 1.12%.

Brie

It depends on your personality really. 

will you forever say to yourself "we paid too much as there was so much to repair" or "they wanted £600k originally but we got it for £532k!  Ok there was some stuff to sort but hey! we got it for more than 10% off the original asking price and that's in a rising market!!"

jimbog

£17K for windows? How many windows?
https://householdquotes.co.uk/how-much-does-upvc-double-glazing-cost/

youth_leader

It's so difficult when estate agents over estimate the selling value if work needs to be done.

In your vendor's minds, they have already lost over 10% from the price they were led to believe they could achieve.  They will be thinking that you are getting the house for £68K less than they wanted, and it might be having a knock on effect on their future purchase.

nicknameless

Come on - if you didn't see the state of the windows on viewing then your look out in my books.  I would tell you to do one also.  £17k for windows - is it the palace of versaille?

Thrugelmir

If you are close to exchange of contracts then the bank's surveyor was happy with the price agreed. Only now at the 11th hour have you had a building survey and decided to play hardball. Hardly unsurprising that the vendor is peeved. You should have had the survey conducted weeks ago before engaging in the legal process. 

user1977

OliviaWw said:

the building survey came back reveals that most window frames have come to the end of serviceable life and double glazing has failed mostly.

What exactly did it say? "Failed" I presume just means blown units - that doesn't require the whole window to be replaced. Are the frames actually faulty?

gingercordial

I agree £17k sounds high.  Earlier this year we had two very large windows completely replaced as the old aluminium ones were held together with duct tape and that was £2.5k all in, at London prices.  

"End of serviceable life" is probably also a bit over-egged.  It doesn't mean they are dangerous and an emergency fix.  The ones we had to replace were terrible, and god knows the replacements are so much better, but the previous owners had managed to live with them and we did too until the new units could be ordered.  We didn't die although were a bit miserable in our first couple of months in the property in November/December as the wind whipped through the edges.  Your sellers might likewise consider replacement a "nice to have" that they don't intend to fund because they didn't deem it actually necessary when living there themselves.

eidand

Why do you expect the vendor to fit new windows?
He's not going to live there, is he, you are.

If you want to replace the windows, that's your cost to bare, not his. Besides, windows don't cost 17k, that's a joke.
You've got a big reduction already either move on or pull out. You can't keep expecting price drops, surely.