Should I send survey report to seller?

MS1982

I'm in the middle of a purchase and just had a full survey report back. It's highlighted various small/medium issues and I've gone back to the seller's estate agent to suggest a %age off the price to cover the repairs. The agent has asked for the survey report before going to the owners with the news. I'm not inclined to send it, because I've just paid £1,200 for the report. What are the pros and cons of sending it?

Alter_ego

If you don't buy they will be able to show any new buyer.

Just give them the parts you want to use to force a price reduction.

anselld

You only need to show the relevant sections which support your claim for reduction of the price.  If these turn out to be unsubstantial issues or the normal surveyor backside covering then expect some pushback.
However if you do not send anything it will simply be seen as an attempted gazunder.
What are the main issues?

RM_2013

It’s your report and you don’t have to show any of it if you don’t want to but you could send them the relevant parts that you’re querying to help with the offer reduction 

mi-key

How much of a percentage are you asking for and what things are showing? All houses of certain ages will have some issues that need fixing. If you just say 'the survey shows some things and I want 20% off' without showing any proof then the seller is unlikely to help.

However if you show a list of the things that need sorting, the seller may well say they will get them all fixed before you complete ( could be their son or brother is a builder or they know someone who can do it ) or will agree to a reasonable amount off towards fixing them.

A lot of the things a survey shows are just potential things that may cause a problem one day, and not actually anything that needs fixing

mi-key

As an example, my survey had a note about their being some deteriation of the DPC that may cause damp problems. I bought the house 16 years ago and have never had any damp, nor has the DPC got any worse  

Mildreds_Earrings

MS1982 said:

I'm in the middle of a purchase and just had a full survey report back. It's highlighted various small/medium issues and I've gone back to the seller's estate agent to suggest a %age off the price to cover the repairs. The agent has asked for the survey report before going to the owners with the news. I'm not inclined to send it, because I've just paid £1,200 for the report. What are the pros and cons of sending it?

As others have suggested, rather than keep the whole survey to yourself, just send relevant parts of the survey to justify the reduced offer. That shows you're being open, reasonable and transparent. 

We did that several months ago, just shared relevant pages from the survey, along with quotes from builders, roofers etc to get the work done. We also asked the Seller to obtain quotes, so that was fair but they declined to do so and they accepted our quotes and our reduced offer.

To be fair, we didn't ask for a percentage. The works cost £25k-£30k but we didn't expect them to pay for all of the works. After all, it will benefit us, not them. We reduced our offer by £15k and they accepted that.

All the best. 

propertyrental

If you don't provide evidence to support your request for a price reduction based on the survey, the seller won't take you seriously.

And why should they?

MS1982

I've sent them a rundown of the points raised, but not the actual report. The amount I'm asking for off the price is 2.7% of the purchase price.

mi-key

MS1982 said:

I've sent them a rundown of the points raised, but not the actual report. The amount I'm asking for off the price is 2.7% of the purchase price.

For that small amount is it really worth the faffing about?  I assume as it's that low then its nothing major ( unless the property is worth over a million ! )  You have to expect some things to need doing on any house you buy if you look closely enough, and most things a survey shows up are just advisories

As someone else mentioned, having the work done will benefit you, not the current owners

Noneforit999

What are the things in the report you are asking for a price reduction over?

As others have said, you need to be realistic with a non new build house and expect some issues. 2.7% reduction is not a huge amount so it really depends on what the issues are and whether the vendor is able to take a price reduction and whether they feel/want to try risking a new buyer.

A year ago you might be told where to go but at the moment with properties in many areas not selling as well, you might be in a stronger position but it depends on what the vendor sees as an issue warrantying a price reduction.