Am I being messed about unreasonably?

nightsong

Hi all, Advice please. I'm selling a three-bed, 1970s maisonette in a good area. It was perfectly liveable while I was there, but has a few issues like older windows, a little bit of damp etc. We priced it to sell and took an offer below that. You'd need to spend at least £25k more to get a comparable property that wasn't a maisonette - in fact there's nothing available in the area this cheap for a three bed.

The valuation on the survey was at our asking price.

The buyer's survey showed some issues, so we agreed to a further £3k off the price.

Now the buyers wants us to fix the windows before the sale and isn't happy about the electrics.

This is all dragging on for weeks and weeks. Is she just messing us about, or will she pull out if we don't agree to jump through all these hoops?

We no longer live nearby so it's extremely inconvenient to us to have to do further work. We'd be up for an extra £1k off the price if it gets the sale.

Thoughts please?

km1500

They are messing you around.

If it were me I would pull out today and re-market it, but I don't like being messed around.

robatwork

Negotiate once - shame on buyer
Negotiate twice - shame on you

ReadingTim

Sounds like an FTB, but even if not, stand your ground and call their bluff.  

My response would be that it's sold as seen, and priced to sell.  No further price reductions will be entertained, nor any requests to carry out any works.  If they don't like it, they can find somewhere else as it'll be going back on the market.  Take it or leave it.  

kazwookie

Call them out, and put it back on the market a higher price.

mi-key

Are they a FTB by any chance?  

What you could do if you are happy to knock off another £1000 is to say to them that is your final offer, you won't be getting any work done on the house, but that £1000 can go towards them getting it done when they move in. If they don't want to take that you will be pulling out and remarketing immediately

RAS

Is this leasehold or freehold?

gazfocus

We've had some issues come up with our buyers which have cost us money to sort. We have already made our minds up that any further queries that involve us putting our hands in our pockets will be met with 'the house is being sold as it stands now, we will not be spending anymore money on sorting things out that were taken into consideration when we priced the house, so if you are not happy with the house as it is, I suggest you find an alternative house'.

At the end of the day, we priced our house low(ish) to get a quick sale. Comparable houses in our area are currently being listed for £20-30k more than ours so I already have reservations, so don't need much to push me to relist it.

nightsong

RAS said:

Is this leasehold or freehold?

It's leasehold, but a 999 year lease. Does that make a difference?

youth_leader

That's a great lease. 

There's a lot of discussion from various posters on the property forum on Mumsnet about 'renegotiating after a survey', some people have unrealistic ideas of the cost of work.  Could you get quotes for the window work to see what it would cost and suggest this as a reduction?  I'd not offer a reduction for the electrical work as I understand not many houses have current regulation electrics.

NameUnavailable

As you have already taken an offer lower than asking and then a further reduction I would be inclined to stop there.

These buyers sound like the type who will get to the point of exchange and then demand a further reduction.

You need to be firm and state that you want their commitment to proceed on the price agreed or you will be remarketing - you could even say that you're remarketing anyway in view of their reluctance but you're still happy to proceed with them in the meantime.