Fixing Issues Prior to Home Purchase

theoretica

greensalad said:

Louscorp said:

pinkshoes said:

Louscorp said:

I am having a RISC 3 survey carried out on an old house I am buying. If any unforeseen issues come out is the vendor usually expected to fully subsidises these? For example, fixing damp, if walls need re-plastering, fixing electrics etc. Many thanks.

No.

The price you offer should reflect a fair price for a house of that condition. So if things need fixing and work needs doing, you will need to factor that into your offer.

Sometimes vendors area already aware of certain problems so put houses on the market at a lower price, or accept initial lower offers to reflect this.

You can negotiate by asking them to do the work, but they can refuse. Also, if they get the work done, they're going to go with the cheapest fix possible...

Thats really useful, thank you.
We have already had an offer confirmed and the house is currently under contract. So if any issues that we were not aware of come out from the survey we still have to pay, even if they are issues that need fixing prior to moving in?
The house is priced quite low. When we asked the agent why he said the vendor wants a quick sale (it was previously a rental) There was no mention of any potential issues other than those that were evident during the viewing.
Thanks again.

"Issues that need fixing prior to moving in", like what? If the house is completely uninhabitable then you're going to be offering on the property based on that fact. 

Very true - I have a number of things in my house that might 'need' doing if looking for work to do and to make perfect.  I'll probably get round to them in a year or five.  Maybe.

Louscorp

babyblade41 said:

Basically you are buying a house as is...You would probably have noticed a lot of work needing to be done on completion when viewing  and the price of the house will be indicative of what  will need to be done ASAP .(probably)

The valuation will guide you if there is a mortgage involved and negotiations will start when this is in hand.

Don't expect the vendor to bend over and do any of the work as all they want is to sell in it's current state ,plus never trust repairs done by a vendor as budget  will be top of the agenda

You either know if it's going to be a house you want to buy and probably realise it will need a certain amount of contingency money to fix things before decorating and putting the nice bits together 

Take into consideration it's current state that you can see and realistically can you afford the necessary repairs before decoration especially if something needs fixing immediately.

If it looks like it needs a lot of TLC then make sure you have the money to do it and remember when you start other problems will probably come to light as you progress ..don't forget living with the mess as well 

This is such useful advice, thank you.