How to agree on quotes for works needed

sofia67

Hi

Im looking at a property but two surveys brought up damp issues. Their quote was an eye watering £17k. 

The vendor then got their own survey. Which comes up at £8.5k. 

What’s the best way to progress? They’re playing hard ball saying they won’t negotiate which has annoyed me as they’ve been so rubbish getting info out of. (There are a lot of issues with the house that put me off as well as damp) and I’m not in a rush to move particularly. 

There are things like indemnities needed for lack of building regs etc. 

I’m just left feeling a bit off about the whole thing. But I don’t know if it’s just me being fed up with estate agents!! 

Please can someone help me make sense. Thanks 

Yorkie1

sofia67 said:

Hi

Im looking at a property but two surveys brought up damp issues. Their quote was an eye watering £17k. 

The vendor then got their own survey. Which comes up at £8.5k. 

What’s the best way to progress? They’re playing hard ball saying they won’t negotiate which has annoyed me as they’ve been so rubbish getting info out of. (There are a lot of issues with the house that put me off as well as damp) and I’m not in a rush to move particularly. 

There are things like indemnities needed for lack of building regs etc. 

I’m just left feeling a bit off about the whole thing. But I don’t know if it’s just me being fed up with estate agents!! 

Please can someone help me make sense. Thanks 

Help! Buying with extension no planning permission — MoneySavingExpert Forum

In your earlier thread about this property, you mentioned that the damp surveyor quoted £5/6K, so you now have a range of quotes.

As you've summarised above, you also previously mentioned various Buiding Regs and build over agreement issues, and several posters commented that they would walk away rather than pursue this property.

Given that you are in no particular rush to move, and you aren't feeling 100% committed to this purchase (which is understandable), I wonder why you are still so keen on the property?

Bigphil1474

We had some damp issues on the house we sold. The damp company quoted about £6,5k for the work they could do and estimated another £3k for the work they couldn't do. We ended up paying a couple of other company's a total of £3k to get all the work done from the report. If the report recommends injecting any sort off cream into the wall, that's a waste of money. 

If the works required, by the vendors own admission, are near to £8.5k, then you can either negotiate, walk away, or carry on at the agreed price.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Sofia.
You will almost certainly never - unless they are truly desperate to sell, or the property was clearly overpriced in the first place - get near the full deduction for things like damp 'repair'. Or any other 'repair' either.
It's pretty much the exact opposite of, say, having a PV system - you will never recoup anywhere close to the sum paid out for this. Ditto for a new £20k kitchen - just you try adding that sum to the house's value!
House sale prices are very flexible things, and can vary a lot depending on desirability and a rough estimate of what is required to 'do it up'.
So it's haggle time. And haggling is never purely rational - there's a whole lotta emotion also built in.
The current owners coped with this 'damp issue' presumably for as long as they lived there, and probably never even considered it a significant problem at all. And now someone is presumably trying to negotiate an £8-17k discount to fix something they never bothered with. Their starting emotive point will likely be - "we coped, so why can't they?" "We knew the house wasn't perfect - but they want us to pay to make this their perfect house".
This house is like every other - it'll sell for whatever someone is prepared to pay for it. So, haggle by all means, but the bottom figure will be the purchase price. By you, or someone else.

sofia67

Yorkie1 said:

sofia67 said:

Hi

Im looking at a property but two surveys brought up damp issues. Their quote was an eye watering £17k. 

The vendor then got their own survey. Which comes up at £8.5k. 

What’s the best way to progress? They’re playing hard ball saying they won’t negotiate which has annoyed me as they’ve been so rubbish getting info out of. (There are a lot of issues with the house that put me off as well as damp) and I’m not in a rush to move particularly. 

There are things like indemnities needed for lack of building regs etc. 

I’m just left feeling a bit off about the whole thing. But I don’t know if it’s just me being fed up with estate agents!! 

Please can someone help me make sense. Thanks 

Help! Buying with extension no planning permission — MoneySavingExpert Forum

In your earlier thread about this property, you mentioned that the damp surveyor quoted £5/6K, so you now have a range of quotes.

As you've summarised above, you also previously mentioned various Buiding Regs and build over agreement issues, and several posters commented that they would walk away rather than pursue this property.

Given that you are in no particular rush to move, and you aren't feeling 100% committed to this purchase (which is understandable), I wonder why you are still so keen on the property?

I updated that post to say my damp surveyor said on the phone to me 5/6k. Then the written report was much higher. 

Why am I still keen? Because I’m freelance. My mortgage relies entirely on my last three years salary. This year I have taken a hit. I know if I was to get a mortgage next year it will be drastically reduced. I can’t change my main income for the meantime as I’m a single parent. Hope that helps your understanding. 

sofia67

ThisIsWeird said:

Hi Sofia.
You will almost certainly never - unless they are truly desperate to sell, or the property was clearly overpriced in the first place - get near the full deduction for things like damp 'repair'. Or any other 'repair' either.
It's pretty much the exact opposite of, say, having a PV system - you will never recoup anywhere close to the sum paid out for this. Ditto for a new £20k kitchen - just you try adding that sum to the house's value!
House sale prices are very flexible things, and can vary a lot depending on desirability and a rough estimate of what is required to 'do it up'.
So it's haggle time. And haggling is never purely rational - there's a whole lotta emotion also built in.
The current owners coped with this 'damp issue' presumably for as long as they lived there, and probably never even considered it a significant problem at all. And now someone is presumably trying to negotiate an £8-17k discount to fix something they never bothered with. Their starting emotive point will likely be - "we coped, so why can't they?" "We knew the house wasn't perfect - but they want us to pay to make this their perfect house".
This house is like every other - it'll sell for whatever someone is prepared to pay for it. So, haggle by all means, but the bottom figure will be the purchase price. By you, or someone else.

Thanks. Yes that makes sense. The vendor was a landlord so I think there’s even more of a disconnect with the house. She’s never lived there as far as I know. So the state of the property is really irrelevant to her. 

sofia67

Bigphil1474 said:

We had some damp issues on the house we sold. The damp company quoted about £6,5k for the work they could do and estimated another £3k for the work they couldn't do. We ended up paying a couple of other company's a total of £3k to get all the work done from the report. If the report recommends injecting any sort off cream into the wall, that's a waste of money. 

If the works required, by the vendors own admission, are near to £8.5k, then you can either negotiate, walk away, or carry on at the agreed price.

Thanks Phil. That’s really helpful. 

Just as a matter of interest what type of cream are you talking about for the walls? It definitely needs a new dpc which unfortunately would mean ripping out plaster up to a metre. 

Bigphil1474

There's quite a few variations of damp proof cream, but the theory is that they inject it into your wall right along to create a damp proof course. Even the guy who came to do the damp survey told me it was expensive and probably only last a few years. Better to get a proper DPC installed. They quoted me something like £1.5k for materials which the plasterer who ended up doing some of the work said would cost them about £200. Difficult to know who was right but I couldn't find much online to say it was worth it, other than from people selling it.

sofia67

Thanks Phil. That’s all really interesting. I’m doing some research into that now. I don’t know much about this to be honest even having had it injected in the past. 

sofia67

Yorkie1 said:

sofia67 said:

Hi

Im looking at a property but two surveys brought up damp issues. Their quote was an eye watering £17k. 

The vendor then got their own survey. Which comes up at £8.5k. 

What’s the best way to progress? They’re playing hard ball saying they won’t negotiate which has annoyed me as they’ve been so rubbish getting info out of. (There are a lot of issues with the house that put me off as well as damp) and I’m not in a rush to move particularly. 

There are things like indemnities needed for lack of building regs etc. 

I’m just left feeling a bit off about the whole thing. But I don’t know if it’s just me being fed up with estate agents!! 

Please can someone help me make sense. Thanks 

Help! Buying with extension no planning permission — MoneySavingExpert Forum

In your earlier thread about this property, you mentioned that the damp surveyor quoted £5/6K, so you now have a range of quotes.

As you've summarised above, you also previously mentioned various Buiding Regs and build over agreement issues, and several posters commented that they would walk away rather than pursue this property.

Given that you are in no particular rush to move, and you aren't feeling 100% committed to this purchase (which is understandable), I wonder why you are still so keen on the property?

I was thinking about your post last night and I wondered if you meant to be so rude and unhelpful. 

It’s fine if you don’t like me, think I’m stupid, don’t want to help me. Just don’t post. 

But to link my old thread as if you’re trying to catch me out and pick out what you think are in-discrepancies, list all my previous comments, what are you hoping to achieve?

if you want the fuller story. I’ve left an abusive marriage. Which has had long term effects on me obviously. 

After decades of being beaten down and made to feel stupid I really struggle with making decisions. I am terrified of making the wrong one because I know the consequences. Decades of being told I don’t know what I’m doing has eroded all my self confidence. I said in my earlier post I have no one to turn to.

This isn’t the first property I’ve nearly bought. But I’ve had to pull out for numerous reasons and now I don’t know if it’s my insecurity or if these are tangible reasons to pull out. 

Yes I have a roof over my head but it’s not ideal. My son is on the waiting list for adhd and autism diagnosis and has already had many dealings with the cam team for his mental health. He is struggling not having his own space. We are on top of each other and he would really benefit from play dates with friends but we obviously can’t have anyone over. 

I am at near breaking point and I can’t see the wood for the trees. I came here for advice as I am struggling. Your post reminded me of my ex and his behaviour so much. 

So to you I might be some idiot on the internet asking stupid questions. But before you start lambasting me over your keyboard maybe think about the human on the other side. 

You’re free to not like me and think whatever. Just don’t post if you have nothing nice to say.  

Tucosalamanca

I can't see that Yorkie's post is rude, unhelpful or trying to 'catch you out' tbh.

Linking to the previous thread is often helpful for other posters, so that they can get some background on the situation and perhaps assist in moving the conversation forward (trying to help you).

You've been very harsh on Yorkie1, without justification, imo.