First time buyers deciding how to renegotiate after survey

alien_pebble

Hi, 

We are a young couple who are in the process of buying a first home. We are at the stage where we have a mortgage offer and our survey is complete. 

We initially had trouble with getting a mortgage with the property as the first lender wouldn’t lend due to the kitchen extension having single skin walls. 

The next lender we went with has given us an offer that we are relieved about. 

However, our survey has come back saying that the kitchen extension structure needs total demolition and rebuild to proper building regulations. The survey mentions this recommendation throughout the survey and notes that it lacks adequate insulation due to the wooden frame structure and noted decay on this plus other notes on the flat roof that could
go at any time. The surveyor recommended we seek immediate advice from builders to get costs and suggest that renewing the structure would not be viable. 

There are also mentions throughout the survey of asbestos around the house in places where they have recommended work needing to be done. 

There are other things that were in the survey but we don’t feel that are as substantial as those two issues. 

My question is now, what would a reasonable adjustment to the price of the property be? 

The house has been on the market for 6 months and had two other buyers fall through so the price has reduced twice from £345k to £295k which we originally offered pending survey due to it obviously needing a full rewire. It’s in a nice area and has a nice outlook. The house is 1960s and the interiors haven’t been updated and will need modernising which is great with us. 

We need to confirm with a builder a cost but we estimate a minimum of £30k to demolish and rebuild the kitchen. 

What would a good reduction be that both mitigates some of the cost for us and isn’t insulting to the buyer? 

Thanks for any advice!! 

silvercar

don’t worry about insulting the seller, they clearly know there are issues.

First question would be whether you have money set aside to do the work. The lender will only lend based on current market value.
You need proper costings to do the work.

Albermarle

Normally when FTB's come to the forum with worries about surveys, a lot of the issues are not that bad really. Surveyors tend to highlight worst case scenarios, to cover themselves.

However in your case it seems they are serious about the kitchen issue. It is unusual to have a single skin brick wall.

How big is the kitchen ( external size) ? Depending on where you are in the country, building costs are around £3K per M2- then plus fitting out another £10K ? Plus will be a demolition cost. 

As the current kitchen appears serviceable, and you will have a much nicer kitchen after a rebuild, then you can not really pass the whole cost on. Maybe half ???