How to renegotiate sale price ?

Biggie

During legal work I find the property I'm purchasing has been underpinned 16 years ago :mad:.

Seller is prepared to place the building insurance under my name however I wish to renegotiate on the price as I wasn't told upfront before my offer was placed.

The Seller seems really stubborn I tried to renegotiate after my Survey but he stuck to his guns and wouldn’t budge on the price perhaps he knew I would try again once this came to light.

I want to renegotiate based on the following reasons:-

- Insurance premiums are higher for underpinned properties in fact double
- It’s difficult to sell underpinned properties due to building insurance
- It's difficult to sell underpinned properties due to the stigmatism associated to them
- There’s always the increased risk of further subsidence
- Any future building work such as extensions may need further engineering.

I want 5k of the asking prices, due to the increased premiums which I think is negligible considering the circumstances.

My legal sectary suggested doing this though the agent as they normally deal with this kind of thing. But I would prefer solicitors to write\forward a letter as it's more professional.

Q1)Would you expect the the solicitor handle this for me ?.
Q2) Shall I write a letter outlining the above reasons? and give it to person doing the negotiations (solicitor\agent)
Q3) Is this a rational purchase or has by view been totally blinded ?
Q4) Can you give me any other tips ?

Biggie

bump HELP !

JMC39

How much have you spent so far? I guess it depends on a) how much you really want the house, and b) are you happy pull out and lose any money spent so far?

When buying my house the survey brought up a few issues, and I managed to negotiate the seller to reduce the price (through the estate agent).

If you bought the house under the impression that there was no underpinning, I don't think it is unacceptable to want money off - would have put a bid in if you knew it was underpinned? It's very easy once you have had a bid accepted to 'mentally move yourself in', once you are in this position people tend to sweep issues under the carpet just because they want to get it all done and dusted, forgetting about the financial issues.

Personally, I would keep pushing the seller, unless the house is in high demand, it's a buyers market.

dubsey

I too would think it's very fair to want some sort of reduction if I hadn't been told. As JMC rightly said comes down to how much you want the property even now knowing it's history.

I don't think it's mad, properties do sell and re-sell even with underpinning, but you are totally right in that they do carry a stigma. We almost bought a bungalow before our current property. Had the basic lenders survey (silly I know) which came back with slight movement but without full structural survey couldn't tell anymore than that. By talking to a neighbour we found out that the properties on each side had been underpinned and the whole road had a history of it which everyone and his dog knew about (we were new to the area). Unfortunately we were not willing to take the risk, only because it hadn't already been underpinned and we wouldn't have been able to afford to that if necessary.

Biggie

tnks for the replies guys,

House is in a very sought after area in NW London, houses in this bracket rarely come on. We have been waiting for about 1 1/2 yrs.

Really would like to go for the house, though the underpinning was a shock i'm not overally concerned about resale as we plan to live there for 15-20+ yrs. Also it was underpinned 16 yrs ago and the surveyor said that chances of further movement we're remote.

However I would like some reduction espcially due to increased preimums and don't fancy over paying for a house that may potentially aready be worth less.

Biggie

Solicitor is sending me underpinning paper work, so should hopefully be with me tommorrow.

Also i've fired an email asking if it's viable for them to forward documents on my behald to the vendor's solicitor to renegociate on price.

whirlwind

Hasn't a good deal on a house always got something wrong with it? That's why it's a "good deal" (lower price) - it either has a risk or work that needs doing?

We have something similar where we are buying but were told straight after we offered about subsidence - there's not been a claim. For me it's a home for at least 10 years, not just an investment.

You might need to keep it on with the same insurance company, which I guess you already know.