Buyer Asking us reduce house sale by 9K but not allowing us to see survey.

MaryNB

Lolarose13 said:

Well the roofer has said the garage roof is ok but will probably need replacing in 5-10 years, he can’t see evidence of woodworm only historic in one beam with tiny pin holes and structurally it is sound. 

He said he will quote for guttering clean and something about trays under the eaves but none of it is urgent or a major problem and was very surprised at the quote the buyers builder have given.

I also forgot to mention that buyers builders quote includes a £250 charge for the estimate!!

I never heard of that before, usually people provide free quotations which makes me wonder if he’s been paid to over estimate or invent the work!

Unless we see evidence from the survey we are not now willing to re-negotiate. 

Since the buyer doesn't own the property yet there's less chance of the builder getting the work and also a good chance a lot of the quote is just to drive down the price. Tradespeople have so much work on at the moment the buyer probably had to pay someone for their time to have a look and quote. 

Lolarose13

Looking at the report the £250 was for a property inspection not the estimate sorry, he was hear just under 10 mins so he’s got a good thing going on there!

comeandgo

Could it be the reason they are not allowing you to see survey is because it does not say what they are telling you?   

Brie

I did this when I was a FTB. The seller said no and I moved on to a much nicer place.  If you don't ask you don't get.  And if you don't say no then you won't get the price you want.  I'd only consider it if you've been trying to sell for years and this was your first nibble.  (my family thinks I'm a cold hearted b!tch)

ironlady2022

You don't need to see it like others say, but it would be good if you are willing to reduce. Maybe you wish to go somewhere inbetween, that way, you can move on and it would appease them. Entirely up to you. 

youth_leader

What irritated me was the buyer focussing on the small stuff.  His surveyor also said about 'woodworm'  and I knew it was all definitely dead.  He just wanted it dirt cheap.  The great location, 264 sq m, privacy and ten minutes distance to the beach was conveniently ignored.

MysteryMe

There art of successful negotiation is to have both sides satisfied with the outcome. There has to be reasonable behaviour on both sides.  If there are significant issues, and I'm not talking about a couple of blown double glazed windows in a shed and moss on the roof, then the vendor may view it reasonable to accept a reduction.  However I would expect reasonable behaviour from the buyer. At the moment we have a buyer who has misled about GDPR, has offered no actual evidence to substantiate their claims other than a sum quoted from a fleeting visit by a builder whose credentials are unknown.

There is usually a reason why people refuse to act transparently.  Plenty are saying the buyer dos not need to reveal anything in the survey, which is true, but if you have nothing to hide, why wouldn't you make the relevant sections available? Common sense says it would greatly improve your chances of achieving a reduction if you did.  

Section62

comeandgo said:

Could it be the reason they are not allowing you to see survey is because it does not say what they are telling you?   

OP's roofer has confirmed the garage roof isn't in the greatest shape, and some indication of woodworm activity.

If the buyers were randomly inventing faults then they were very lucky to have predicted those two.

Which suggests the survey does highlight these issues, and unsurprisingly the buyer's survey paints it as a disaster needing immediate attention, whereas the vendor gets a tradesperson to opine there's no significant issue.  All seems very run of the mill, without the need for the buyers to be untruthful about anything - just a matter of interpretation and emphasis.

saajan_12

Lolarose13 said:

Hi there,

I’m after some advice please.  Our buyer has asked for us to reduce our sale price by 9K due to her recent homebuyers survey. We have asked for her to share the relevant parts of the survey. She has refused siting data protection! - nonsense, GDPR etc is about personal data - at best there's the buyer / surveyor's name, which can be blanked out. A survey contains info about a property which doesn't need protecting. The buyer bought the info, so can choose who they share it with (subject to any agreement with the surveyor), but the excuse is nonsense. 
she has said the survey found evidence of woodworm in the garage, vegetation on the house roof. She sent a builder round who has quoted nearly 9k for
woodworm treatment,- maybe if its there, whats the cost for this?
guttering cleaning, - part of normal maintenance when you own a house.. are they abnormally breaking due to excess debris?
new garage roofing, - whats wrong with it? eg if close to leaking the, maybe. If just not modern materials then no
garden wall repair etc. - surely visible at viewing and already priced in? 
The builder was here about 5 minutes and was only in the garage and garden.🙄

Our argument is she is expecting us to reduce the agreed price by 9K but is not willing to give us documentary evidence of this. I get she has paid for the survey and is under no obligation to share it. But are we supposed to just take her word for it. TBH it was a complete shock and we feel concerned that this is a tactic to reduce the price otherwise why else would she withhold the relevant information. - well you could agree / negotiate / refuse based on what you see and what you're willing to do. If they're real issues in a survey, then chances if this one pulls out, the next buyer could have the same issues, so may as well negotiate with this buyer. 
She is a first time buyer and is apparently putting a sizeable deposit down of 100k so we’re presuming her mortgage has been approved. Our house is a late sixties 3 bed semi with downstairs shower room and study. 

We’re not asking to see the whole survey just the relevant parts that apparently require immediate attention. We are in the process of getting independent quotes from a roofer and builder as the quote seems extortionate. Incidentally the surveyor arrived with an auditor in tow and was here for over an hour so probably unlucky that everything was checked with a fine tooth comb. 

Would welcome any thoughts and thanks for reading. 

Lola

Ultimately its a negotiation regardless of the reasons, but I do understand that with a survey you can decide whether you'd face the same issues with another buyer or not. 

For now, I'd suggest saying you don't see the issues when looking around the property, and you'll discuss if and when they point them out (either physically at the property or by showing hte relevant parts of the survey. Also ask them to break down the cost, so you can discuss the points accordingly. 

comeandgo

Section62 said:

comeandgo said:

Could it be the reason they are not allowing you to see survey is because it does not say what they are telling you?   

OP's roofer has confirmed the garage roof isn't in the greatest shape, and some indication of woodworm activity.

If the buyers were randomly inventing faults then they were very lucky to have predicted those two.

Which suggests the survey does highlight these issues, and unsurprisingly the buyer's survey paints it as a disaster needing immediate attention, whereas the vendor gets a tradesperson to opine there's no significant issue.  All seems very run of the mill, without the need for the buyers to be untruthful about anything - just a matter of interpretation and emphasis.

I did not mean it was fabricated I meant the wording may not be as decisive as the buyer suggests.  The words “may” or “would benefit from” might have been used and the buyer is interpreting this to mean must.