Renegotiating house price based on smaller than expected garden

swingaloo

If you had seen the correct size of the garden when you viewed would you still have put in an offer?

perizadah

In answer to Albermarle and swingaloo, yes the house ticks a lot of boxes for us so I’m confident we would have put in an offer. The garden situation is disappointing but we can make some changes (e.g. extending the patio) to make it more usable with the smaller space. 

I guess we’ll have to think back to what we might had offered beforehand and hope the vendors agree with us!

Herzlos

perizadah said:

When we viewed there was an area where ownership wasn’t clear, so we got confirmation in writing from the agent that it was part of the garden before submitting our offer - turns out the agent was wrong.

The garden left is VERY small - patio that isn’t big enough for a sofa and small patch of grass.

I'm still confused as to the size here. You're saying that patio isn't that big but if you extend it over the grass it's big enough?

Can you give us a rough measurement or a photo/diagram or something?

In any case, if there's been a material change and you feel that impacts the price, then there's no reason not to adjust your offer. There's also not reason that the seller will accept it and you can figure it out from there.

In all honesty I'm not sure 15% of a small garden will have much impact on the house value. If it's barely big enough for a sofa you've presumably only lost a few square feet?

RHemmings

Herzlos said:

perizadah said:

When we viewed there was an area where ownership wasn’t clear, so we got confirmation in writing from the agent that it was part of the garden before submitting our offer - turns out the agent was wrong.

The garden left is VERY small - patio that isn’t big enough for a sofa and small patch of grass.

I'm still confused as to the size here. You're saying that patio isn't that big but if you extend it over the grass it's big enough?

Can you give us a rough measurement or a photo/diagram or something?

In any case, if there's been a material change and you feel that impacts the price, then there's no reason not to adjust your offer. There's also not reason that the seller will accept it and you can figure it out from there.

In all honesty I'm not sure 15% of a small garden will have much impact on the house value. If it's barely big enough for a sofa you've presumably only lost a few square feet?

I must admit that I'm on the side of the OP here. A small difference might cross the line from 'unusable' to 'useable'. 

The EA misled the OP, deliberately or accidentally. 

If I was in the OP's position, I'd offer lower if I was prepared to walk away if the offer is refused. Which it quite likely would be. In any revised offer I would explain that I had been misled by the EA. As it may make the vendor more likely to accept rather than an unexplained price reduction. However, I think the chance of a lower price being accepted is probabably low unless the original offer was generous and the owners not too sensitive. 

lincroft1710

Some actual measurements would be helpful.

silvercar

Would you still effectively have sole use of the unowned area? Presumably if it was thought of as part of the garden by the estate agent, then the current owners use it as their own and no one has stopped them? I would want that in writing, in case in years to come you want to make a claim for it and the historic statement could be useful.

MysteryMe

If as it appears the OP was given incorrect information by the EA, and it was obviously an important enough consideration to the OP for then to ask the question in the first place, then I think a revised offer is reasonable. What the reduction should be is for the OP to decide, perhaps they could use the valuation report as a starting point.

perizadah

MysteryMe said:

If as it appears the OP was given incorrect information by the EA, and it was obviously an important enough consideration to the OP for then to ask the question in the first place, then I think a revised offer is reasonable. What the reduction should be is for the OP to decide, perhaps they could use the valuation report as a starting point.

We got a Level 3 survey so no formal valuation , but the informal chat with the surveyor indicated we were on the high side but not ridiculous if we loved the house.

Garden size now just over 40m sq whereas we were expecting it to be 47m sq (approx measurements). No way of using the area we’d previously understood to be the garden as it belongs to next door but we can extend the patio onto the grass to make just enough space to sit out.

sheramber

Point to consider

Will you go ahead with your original offer if the seller refuses  the reduced offer?

How long was the house on the market?

How keen are the sellers to sell or would they prefer to remarket the property ?

How keen are you to get the house?

How important is the garden ?


I would not have offered with the  size of garden but  my son would have been happy with it.

TheJP

perizadah said:

MysteryMe said:

If as it appears the OP was given incorrect information by the EA, and it was obviously an important enough consideration to the OP for then to ask the question in the first place, then I think a revised offer is reasonable. What the reduction should be is for the OP to decide, perhaps they could use the valuation report as a starting point.

We got a Level 3 survey so no formal valuation , but the informal chat with the surveyor indicated we were on the high side but not ridiculous if we loved the house.

Garden size now just over 40m sq whereas we were expecting it to be 47m sq (approx measurements). No way of using the area we’d previously understood to be the garden as it belongs to next door but we can extend the patio onto the grass to make just enough space to sit out.

Was the neighbours land not fenced off in any way? What when viewing made you think the area was part of the property?