Negotiating purchase price after survey results

Durace11Bunny

Hey all,

Thought i'd pop along to pick your brains and glean insights, one more time

We're currently awaiting the results of a house survey for the property we're hoping to purchase, and wanted to gather folks generally thoughts or advice, for renegotiating the agreed price, based on what was found (appreciate this may be jumping the gun slightly)

We want to ensure we pick up on the right things and be fair with the vendor, but likewise don't want to sell ourselves short/over-reach on our expectations

I see it broadly consisting of 3 categories:

• Repair work - generally speaking, we would be looking to ask for money off/vendor to fix
• End of life / missing - things like a very old boiler/heating system, lack of cavity or loft insulation (eg: EPC rating aspects)
  
• Modifications - future house changes (this are things we'd entirely foot the bill ourselves)

The 2nd category is most contentious. We'd probably accept this, or maybe split costs 50/50 with the vendor. Appreciate this is more of an art than exact science, so does anyone have any thoughts on this, or advice in general please?

Many thanks for your time

DB

user1977

Why wouldn't you have already taken all of that into account in your original price? You would have, for example, already have seen the EPC (and had your own opportunity to check for insulation etc), why wait for the survey? And all properties need some sort of regular maintenance, it isn't a reason to chip away at the price.

If the survey comes back with significant problems which you couldn't reasonably have anticipated, then fair enough.

RHemmings

There have been plenty of discussions here from sellers faced with requests to reduce the price after a survey. It is very common for sellers to take the attitude that, as @user1977 says, the house is not new and these things are already priced in. E.g. if a house has an old roof with some slipped tiles, then that should have been obvious when viewing and should be priced into any other. As mentioned, the loft insulation should have been visible, and the old boiler again should have already been priced into any offer as it should have been noticed upon viewing. 

As said: unexpected problems - yes. But, if you try to chip away at the price too much the seller could possibly decide that you are not negotiating in good faith. 

cymruchris

Unless a survey throws a curveball of something totally unexpected - then the house will be priced for what it is. Old boiler, dodgy roof tiles, damp patch in the bathroom - whatever is visible and easily seen will have been considered. The only time you'd expect a reduction is if the survey picked up an issue that wasn't easily visible, and would be costly to put right.

Hoenir

Durace11Bunny said:

• Modifications - future house changes (this are things we'd entirely foot the bill ourselves)

Something you should have considered before making an offer. 

FreeBear

Durace11Bunny said:

• Repair work - generally speaking, we would be looking to ask for money off/vendor to fix

Ask the vendor to fix any fault, it will be done by the cheapest means possible. Could even be a bodge with a slap of [wot ever] to hide the lack of quality. You will have no comeback should the "repair" fail within hours of moving in.

Minor faults, suck it up and pay for a proper repair after you have the keys. Major faults, negotiate the price, and get it fixed after purchase. You get to benefit from a guarantee and can dictate the quality of the work.

Durace11Bunny

Thanks guys

We did indeed take this into account during the initial phase of negotiation, but upped our offer to ensure the sale. This obviously meant we had a level of acceptance of most items (which we intend to honour), but stated we did so on the condition that we would re-negotiate based on the survey findings. That said, i appreciate that's a verbal agreement and nothing more

It all very much depends on the survey findings and finding agreement on both sides. We certainly want to make sure all aspects are fair and above board as much as possible

Durace11Bunny

Hoenir said:

Durace11Bunny said:

• Modifications - future house changes (this are things we'd entirely foot the bill ourselves)

Something you should have considered before making an offer. 

Agreed - hence why it's something we'd fund entirely by ourselves

R.j.Belcher

As somebody who 's house has just gone on the market I would say its up to the agent, and your own eyes to look at obvious things like this. Our house has a poor epc and buyers know that, I am onbiously not going to spend money putting that right, thats their choice. It is a little diffrent if a  survey shows something you can't see.

bobster2

Durace11Bunny said:

Hey all,

Thought i'd pop along to pick your brains and glean insights, one more time

We're currently awaiting the results of a house survey for the property we're hoping to purchase, and wanted to gather folks generally thoughts or advice, for renegotiating the agreed price, based on what was found (appreciate this may be jumping the gun slightly)

We want to ensure we pick up on the right things and be fair with the vendor, but likewise don't want to sell ourselves short/over-reach on our expectations

I see it broadly consisting of 3 categories:

• Repair work - generally speaking, we would be looking to ask for money off/vendor to fix
• End of life / missing - things like a very old boiler/heating system, lack of cavity or loft insulation (eg: EPC rating aspects)
  
• Modifications - future house changes (this are things we'd entirely foot the bill ourselves)

The 2nd category is most contentious. We'd probably accept this, or maybe split costs 50/50 with the vendor. Appreciate this is more of an art than exact science, so does anyone have any thoughts on this, or advice in general please?

Many thanks for your time

DB

Houses continually need repair work and maintenance - it's part of owning a house. As a seller I would not be offering any reduction in price unless the repairs were things that needed to be done urgently - i.e. not routine maintenance. E.g. if survey says exterior woodwork needs repainting - that's routine maintenence. Broken roof tile leaking water - that's an urgent repair.

If I was the seller - I would not be offering a reduction if you don't like the old boiler / heating systems. This would have been visible when you viewed property and made the offer. Doesn't take a specialist to see that a boiler is quite old.

If you asked me to pay for cavity wall insulation - I would probably immediately walk away and put the house back on the market. Would be very wary of continuing a transaction with a buyer who thought for a moment it could be appropriate for me to pay for that!

Jemma01

Durace11Bunny said:

Thanks guys

We greadid indeed take this into account during the initial phase of negotiation, but upped our offer to ensure the sale. This obviously meant we had a level of acceptance of most items (which we intend to honour), but stated we did so on the condition that we would re-negotiate based on the survey findings. That said, i appreciate that's a verbal agreement and nothing more

It all very much depends on the survey findings and finding agreement on both sides. We certainly want to make sure all aspects are fair and above board as much as possible

Great, so you upped the price you really had no intention to pay just to push other bidders out, and now using the survey as an excuse to bring the price down?

I hope the seller and their agent contact the following bidder and not deal with these stupid games. The boiler you would have known about during the viewing, the insulation is also in the EPC you had access to before you even went for a viewing, and could have asked about it during the viewing. They also tell you about the windows and how old they are.

I'm a buyer myself, ridiculous games like that take opportunities from much more deserving buyers.