Link-detached mis-advertised as detached

propertyhunter

Hi everyone, 
My surveyor has highlighted to us that the property I have offered on is linked via the garage roof to the property next door - and shares a party wall. We offered on it assuming it was detached (the garages appear to be independent at the front of the house, but joined at the back - it's strange, I can't describe it better than this). At the time of listing on Rightmove based on the cache (and according to the EA brochure) it was advertised as a detached property, and I made this assumption when offering. I have a copy of the cached website as a pdf and the EA brochure as a pdf - both are evidence of the misadvertising, in addition the fact that the EA updated the website to say link-detached after I mentioned this to them during correspondence when they asked about the surveyor's report findings. Their update of the posting on Rightmove tells me that they know they misadvertised the house.
Since the property is link-detached, should I negotiate the price? We went 3% over asking.
The issue we have is that it's hard to know what the equivalent price of a link detached property would be for a comparable. How do we value it? The cost of separating the garages and then each having their own roof? I assume next door would be on board with this - but will confirm before completion. 
Advice is appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your helpful advice. 

TadleyBaggie

How does the garage being connected to the next property devalue the price of the house? Surely you noticed this when viewing the property?

GDB2222

It would have been obvious, without a surveyor, surely? Renegotiate all you like, but this seems preposterous as an excuse for doing so. 

k3lvc

How can you not know that a property is attached to another one  ? Even a cursory check on google maps would show that let alone a visit/viewing ?

GDB2222

Suppose, for example, that you convince yourself that linked detached is worth £20k less. But, the building work to separate the two garages will only cost say £3k. How much would you want as the discount?

user1977

propertyhunter said:

How do we value it?

How do you value the house as it is? You get a surveyor to do that. And you've already apparently had a surveyor visit - so what do they think the value is?

propertyhunter

It's really weird, but it's the rear of the garage, not the front part, which has a roof independent of the next door house - so you can't really notice it looking at the house from the front. It sounds absurd I know. The fact that the agent changed it from detached to link-detached is what made me actually care about it even more so.  

I think in terms of the value, it does affect it in the sense that we can't add a second storey extension to the side of the house over the garage without knocking down the neighbour's garage (the surveyor said). So it's the cost associated with that, right?

I believe the neighbour would be happy to separate the houses though, if asked, but we'll check prior to exchange. 

I'm liaising with the solicitor to see what the deeds actually say before going further. 

peter3hg

To me how it is link-detached makes a difference.

If it is like on this road with separate blocks of two houses linked by the garage, then I personally don't see that it has any real impact on the value of the house to a true detached.

https://goo.gl/maps/548iyJNpr1qRL5DK7

However if it is like this style with a long row all linked then I would expect there to be some impact on value, in part due to there being no external access to the rear. 

https://goo.gl/maps/raC6i51XpweFzJPc6


As has been said though I'm not sure how you wouldn't have noticed this at the viewing.

propertyhunter

user1977 said:

propertyhunter said:

How do we value it?

How do you value the house as it is? You get a surveyor to do that. And you've already apparently had a surveyor visit - so what do they think the value is?

Fair point. Cheers @user1977

warby68

The wording might have given you a disappointment between seeing the ad and viewing but you offered on the house not the ad surely and valuers have also valued the house not the ad.

If the house has been materially downvalued from your offer you might want to reconsider but not because you failed to notice that a bit of it joined another. You will just sound flaky. There is no specific value attached to a description anyway. There is always debate between semi and end terrace for example. Often there are regional quirks too. We have a few plots near here where the houses are completely detached but share a 'block' of 2 garages. They are always described as detached if for sale.

propertyhunter

peter3hg said:

To me how it is link-detached makes a difference.

If it is like on this road with separate blocks of two houses linked by the garage, then I personally don't see that it has any real impact on the value of the house to a true detached.

https://goo.gl/maps/548iyJNpr1qRL5DK7

However if it is like this style with a long row all linked then I would expect there to be some impact on value, in part due to there being no external access to the rear. 

https://goo.gl/maps/raC6i51XpweFzJPc6


As has been said though I'm not sure how you wouldn't have noticed this at the viewing.

It's a mix of detached and link-detached looking at Google Earth, but mostly detached. 

I suppose I'm only raising this as a point on this forum because of the EA's behaviour in changing the listing, like it was a bad thing that materially affected value. They know the market best and have an interest in making it seem detached.