Sale fallen through: advice needed please

Shankers

Our sale has fallen through, in large part due to survey findings. 

Via our estate agent, the buyers have said these were the issues which came from the survey on our house:

1. The poor condition of the house guttering and downpipes including the garage
2. The poor condition of the wood around the door frames (front door and patio doors)
3. The bathroom has had a leak the extent of which is not known and includes the en-suite
4. The poor condition of the masonry facade (rendering) of the exterior of the building which may need specialist remedial attention
5. There needs to be a closer inspection of the fascias (soffits and barge boards)

My wife and I don't quite know where to go from here with selling the house.
Do we:
a) Fix 1-5 (how much would this cost? For info, it is a 4 bedroom town house of around 1200 square feet, semi-detached, 2007 build). Concerning '3', we knew about this and tried to get this sorted, so how would you be able to assure a buyer that it wasn't an issue anymore?
b) Leave 1-5 and reduce the asking price of the house
c) Leave 1-5 and keep the asking price as is 
d) Leave 1-5 and go to a new build developer to part-ex our house for a new build (do you agree a value for a property before or after a survey?)

Advice welcome, please. 

youth_leader

Do you know local trades who'd come and give you quotes for 1, 2, 4 and 5?  What have you done about the leak in the bathroom?  

user1977

Shankers said:

Our sale has fallen through, in large part due to survey findings. 

Via our estate agent, the buyers have said these were the issues which came from the survey on our house:

1. The poor condition of the house guttering and downpipes including the garage
2. The poor condition of the wood around the door frames (front door and patio doors)
3. The bathroom has had a leak the extent of which is not known and includes the en-suite

Concerning '3', we knew about this and tried to get this sorted, so how would you be able to assure a buyer that it wasn't an issue anymore?

What do you mean by "tried" to get it sorted? Has it not actually been sorted? Did you tell your buyer about whatever you had done?

How bad are the other points? We can't tell from the descriptions whether these are relatively minor matters or not - we certainly can't give you estimates!

Shankers

user1977 said:

Shankers said:

Our sale has fallen through, in large part due to survey findings. 

Via our estate agent, the buyers have said these were the issues which came from the survey on our house:

1. The poor condition of the house guttering and downpipes including the garage
2. The poor condition of the wood around the door frames (front door and patio doors)
3. The bathroom has had a leak the extent of which is not known and includes the en-suite

Concerning '3', we knew about this and tried to get this sorted, so how would you be able to assure a buyer that it wasn't an issue anymore?

What do you mean by "tried" to get it sorted? Has it not actually been sorted? Did you tell your buyer about whatever you had done?

How bad are the other points? We can't tell from the descriptions whether these are relatively minor matters or not - we certainly can't give you estimates!

We've not lived in the house for almost 4 years so we've had to go by what our letting agents have managed in terms of repairs. I've looked through my correspondence and the leak which was resolved earlier this year was elsewhere, not in the bathroom. My memory was almost correct insofar as there was a rusting radiator in the bathroom which was replaced before it leaked. 

I think you can tell from the description of (4) about whether this is a small matter or not given that the surveyor has said it requires 'remedial' work. 

youth_leader

Personally I'd get trusted trades in to quote for the works.  The next buyer to have a survey will have these issues bought to their attention, at least you'll have a ballpark figure for the remedial works if you don't want to fix them yourself.  

user1977

Shankers said:

user1977 said:

Shankers said:

Our sale has fallen through, in large part due to survey findings. 

Via our estate agent, the buyers have said these were the issues which came from the survey on our house:

1. The poor condition of the house guttering and downpipes including the garage
2. The poor condition of the wood around the door frames (front door and patio doors)
3. The bathroom has had a leak the extent of which is not known and includes the en-suite

Concerning '3', we knew about this and tried to get this sorted, so how would you be able to assure a buyer that it wasn't an issue anymore?

What do you mean by "tried" to get it sorted? Has it not actually been sorted? Did you tell your buyer about whatever you had done?

How bad are the other points? We can't tell from the descriptions whether these are relatively minor matters or not - we certainly can't give you estimates!

I think you can tell from the description of (4) about whether this is a small matter or not given that the surveyor has said it requires 'remedial' work. 

Not really - could be some minor patching-up required, could be taking everything off and starting again. Do you know? Surveyors' comments often sound rather alarmist.

UnderOffer

Did your sale price reflect the condition? We moved to a similar sounding house but was prepared for all the work as the sale price and our offer reflected this. 

I seem to recall our mortgage offer addressed these issues and asked for them to be rectified in the first year. 

Your buyers have decided it’s not worth pursuing. Personally I’d relist with a price to reflect work.  

twoLou

I’m sorry your sale has fallen through.
I’ve just had a survey report through on a property I’m buying and they can sound quite alarmist, fortunately as a seasoned homeowner I can read between the lines so to speak.

If I were you I would get a couple of people out first to have a look and at least you will know one way or the other whether the work actually needs doing and or how much it will cost. Hopefully they will make your decision about what to do next clearer.

The very best of luck

koalakoala

i would expect a 15 year old house to be in much better condition !

Shankers

twoLou said:

I’m sorry your sale has fallen through.
I’ve just had a survey report through on a property I’m buying and they can sound quite alarmist, fortunately as a seasoned homeowner I can read between the lines so to speak.

If I were you I would get a couple of people out first to have a look and at least you will know one way or the other whether the work actually needs doing and or how much it will cost. Hopefully they will make your decision about what to do next clearer.

The very best of luck

Thanks. Who'd be best placed to judge about the work which needs doing? A local builder or a surveyor? I'm a bit stuck on who to call as I've contacted a range of specialists who could give me quotes for replacement, but I want to establish what needs replacing because as you say, surveys can be alarmist.

twoLou

Hopefully someone will be able to give you a better advice than myself as to who to get around but if it was me I'd probably get a roofer and a general builder.

I'm not sure if you have a local community site where you are such as Nextdoor or a local facebook group?  I've found so many good tradespeople on these websites from recommendations of other local residents. Most are not found on Checkatrade etc

Perhaps your letting agent can recommend who they use?