Renegotiating after a survey with several faults.

Statex2_2

Made an offer subject to survey. However long list of faults. I estimate over £55- 65k to put right. Wall tie failure, External render cement based, should have been lime render, which has caused extensive cracking in outer walls due to excess moisture and a  phosphate reaction .  Damp in rear walls due to paving above dpc etc. Wood boring beetle in loft timbers and exposed beas in kitchen. Excessive condensation in loft. Boiler obsolete and oil tank due to fail in near future. Septic tank may not comply with current regulations as near a stream. Windows  dg misted.

I should walk away but we really love the house. Not sure how to renegotiate.  Probably would not accept £65k off the asking price. I would be most grateful for any advice.

Statex2_2

Made an offer on a property subject to survey. However long list of faults. I estimate over £55- 65k to put right. Wall tie failure, External render cement based, should have been lime render, which has caused extensive cracking in outer walls due to excess moisture and a  phosphate reaction .  Damp in rear walls due to paving above dpc etc. Wood boring beetle in loft timbers and exposed beams in kitchen. Excessive condensation in loft. Boiler obsolete and oil tank due to fail in near future. Septic tank may not comply with current regulations as near a stream. Windows  dg misted.

I should walk away but we really love the house. Not sure how to renegotiate.  Probably would not accept £65 off the asking price. I would be most grateful for any advice.

ArbitraryRandom

The palatability of a reduction in the asking price will depend on the price of the property, how it's priced compared to comparable properties, how much interest  it had, and how long it had been on the market. 

Best approach IMO would be to tell the agent that you love the property but with the structural issues identified by the survey you couldn't afford to proceed at the agreed price. The agent would then bring up the possibility of reducing the price with the seller (it's their job to negotiate between both sides to completion, not just show the house).  

ArbitraryRandom

duplicate: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6431699/renegotiating-after-a-survey-with-several-faults#latest

youth_leader

I agree that the house may have been priced to reflect the works needed.  Before you proceed any further I would also have an independent damp/timber survey - not a PCA selling company.  This would give you a price/solution for the damp in the rear walls, and confirm/dismiss the beetles in the loft.  

If you really love the house I would offer your vendor select extracts of your survey to back up your renegotiation. 

My buyer would not give me extracts and gave me the option of doing £50K worth of work so his mortgage lender 'could inspect my work' within six months and he'd pay £330K, or if I didn't do the work, he'd pay me £285K.  He quoted the ridiculously expensive quotes given to him by his out of area surveyor, and I disliked the language of his transaction and withdrew from the sale and left the EA.  I felt he couldn't afford the house and was just looking for every way to chip the price down.

tacpot12

This house needs a substantial amount of work, and many buyers will not have the capital to make such repairs. Do you have this capital? If so, it puts you in a relatively unique position to buy and the vendor will struggle to find a buyer at any price. 

Once repaired, is the house going to be cheap to heat, or are you going to also have to spend another £50k to apply external wall insulation and have a new roof put on so that the roof extends properly over the insulation? (If you are going to apply external wall insulation the time to do is when the property needs re-rendering, and a new roof would solve the beetle problem.) 

Applying a goodd amount if insulation to the walls would potentially allow you to install a heat pump to get away from even needing an oil tank.

Have you found a solution to the septic tank issue? Is a solution even possible?  

Statex2_2

Thanks for your all your replies. The house was very run down when the present owner purchased it. He has only owned it for 3 years since 2020 the previous owner only owned it for 3 years since 2017 and prior to that it was owned by a solicitor who had it for seveal years. I have a solution to the heating, Grants are available of upto £5k which will go half way towards the cost of a wood pellet boiler. The septic tank issue could possibly be solved with a reed bed,I have sought advice on that from a specialist company.

When the present owner purchased the propery he had the roof tiles replaced  and rewired. He said the water marks were from the previous leaking roof but obviously not all the flaking paint was due to that. The sale price took into account the poor condition of the internal and external decoration but I was not made aware of the structural issues. 

Some of the  rafters in the roof  have many 3 mm holes on them as photographed by the surveyor. No report was made of the ist floor beams as they do not lift floor boards but the exposed kitchen beams have evidence of worm damage.

The seller wants a quick sale as he is in financial difficulties due to his business. He does not want to sell the house but has to because of his financial situation. He also has a mortgage on the property. The property was only on the market for a short while before I made the offer, it has an acre of land attached but not good quality land and no good for horses or growing crops as it is very boggy, due to run off from a adjoining fields which are higher.  Houses with land in that area usually sell quickly but due to the type of land I believe he will find it difficult to sell.

In answere to your question I do have the funds to do the repairs but I could probably buy another house without the need to spend an additional perhaps  £100K. As I said earlier we really love the house and the area. Problem is negotiating a reduction to cover the costs. I believe the sale price reflected the cosmetic condion of the property and obviously not the structural faults.

Statex2_2

Additional note . The original house dates from 1768 but has been extended twice the seller said in 1960's but the surveyor said some parts had lath and plaster, therefore it could have been extended several times over the years. The early walls are nearly 2 foot 600mm thick and cement rendered which has caused a large crack  from roof to ground on one end wall. later walls cavity, foam  insulated and have wall tie failure.

ArbitraryRandom

Statex2_2 said:

Additional note . The original house dates from 1768 but has been extended twice the seller said in 1960's but the surveyor said some parts had lath and plaster, therefore it could have been extended several times over the years. The early walls are nearly 2 foot 600mm thick and cement rendered which has caused a large crack  from roof to ground on one end wall. later walls cavity, foam  insulated and have wall tie failure.

It sounds like if you do buy this property, the costs are not going to stop at the identified structural issues/improvements. 'Character' properties like this will have ongoing maintenance costs; so, no matter how charming, if you are considering if you want to spend £100k fixing these issues, that's something to bear in mind. 

mi-key

Its hard with a house like that. How many things are actually urgent and need doing to stop further damage, and how many are things that need doing, but can be done at some point later when you move in, but could also be left as they are ( stuff like the boiler, I assume the current one works, misted DG windows, not a major issue as long as they are watertight, septic tank may be fine and not need moving etc... )

Remember any non essential work, the seller will get no benefit from this, you will once you live there and for the future ( from the sound of it, I am guessing this is pretty much a forever home for you ) and we all have things we want to change or modify or update when we buy a house. 

Also, surveys often list a lot of stuff as 'may need doing' just to cover the surveyor, but can often be remedied without major work needing doing.

I think based on that, offering to split the difference with the seller and offering £30k off would be a good starting point. Its always hard to really value a house that old as there often aren't directly comparable properties nearby to compare against

mi-key

Also bear in mind if the seller is in financial difficulties, and has a mortgage on the house, he may have a minimum amount he can sell for anyway, so it may not be possible to negotiate that much