Building survey report received; estate agents are organising their own tradesmen.

tasingp

Hello,

I'm in the process of buying a house
.

I organised a housing survey report which suggested £7500 worth of repairs.

I emailed the estate agent about this and the estate agent is going to organise their own roofer and damp specialist as they don't think it's that expensive.

In my own mind; this doesn't seem right. Should I be the one organising someone independent?

Thank you!

user1977

Are the EA organising them just to give a quote or to go ahead with work immediately? At the very least you'd want somebody not connected with the EA telling you whether the work has been satisfactorily completed.

TheJP

I'm guessing the EA have arranged for someone to go round and check the work needed to see if it is actually £7.5k, as we know survey estimates are often way inflated. If you can seek guidance from a trade to see if they can give you a realistic quote for the work needed.

Bradden

If you don't currently own the property I'm not sure why you would want to be organising the repairs?

Who will be paying the bill?

TheJP

Bradden said:

If you don't currently own the property I'm not sure why you would want to be organising the repairs?

Who will be paying the bill?

I don't think this is about doing the works more about obtaining trades quotes so that the EA can see if £7.5k reduction in price is justifiable. 

Bendy_House

As JP says, it does sound as tho' the EA is trying to pre-empt you either pulling out, or asking for a reduction.

It could be that they genuinely think the estimate you were given is waaay OTT, or it could be that they feel a keener quote - whether accurate or not - might calm you. Unfortunately, you probably won't know if the EA-derived quote is more true than your surveyor's.

This forum is, however, littered with "My surveyor says I need a new roof"-type scaries, where very often it is simply not the case, at least not for another decade or so. So it's quite possible that the £7.5k quote is erring on the worst-case outcome. Or even that some of the work will simply not be needed for a good few years, so can be spread out over time.

What work did the survey say was actually required for this sum?

Being cynical, I'd suggest that the surveyor's quote will tend to aim towards the high, whereas the EA's will be the exact opposite. Somewhere in the middle is more likely to be the case

eddddy

Realistically, EAs tend to act in their own best interests.

The EA will just want the sale to close - they won't be too bothered about whether it's for £7500 less - that probably equates to £75 in lost commission, which is peanuts to the EA.


I suspect the EA is just trying to collect "ammunition" to put pressure on both you and the seller.

Once the EA has 2 pieces of evidence - a surveyor's report and a builder's quote - they can push both buyer and seller much harder to find a compromise price.


But I guess it's possible that the EA's roofer and damp specialist is "in the EA's pocket" - and will say whatever they think the EA wants them to say.

I guess the way to counter that would be to get quotes from your choice of roofer and damp specialist. Then you'll have a third piece of evidence to throw into the mix.

But lots of tradespeople won't give quotes in this type of situation - unless you pay them for their time.

deannagone

I've not heard of EA's getting quotes/organising repairs its normally the current owner or prospective owner of the property?

MovingForwards

deannagone said:

I've not heard of EA's getting quotes/organising repairs its normally the current owner or prospective owner of the property?

If the EA is also a letting agent, they'll already have the contacts to get quotes. The trades may want to keep the EA happy to ensure continuity of work and agree to price it up, quickly stopping by to look at the property or even just making a guess off the survey.

Others have covered why the EA is doing it and in a way it makes sense as OP might struggle to get any reasonable trade out at the moment, but should try to get their own independent quotes.

tasingp

Thank you everyone, you have all been very helpful 

Bendy_House

The EA could well be genuinely helpful, and if the quotes for the work come with the trader's names on them, then that could be ideal should you buy the place - a list of tradesfolks, and good ballpark prices.

If you'd like, you could post on here the specific parts mentioned in the survey, along with how that original quote was made up. And then the alternative quotes from the EA's builders. There's some well-informed folk on here - including actual builders - who could then probably advise on how reasonable each is.