Is renegotiating at this stage ill advised?

uberscuba112

Hi fellow MSE'ers

I am nearing exchange on a property purchase. Property is being sold vacant (no onward chain).

Initially had price agreed. Had a survey. Many new issues brought to light so renegotiated. Accepted and agreed new price.

Ask solicitor if i should view a final time due to house being vacant (and because of the poor condition), they recommend I do so. I had a final viewing on Fri afternoon in readiness to meet with Solicitor this week to run through final papers ahead of exchange/completion. 

Upon viewing, new issues brought to light which are now apparent;
1. Fence has collapsed/fallen over on right side (my responsibility). Will require complete replacing of c. 55ft in fencing. When I last viewed the property (early Feb) this was not the case. I'm awaiting a formal quote but my guesstimate is approx £3k for supply and installation.

2. Surveyor had pointed out throughout the whole of the upstairs of the property there were Artex (textured coating) ceilings. Took this into consideration when renegotiating. On final visit I realise it also applies to the ground floor ceilings which I hadn't factored as it wasn't reported in survey report. FYI was planning on boarding these over / skimming which I have seen done elsewhere rather than expensive/specialist removal as the coating is currently undisturbed so it will be quicker/easier to cover over (I should also point out, I have no way of knowing whether it does contain aesbestos or not). It will also be cheaper to do this - so assuming there is no real hazard expect to spend now c. £3k to do this fix, but if requires proper removal it seems £50/sqm is a sensible estimate.

My question to you guys is - do I renegotiate for the cost of these things? Ordinarily i'd be thinking go for it, but;
1. It's at late stages now - I don't want to spook/annoy the seller and they refuse to sell to me
2. I've already renegotiated once... (although granted this didn't cover the above points)

Any advice welcome on how you'd perceive this if you were the buyer or seller. 

Cheers

jonnydeppiwish!

Point one - the vendor should be repairing it.

Point 2 - you would have seen it on viewing so your fault not the vendor’s.

user1977

And no, artex does not "require" removal, even if it does contain asbestos.

Tiglet2

If you are purchasing with the aid of a mortgage, your solicitor will have to inform the lender of the new purchase price if you manage to successfully renegotiate your offer.  This may mean that the loan to value is altered and the lender will issue a new offer based on the new price.  The amendments will need to be altered on the TR1 and contract, so will need to be signed again.

If I was your seller, I would probably say no to further negotiation.  If the fence has collapsed, I would assume it was not in great condition when you viewed earlier on and it is doubtful that a 55ft run of fence would be £3k.  Similarly, skimming ceilings or covering with plasterboard is something you want and will be for your benefit, so why should the seller compensate you for something that you prefer and should have spotted when viewing.  Again, £3k seems a tad ambitious.

TheJP

No fence line should cost £3k unless its a mile long and needs new concrete posts and gravel boards. Id expect you to pay at least half as you'll benefit from it.

The artex is fine, you want it to look different so you pay for it. Are you and FTB by any chance? 

canaldumidi

Why do you need a fence anyway? Replace it at a sensible price (not £3K!) as and when you can afford to. Assuming you want to.

Whether the artex has or has not asbestos is irrelevant. Leave it alone, or skim over it (£3K for some plaster skimming? You're joking yes?).

Either buy at the price you've agreed, or spend the next 12-24 months looking at, discounting, renegotiating and losing, endless properties.....

Windofchange

The things people find to haggle over in the context of a multi hundreds of thousands of pounds purchase. If I was the vendor I'd tell you where to sling your hook for a discount, but maybe you'll get lucky. Depends if you really are prepared to lose the property or not? I replaced an approximately 25 foot run of wooden fence after the storms earlier this year for about £200 of materials. It's really just a case of putting in a weekend's graft to dig out the rotten fence posts, replace with new ones and cement / fence holder in place. Not a complex DIY job at all if you don't mind a bit of manual labour - Youtube has got plenty of how to videos. 

NameUnavailable

If the ceilings were plain flat plasterboard, and you happened to prefer artex, would you renegotiate for the cost of having the ceilings artexed?

Artex isn't dangerous. It may contain asbestos but the amount is miniscule. You can get it tested quite cheaply to determine if there is asbestos, but if you think it was done in the 80's or earlier then it's probably a yes.

Mention the fence has fallen down and see what the vendor says. They might pop around and fix it back up. Unlikely they'd replace it. You could of course agree via your solicitors that they that they repair/replace between now and completion if they are willing, to avoid renegotiating the price.

Lavendyr

I think the tone of some of these posts is a tad aggressive but all the same, I agree on the artex - there's no reason to assume these contain asbestos unless you have had a specialist survey undertaken and even if it did, then no issue unless you disturb it. I've lived in houses with artex ceilings quite literally all my life and I seem to be doing OK. 

As for the fence, I think it's fair to ask the vendors to fix it before exchange, but I wouldn't go about changing the purchase price unless they refuse and you think it's really that much of a big deal. Fencing isn't cheap and also a good fencer (!) is hard to come by often so I think I'd be pushing for them to get it fixed if poss. Then again, it might be just one of the costs of purchase that you have to swallow. I wouldn't lose a house purchase over it.

Unlike @windofchange not all of us have the time or energy (kids, health conditions, work) to be able to dedicate "a weekend's graft", and I'd personally rather pay someone who knows what the're doing than attempt it myself and do a botch job. 

@canaldumidi - they do say good fences make for good neighbours... 

babyblade41

It looks like this house is a doer upper so would presume you will be handy with the tools & not paying every tradesman to do every trade 

Is the fence a deal breaker..it's fallen down so could ask vendor to put it back up, be prepared for just leaning it up.  it probably was on your to do list  anyway..3k on a new fence is taking the pee 

As you would have noticed Artex on viewing you will have known about asbestos in it, but also know it is easily remedied with over board.

Personally even the fence wouldn't bother me, I'd have to ask for a key undertaking before completion to fix it as I need security for my dogs but other than that either buy as is or look for a property that has none of the above 

Noneforit999

Unless the ceiling is falling down, they can just skim over it.

Its also not going to cost £3k for the whole house unless you need the walls doing in each room too.

We are in the SE and to skim an average sized room its about £500 for walls and ceilings.