Vendor refuses to renegotiate

OliviaWw

Thrugelmir said:

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. 

I appreciate your reply. But if you don’t even care to rest my post, why did you leave a comment? 

Banks only do desktop valuations if LTV reaches certain percentage, they rarely do ‘surveys’.  

Our offer was accepted in early November, so only on the fourth week. We booked in the surveyor very early on, but you should allow them time to arrange the inspection date and writing up the report. 

OliviaWw

eidand said:

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.

£18k is not a big reduction for a £500k house. And I have briefed about the market price in the same street. 

OliviaWw

eidand said:

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.

It might be high, but far from a joke. You should check the price increase for material, logistics and the inflation these days.

OliviaWw

gingercordial said:

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.

Thanks for the info. Whereabouts are you based in London if you don’t mind me asking? Do you think you can pass me the contact details of your window fitter please? Many thanks 

Gavin83

To be honest most of this is irrelevant anyway. Issues or not the vendor is free to stand their ground. It’s up to you whether you’re willing to continue at the original price or walk away.

[Deleted User]

If it needs a rewire then be prepared for MAJOR disruption. Generally speaking you want to be away for a couple of weeks while it happens, or even better before you move in. The floorboards have to come up, and the plaster dust is like nothing you have ever seen before. Seriously, the dust gets on and in everything, walking into a room where the channels are being cut will have a thick fog of plaster dust.

davilown

OliviaWw said:

Thrugelmir said:

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. 

I appreciate your reply. But if you don’t even care to rest my post, why did you leave a comment? 

Banks only do desktop valuations if LTV reaches certain percentage, they rarely do ‘surveys’.  

Our offer was accepted in early November, so only on the fourth week. We booked in the surveyor very early on, but you should allow them time to arrange the inspection date and writing up the report. 

I think you’re getting a tad confused - the banks do use surveyors to survey the property in order to gain an accurate value properties. They don’t look (generally) at the condition of the house though - that’s your responsibility as the buyer.

You employ a surveyor to undertake a survey of the property.

If you viewed the house, and I assume you did it at least twice before offering, then you would have seen that the windows potentially needed replacing and that the circuit board/plug sockets/ light switches were old and could possibly need replacing. You would have then adjusted your offer accordingly.

You can’t expect the vendor to then take money off for something you then chose to ignore.

My vendors tried this very ‘trick’ twice - once post survey and then again just prior to exchange. I refused and they still bought the property.

theoretica

There is a lot to be said for the Scottish home report system to reduce the perennial issue where buyers think they are making an offer for a home without issues and sellers think they are receiving offers for the property as it stands.

OliviaWw

I think you’re getting a tad confused - the banks do use surveyors to survey the property in order to gain an accurate value properties. They don’t look (generally) at the condition of the house though - that’s your responsibility as the buyer.

You are confused about bank’s valuation versus survey. If your deposit is high enough, banks won’t fuss about if the house value is ££550k or £520k, because the difference to their money is not much. 

OliviaWw

My vendors tried this very ‘trick’ twice - once post survey and then again just prior to exchange. I refused and they still bought the property.

While some buyers are genuinely concerned, you can only see ‘tricks’. If we sorry for you.