House purchase - Advice needed (who should pay for what?)

mi-key

I don't know anybody who isn't a landlord who has had their electrics safety checked apart from when buying the house. If they work, then there is no need to check or test them.

Very few older houses in the UK have had a complete rewire as it's not normally needed so a pointless expense. Loads still have the original red and black wiring from when they were built. Electrics don't really deteriorate with age

User2349

Many thanks to all for the much needed perspective on this. 
I'm still awaiting the results of the survey and praying it's insignificant/no risk, so unless this finds something critical I will look into boarding and skimming as this seems the way to go.
Seems I will just have to absorb the additional costs and on reflection, for inspections/surveys this seems fair. 

Side note, I can't help but feel that on a forum centred around saving money, it does seem counter-intuitive that I'm advised against ensuring a blown seal on a window is replaced prior to purchase, thus incurring the additional couple hundred (that I've been quoted) myself. Whilst recognising the house is not brand new, but only c.25 years old, I would expect anything broken to be fixed before sale but perhaps that's just me... 

user1977

User2349 said:

Side note, I can't help but feel that on a forum centred around saving money, it does seem counter-intuitive that I'm advised against ensuring a blown seal on a window is replaced prior to purchase, thus incurring the additional couple hundred (that I've been quoted) myself. Whilst recognising the house is not brand new, but only c.25 years old, I would expect anything broken to be fixed before sale but perhaps that's just me... 

Yes, it's just you. Every property is going to have defects of some sort or another, it is not normal in the slightest for a seller to go around fixing everything that a buyer's surveyor has pointed out. And it's usually advisable that (if it's something worthy of negotiation) you deal with it by reducing the price - that way you're then in control of the repair, rather than hoping that the seller uses somebody of good standard.

jonnydeppiwish!

User2349 said:

Many thanks to all for the much needed perspective on this. 
I'm still awaiting the results of the survey and praying it's insignificant/no risk, so unless this finds something critical I will look into boarding and skimming as this seems the way to go.
Seems I will just have to absorb the additional costs and on reflection, for inspections/surveys this seems fair. 

Side note, I can't help but feel that on a forum centred around saving money, it does seem counter-intuitive that I'm advised against ensuring a blown seal on a window is replaced prior to purchase, thus incurring the additional couple hundred (that I've been quoted) myself. Whilst recognising the house is not brand new, but only c.25 years old, I would expect anything broken to be fixed before sale but perhaps that's just me... 

The window you would have seen on viewing and adjusted your offer accordingly…….

mi-key

You have to remember any non essential repairs or changes you make, you are going to be the one who benefits from that, not the seller, so they shouldn't have to pay.

If the survey comes up with something major and very expensive that is urgent, then yes some discount would be expected for this, but for any non essential and cosmetic things then its the buyers responsiblitty.

If its a UPVC window you can buy the glass yourself and its a ten minute job to change the pane. Theres really no need to pay a company hundreds to do it

Jonboy_1984

I had the electrics checked before selling because we had installed a shower without the relevant paperwork a few years before and it produced a reasonable paper-trail that it was safe.

It flagged the consumer unit needed replacement to solve various C2 level issues. As it was our inspection that had flagged it and it wouldn't have been visible to any of the buyers surveys we bore the cost following some negotiation. 

Obvious this means the buyer benefits from a new consumer unit fitted a couple of weeks before exchange in the middle of summer, but has no warranty for the work in case any issues were to come to light later with for example the storage heater circuits…

User2349

user1977 said:

User2349 said:

Side note, I can't help but feel that on a forum centred around saving money, it does seem counter-intuitive that I'm advised against ensuring a blown seal on a window is replaced prior to purchase, thus incurring the additional couple hundred (that I've been quoted) myself. Whilst recognising the house is not brand new, but only c.25 years old, I would expect anything broken to be fixed before sale but perhaps that's just me... 

Yes, it's just you. Every property is going to have defects of some sort or another, it is not normal in the slightest for a seller to go around fixing everything that a buyer's surveyor has pointed out. And it's usually advisable that (if it's something worthy of negotiation) you deal with it by reducing the price - that way you're then in control of the repair, rather than hoping that the seller uses somebody of good standard.

Fair enough. Might see if we can negotiate the cost of the window repair. Not fussed if not. Next option is a DIY job.

@jonnydeppiwish!  - in an ideal world, yes... but in an ideal world I would also be a premier league footballer...
Isn't the point of a survey to give a fairly comprehensive view of the condition the property being purchased, carried out by an experienced professional, more likely to spot things than I would be?    

AskAsk

people don't always service boilers and even when they do, they aren't always given a record of the service carried out.  for example, i have maintenance with british gas on their home care and they don't always leave a note of the service carried out.  you just have to judge how old the boiler is and determine when you are likely to need to replace it and factor this into the price in your offer price.

if the boiler is ancient, then you should have deducted the cost of replacement from your offer price.

the window, you could take some money off for it but it is up to the seller to agree or not.  for a small sum of a few hundred pounds, i would agree as a seller as the seller needs to sell more than you need to buy generally.

the asbestos, the survey needs to be paid for by the buyer as often the surveyor will advise this as a precaution.  artex ceiling is very common in older properties, so if you are concerned then you will need to pay for the survey.

the electrics is a point the surveyor will always say unless there happens to be an inspection done, which tends to be available for rentals, where it is needed, but for homes, no one gets one.  if you are concerned, then you would need to get one.

so in general, the buyer will need to pay for reports to make sure he is happy there is no issues to deal with.  more importantly, i think, and often is not done, is to get a roofer round to inspect the condition of the roof in detail as the suveyor won't be climbing up there and will only say a statement of their general condition.

theoretica

User2349 said:

Side note, I can't help but feel that on a forum centred around saving money, it does seem counter-intuitive that I'm advised against ensuring a blown seal on a window is replaced prior to purchase, thus incurring the additional couple hundred (that I've been quoted) myself. Whilst recognising the house is not brand new, but only c.25 years old, I would expect anything broken to be fixed before sale but perhaps that's just me... 

If it were done by the seller it would probably be as cheaply as possible, rather than done by you who actually care it lasts more than a month or two...

macman

FTB by any chance? You can ask the vendor to fix or insect whatever you want, but they're not obliged to do any of the inspections or repairs that you have noted, and most will not, because there is no guarantee that you will then continue to the point of exchange. If you do find significant defects, the norm is to negotiate a reduced offer. But negotiating over a cracked window pane is just likely to irritate the vendor and make him less amenable in other respects: beware you don't end up with rotting fish behind the radiator...
Houses in England and Wales do not come with any kind of warranty or consumer protection: it's caveat emptor.