Gazundering

oatkinso

Hi there,

I just wondered if anyone has any recent experience of Gazundering by your buyers and what was the outcome?

Im currently selling my house, everything has been agreed, and now right at the death before exchanging our buyers have come through with a ridiculous list of things they say need sorting with the house totalling £15k (sale price £475k, reduced from £485k asking price August). Part of this (£5k) is for damp work, but the rest IMO is just ongoing maintenance on a house of its age. If they’d have come through with the damp work only I would’ve been tempted to agree to 50% of that cost, but trying on £15k has really got my back up so I’ve said a flat no to everything. No doubt they think they’re now overpaying for the property because of the downturn in the market, but I’d already reduced the price if the house by 10k due to the cooling market back in August.

From what I’ve read, people seem to think that buyers have sellers over a barrel here, but I don’t quite understand that. It’s obvious they’re just trying it on because they’ve held onto the surveys until just before exchange. They're selling their property too, so if they pull out they’ve got to start all over again potentially adding another 6 months to their downward chain and risking their sale. It feels like a high stakes poker game, being played over the fear of my house sale collapsing leaving my purchase falling through too, but I’m not going to fall for it.

I’m not naive enough to think I need to make friends when selling a house, but there’s a certain level of decency that should be maintained. Funnily the house that I’m buying also came back with damp issues from the homebuyers report, but I see that as work I’ll pay for when I’m in the house, so why should I discount mine for the same issue?

It’s all just needless stress with people using homebuyers reports as bargaining tools rather than pieces of useful information that highlight either minor works that need to be carried out post sale or major issues that would rightly jeopardise a sale.

Anyway, any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated,

Thanks

anselld

They are not going to pull out for £15k on a £475k purchase (3%).
Just say no.

silvercar

I agree, just say no. Be polite and say that you have no spare cash between your sale and purchase so they need to decide whether to proceed or not.

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - suppose we were on the other side but our demands happened immediately after survey. 

Seller dropped curb on driveway, made a minor roof repair & installed a ventilation system in bathrooms. But again this was at the beginning of the process rather than near completion.

I think you are right to resist 11th hour arm twisting from your buyers. 

My parents when selling their home had a lucky escape from a buyer who deployed similar tactics and they walked away from the deal. That man took his eventual sellers to court for a large sum of money for misrepresentation of the property after completion.

Some people will never be satisfied no matter what you do. So you should do what is right for you.

You could offer that 50% of the damp
repair you mentioned to try to rescue the deal but if it were me I would not engage. 

Dodgy tactics like these you might do better to cut your losses - it all depends on how much you want your new property & are willing to take a risk with unreasonable  buyers.

Flugelhorn

honestly best to just say no or offer £2,500 on the damp work - they are just trying it on and if you make it clear that you won't proceed if they do this then they will probably just pay up.

people may think that the buyers hold all the cards but the buyer is pretty invested by this point too

youth_leader

I agree with refusing at this late stage. 

My house did need a lot of work, but was supposedly priced accordingly at £400K. My buyer reduced their offer from £355K to £305K after the survey, EA got him back up to £330K.  I still have the ridiculous email where he suggested I do £50K of work - replace my roof, deal with the damp and replace all the ground floor floorboards so his mortage company could 'inspect my work' and 'might' lend him the money - or accept £285K. I played right into his hands as I couldn't cope with the negotiation and went to auction where unfortunately his offer was the highest - at £275K. 

mi-key

They are definitely trying it on, but it depends how keen you are to sell. Maybe tell them you can't go to what they want, but will go halves on the damp work. It may be enough to make them think they are getting one over on you while you still get the sale

oatkinso

mi-key said:

They are definitely trying it on, but it depends how keen you are to sell. Maybe tell them you can't go to what they want, but will go halves on the damp work. It may be enough to make them think they are getting one over on you while you still get the sale

Thanks for the replies all, nice to know I’m not going completely insane in my thinking!

Yes, I’m thinking of offering this as a last resort if they threaten to pull out, but didn’t want to offer it straight away as my EA reckoned they’d just ask for more.

propertyrental

Agree with all the above.

Just to be clear though - does the property have a damp problem (peeling wallpaper/paint, damp musty smell, mould etc, or is this simply a reading from a so-called 'damp meter'?

And if there is damp, caused by what and what is the £5K work for? Injecting a chemical dpc? Lowering the external ground level....?

fackers_2

Nothing wrong with it. They have simply done it late as possible in order to get the best odds of you accepting, it's more common than first realised. Especially now where prices are falling MoM, the buyer now is in a stronger position. 

Depends if you're prepared to hold your position. If it falls apart you'll be re-listing in todays market (which are lower than August valuations) + no guarantee you'll get asking price which could fall below this new offer from your current buyer + faff of more viewings and legal bits etc.

Personally, I'd go 50/50... and keep the sale going, suck it up I'm afraid. It's unfortunate it's happened but you've just found yourself with one of those buyers here.  You could also roll the dice, and be without a sale until Spring... 

Let us know how it plays out! Whatever you do, make sure the conditions of this agreement is via Solicitor and not EA.

oatkinso

propertyrental said:

Agree with all the above.

Just to be clear though - does the property have a damp problem (peeling wallpaper/paint, damp musty smell, mould etc, or is this simply a reading from a so-called 'damp meter'?

And if there is damp, caused by what and what is the £5K work for? Injecting a chemical dpc? Lowering the external ground level....?

Yes there’s one spot where damp has caused paint to peel (blocked drain from leaves caused water to pool outside, tenant didn’t unblock last winter) and then there’s some staining on a chimney breast upstairs probably due to a small leak above. Didn’t help the report was done during an incredibly wet November.

The report is 62 pages long so I’ve almost lost the will to live but imo it’s also including things where there’s no visible damp. It’s saying a cdm3 tanking system and replastering to 1.5m around chimney breasts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they know someone at the surveyors and they’ve asked them to ham it up a bit.