Buyer wants me to reduce price after questionable survey. What would you do?

NornIronRose

3 bed extended semi on the market for £375k. Eventually agreed £350k. 

Roll on about 2 months and our buyer has had a survey done at last which has thrown up various red flags and they want to reduce the price to £335k.

Roof coming to the end of its expected life and may need replaced (I haven't seen one house around our area with a new roof, all identical and no signs anywhere of roof problems). 

Extractor fans downstairs not working contributing to significant damp (as I don't keep things on standby, the main switch would be off and extractor fans in bathroom and kitchen work perfectly). No damp at all downstairs.

Leak in underfloor heating leading to significant damp (had a leaky pipe at the back of my washing machine, fixed and no issues since but some warping of the innards of one cupboard behind the machine). 

Fence needs repair (responsibility of LL next door).

Corroded cast iron soil pipe (fair enough but the bit that was under the ground did break and has been replaced a few months ago). 

Internal cracks. Long but nothing more than a couple of mm wide and have not changed (should have filled and painted them but hindsight is a wonderful thing). 

I genuinely can't afford to drop the price by what they are asking, and if I lose that amount of equity,  I will lose my onward purchase. 

What would you do in this situation? They say it is a buyer's market but there is hardly anything in my budget coming in the market in my area. One that I would consider because it is exactly what I was looking for for months but has no working kitchen apart from a sink, and only a loo and sink in the bathroom. EA estimates it would cost about £25k to get it done. I think maybe 35 but could afford it as the price is significantly lower than my planned purchase. 

I am tempted to just drop my buyer, spend maybe £2k fixing the bits which don't look great (like the cupboard inner that looks damp, and maybe the external soil pipe) then market again. 

Also not sure about the EA fees. They found me a willing and able buyer, but surely I can say no to this reduced offer? Happy to stay with the EA as I know they are good. 

Sistergold

As any further price drop will mean you can not buy your onward purchase. If I were you I will just say no to the price drop. If they say they won’t buy then estate agent can not say you had a willing buyer as buyer was not prepared to pay the agreed price. 🤷‍♀️ say no to any further reduction and let them be the ones to withdraw if they wish. You might find they will not withdraw and if they do you fix the few things in question( not the roof) and let them find a new and willing buyer. Buyers will always want to reduce if they feel you will allow it. You also need to be ready to go with different buyer so don’t be bluffing. 

secla

You cant afford to drop the price even if the report findings were valid so just tell the estate agent you wont be dropping the price and to re market it. 

sevenhills

What does your estate agent say, how are prices holding up in your area, has there been a valuation that matches or beats the buying price?

If no valuation has been mentioned, one assumes that they are just testing you.

NornIronRose

The surveyor down valued it apparently to a lot less than their revised offer, which again throws up many questions. Genuinely the EA and I are just shaking our heads. 
The price they originally offered, which we accepted was less than we should have expected, but took it as it was just before the interest rate went up and people couldn't get the same mortgage offers. 

ThisIsWeird

That list - for the very reasons you have provided - are not valid justifications for a price reduction. You can counter all these points, just as you have to us (but with careful words). 
Ie, don't say the roof is in 'good condition', but just that  you are unaware of any issues at all with it, and all the neighbouring houses are ditto. Don't say the ufh is not leaking, but explain what the actual cause of the water damage was, and that it was fixed. And, afayk, the CH has no issues at all. Point out the replaced soil pipe. Etc. Acknowledge the cracks but say they've been like that since X.
Their claims do have the hallmarks of spurious tryitons. If they had found actual issues with your roof, they'd be saying so. 'Coming to the end of its life' is merely a 'making-aware' by a surveyor.  That roof could last 5 years, or 45. Claiming the ufh is leaking, when it seemingly isn't, suggests an incompetent surveyor, or else they didn't even use one, and jumped to that conclusion themselves. Or are trying it on, hoping you will go 'Oops'. (Are the water marks dry? In which case, definitely a tryiton. A leaking ufh would surely still be damp?)
Bottom line - it doesn't really matter what state your house is in, or the excuses they try and use for dropping their price; the only thing that ultimately matters is what they are prepared to pay, and you accept.
Since, however, they've chosen to go the 'look what the survey has found!' route, then you can easily counter virtually all these points, as you have done for us.
They could instead have simply said (and may still do), "The market has fallen/ our buyer has dropped their offer, we cannot proceed without an £X discount - soz", and you'd effectively be in the same position.
Compare your house with the similar ones on the market locally - houses they have very likely also considered. How does yours fit in? Is it good value? Is it a relative bargain?! Is it slightly high?
If yours is good value as it stands- if you are confident it is fairly priced - then chances are they are 'trying it on', so a calm, factual counter of their claims should help snub it, that angle at least.
Then it comes down to what you have also said - if you simply cannot lower the price due to losing out on your own purchase, then that's the other bottom line. 
Take advice from your conveyancer, and reply stating the facts; counter the 'issues', reiterate it is fairly priced and that you accepted an offer £xk below asking, and say you are in a chain with no further flexibility.
And do your sums in case you can offer a token further discount just to keep things moving.
Can you afford the delay in remarketing it? We're there other interested parties? If so, that can be a powerful persuader. Answer the buyer's points, and tell your EA to begin marketing it again if they are not happy with your clarification of their claimed issues.
But take advice from your convey and EA!

nicmyles

If the surveyor valued the house at less than their offer, and they have a mortgage, they may be unable to proceed even if you hold firm, so it sounds like they're not the right buyer for you. That said, if one surveyor has valued it at less than sale price, others might also, so you may need to revise your expectations about what price you'll be able to achieve.

bluelad1927

I always think in these situations the end result is somewhere in the middle. Your EA can shake their head as much as they want but if a surveyor had heavily undervalued a house I was looking at I'd also be wary of paying the price. I may look to meet somewhere in between. If you can't afford to do that then what the buyer does is out of your control.

NornIronRose

The change in valuation makes zero sense at all. It is priced in line with other houses in our few roads, but is not over priced in any way. And that isn't wishful thinking on my part. 

Very, very useful ThisIsWeird. Thank you. That has actually really clarified things for me. The buyers did tell many times that they were having to borrow heavily from family etc to afford the price they offered in the end. So I'm not surprised that they are probably desperately hoping we will just say ok. 

Grizebeck

Sistergold said:

As any further price drop will mean you can not buy your onward purchase. If I were you I will just say no to the price drop. If they say they won’t buy then estate agent can not say you had a willing buyer as buyer was not prepared to pay the agreed price. 🤷‍♀️ say no to any further reduction and let them be the ones to withdraw if they wish. You might find they will not withdraw and if they do you fix the few things in question( not the roof) and let them find a new and willing buyer. Buyers will always want to reduce if they feel you will allow it. You also need to be ready to go with different buyer so don’t be bluffing. 

Sorry but i never get why people say this, its irrelevant to the discussion in hand. Since it has no bearing on the offer for the property

nicmyles

NornIronRose said:

The change in valuation makes zero sense at all. It is priced in line with other houses in our few roads, but is not over priced in any way. And that isn't wishful thinking on my part. 

Very, very useful ThisIsWeird. Thank you. That has actually really clarified things for me. The buyers did tell many times that they were having to borrow heavily from family etc to afford the price they offered in the end. So I'm not surprised that they are probably desperately hoping we will just say ok. 

Again, if the surveyor has down-valued the property, and they are buying with a mortgage, it's likely your buyer cannot proceed at the previously agreed price, since they will not now be able to borrow enough to afford it. Nothing to do with hopes etc., nothing to do with "trying it on", and actually nothing to do with the contents of the survey or the specific things raised. If the survey had raised various issues but still valued the property at the offer price, then them asking for a reduction would be a negotiation and you could say no to that, maybe eventually meeting in the middle.

But if they now don't have the money, then they don't have the money, and if you decline their revised offer, they will not be buying your house.