Buyers surveyor undervalued our house

RocketRonnieRadox

Hello all,

After being on the market for one year and three months, we finally accepted an offer on our house. The asking price was £280,000 and the offer was £270,000 as we know the exterior render requires some attention. We agreed to settle on £273,000 and a sale memorandum was sent to the solicitors.

the buyer arranged a survey and the surveyor was here for around two hours. last week the buyer received the result of the survey and I got a phone call from the estate agent telling me that she doesn’t want to proceed because of the outcome of the survey the survey highlighted a number of defects with the roof, mainly the survey said that there was rot and damp in the timbers, the party wall did not go all the way up to the roof presenting a fire hazard, the roof coverings were loose and required replacement and the insulation was inadequate.

I chatted with the estate agent and we both agreed that it would be worthwhile going back to the buyer and explaining that these surveys are meant to highlight things and that I would be happy to get a roofing specialist out of the following day in order to assess the condition of the roof. The buyer came back and said that the survey had valued the property at only £250,000 and that she may be prepared to proceed at that price so long as the Roof checked out okay.

the following day I asked a company called elite roofing to come and inspect the roof and to do a written report. They got up onto the roof with ladders and gave it a thorough examination and took many photographs. They also went into the loft and extensively checked for signs of rot and damp. 

They found no rot and no damp they found the torturing to be in keeping with what you would expect of a property of this age. They found no problem with the party wall. Both party walls reached the roof and the roof being was supported by the party wall and the installation Had been installed in 2008 and it had a certificate staple to one of the beams in the roof and they said that it was absolutely fine and compliant they were shocked at what the survey report reported.

other accents from the survey stated that the timber cladding to the front of the property was damaged in some areas or did they use the word rotting again? This surprises me because the cladding on the front of the house is made of plastic and not timber and it is not damaged anywhere. 

I’m very surprised that a surveyor cannot tell the difference between plastic and wood

This has left me with very little faith in the survey and the surveyor and if he could misrepresents the property so badly do I trust his valuation?

£30,000 is a heck of a reduction in price.

the estate agent spoke to the buyer again and it sounds like they may well be willing to proceed at £250,000 but they are reluctant to pay anymore based on the value that the survey gave.

I did a desktop evaluation on Purplebricks and it was valued that between 268 and 296 with an average of 282,000 this was also represented on other desktop evaluation sites

I believe the surveyor on the value of the house. Is there anything I can do to have this revalued or re-assessed to the satisfaction of the buyer?

How could a surveyor so grossly misrepresent the condition of the roof and the so-called timber cladding to the front of the house which is plastic?

Thanks for any advice. This is a critical time for us because we’ve already bought our next home and we really need the money to renovate it. We honestly thought that we were selling the house at less than it’s worth when we agreed to 270 3000

Thanks in advance

BikingBud

Have you "bought" or is it subject to your sale? 


Your specialist has a perspective?

Their specialist has a perspective.

Purplebricks has no real validity, it is set up by those wishing to maximise the profits from house sales.

15 months and not sold tells a story.

You have an apparent impasse, seems like your need might be greater than theirs.

Loanranger21

Put it back on the market at £275 and give each serious viewer a copy of the roofing report from Elite. 

bobster2

Loanranger21 said:

Put it back on the market at £275 and give each serious viewer a copy of the roofing report from Elite. 

OP has had this house on the market for > 15 months already

mta999

have you seen the survey report or is this what the buyer says was in the report ?

user1977

RocketRonnieRadox said:

I did a desktop evaluation on Purplebricks and it was valued that between 268 and 296 with an average of 282,000 this was also represented on other desktop evaluation sites

But have you researched actual comparable properties yourself? How did you arrive at your asking price?

Though if you're now saying you believe the surveyor on the value, then I'm not sure where you're going with this?

RocketRonnieRadox

Thanks all. Yes you have a point about it being on the market without an offer for 15 months but - overvalued by 30k ? Another house on the next block of the same construction went for £310k last year and ours is in better internal condition.

we have bought yes. Been paying 2 sets of bills for a year now but we are mortgage free on both houses.

I could stay in the current house and keep both houses running for another 2 to 6 months without an issue however during this period the new to us House will be deteriorating and condition with no heating and nobody living in it. 

This whole 15 months has been very stressful and in some ways completing on a sale will be a great relief but is 250,000 realistic evaluation 30,000 lower than the estate agent evaluation is quite a lot.

jimbog

I would like to see a copy of their report otherwise it would nag me for years. As it’s theirs they are under no obligation to do so but I would be curious as to why they would insist on keeping it under wraps 

RocketRonnieRadox

jimbog said:

I would like to see a copy of their report otherwise it would nag me for years. As it’s theirs they are under no obligation to do so but I would be curious as to why they would insist on keeping it under wraps 

They have disclosed parts of it to the EA but not all of it. 

What could be the reason behind not disclosing all of it ?

jimbog

RocketRonnieRadox said:

jimbog said:

I would like to see a copy of their report otherwise it would nag me for years. As it’s theirs they are under no obligation to do so but I would be curious as to why they would insist on keeping it under wraps 

What could be the reason behind not disclosing all of it ?

That it isn’t as dire as they’re making out and so losing the leverage to justify  the drop in what they’re offering 

youth_leader

I am sorry, how frustrating for you.  I suffered after a L3 survey with a buyer chip chip chipping away at the price with ridiculous quotes for work.  I left the EA and withdrew from the sale with him and I ended up going to auction - and most unfortunately he offered the most.  I had to settle, it choked me but it was just enough to buy somewhere small.

The reason your buyer won't share the whole report is because of the confidentiality clause, they have a 'contract' with their surveyor.