Should we give our buyers a deadline

Sammy_21

We have FTB purchasing our house. It's now been 14 weeks since we accepted the offer. I and the vendor of the house I am buying (with no chain) have already signed contracts in readiness. So we are ready to exchange. Our buyers have now asked for an asbestos survey to be carried out as the house survey (they only had done three weeks ago) says it may be in the artex ceilings. This is to be done this week but I will have to wait for them to get the results. I am so fed up with them taking so long to get things done should I give our buyers a deadline to resolve this as the vendor of our house purchase is desperate to complete. Any advice welcome.

EssexHebridean

Only ever give an ultimatum like a deadline if you are comfortable with the risk that the buyers may just walk away. 

Sarah1Mitty2

EssexHebridean said:

Only ever give an ultimatum like a deadline if you are comfortable with the risk that the buyers may just walk away. 

Good advice, how many other buyers are making offers OP?

Sammy_21

I may have to be prepared for it to fall through as the vendor of our house purchase will put her house to rent as she is on a time limit to moving abroad.

housebuyer143

Does the buyer have everything else in place? As in searches done, mortgage offer received, enquiries done? If so, then I would wait. If not, then what have they been doing for 14 weeks? 

lika_86

Is there any issue with the asbestos potentially having been disturbed? Many buildings have asbestos and its presence isn't an issue unless disturbed.

Bigphil1474

If the artex is older than 30 years, roughly,  then it may well have asbestos in - ours did. Fortunately (?) it was removed by insurance due to subsidence. What are they going to do if it does contain asbestos? Presumably they'll want a discount on the purchase or something else - can you afford that?. As you've said, if the house you are buying is on a deadline, then you might as well tell your purchasers that date.

I just recently sold my dads house and the offer was made at the end of March and we completed first week in July, so about 14 weeks. Ours was a FTB as well, I think they were a bit more over cautious than I would be.
 
For info, If it does contain asbestos, then it doesn't have to be removed, it can be sealed. You just have to remember not to drill into it. Removal will be expensive as it will need to be done by a licensed asbestos company.

Sammy_21

Yes our buyers have everything in place, apparently they said they were told not to do a survey until the searches had been done?? So that's why it's late to the game. When we purchased our house the survey suggested it may have asbestos in the artex but that did not worry us and we have not touched it in the eleven years we have lived here. I am expecting the survey to show asbestos as it's built in the sixties .

NameUnavailable

The artex will certainly have some very small level of asbestos within it. It's absolutely of no issue unless the buyers want to replace the ceilings and it has to be removed.

Usually, if people want smooth ceilings, they will put plasterboard over it, or if it's not too roughly stippled, just give it a skim of plaster. My current place was 60's built and has artex. I must admit I'm not really a fan of it but it's very subtle and I haven't bothered to touch it.

So, my question would be what are the buyers intentions for getting the survey and what will they come back with when it confirms to them that there is a very small amount of asbestos in the artex?

You could pre-empt things by saying now that you fully expect the survey to say the artex contains a small amount of asbestos but that it's 'normal' in such a property and you aren't going to reduce your price, and that they need to exchange by X date or you are withdrawing from the deal.

BobT36

Sammy_21 said:

Yes our buyers have everything in place, apparently they said they were told not to do a survey until the searches had been done?? So that's why it's late to the game. 

Mortgage companies are very explicit to not touch solicitors & surveyors until they've done their bit. 
Doesn't sound like they're dragging their feet, just being cautious, as they bloody well should be! 
Baffles me nowdays when people spend more time doing due diligence when shopping for stuff on Amazon, than they do when making the biggest and most expensive purchase of their entire lives.. 

Sarah1Mitty2

I think people are being much more diligent now about how much they borrow for a house, handing out "deadlines" isn`t a good move because it just annoys the buyer who is trying to be careful and you could end up losing them.