Condition of sale-no reduction on price whatever the outcome of survey

spiritus

I put an offer of £ 131k for a house marketed at £142.5 k. This has now been accepted but with the condition that the vendor will not reduce the price after survey. In other words, anything that might be found in the survey can not be used to negotiate the price down.

I understand the vendor may not want to reduce the price anymore but is this type of condition something I should be suspicious of ?

robwend

no not at all. i would do the same if i sold for less than i was 100%happy with

scope

Just walk away if the survey turns out something nasty.

merlinthehappypig

It's not an issue really. The seller is just making a point which he is entitled to do.

It has no legal validity. If the house is o.k. you can still buy it if you wish, if the survey shows up problems then you can walk away.

Doozergirl

I wouldn't be suspicious.

I sold a house once to a girl where I said that surveys on our houses always come back totally clean. If for any reason hers didn't, we would rectify any problem...She then went and asked the agent if there was something wrong with the house. :wall: You can't win.

You've got them at rock bottom price. That's why they said they can't reduce any more. At least they said in advance!

And if it does show something up - well you either renegotiate and they have to accept or you have to walk away. A bird in the hand though!

Trollfever

It is a buyers market.

What does the seller know that you don't know?

Jorgan_2

Just make sure you have a decent survey & not just the mortgage valuation. That way you can make an informed decision should the need arise.

Gorgeous_George

It's a pointless condition but at least you know that the vendor won't budge.

You need to decide whether to splash out on a survey or not. My guess is that if something really bad crops up, the vendors may choose to reconsider their stance.

GG

spiritus

Doozergirl wrote: »

I wouldn't be suspicious.

I sold a house once to a girl where I said that surveys on our houses always come back totally clean. If for any reason hers didn't, we would rectify any problem...She then went and asked the agent if there was something wrong with the house. :wall: You can't win.

True.

I hadn't even thought there might be anything wrong with the house but this condition has just planted the seed in my head.

Thanks for the advice guys !

paddy's_mum

That condition would worry me, and I'm not a newcomer to buying and selling houses! It's almost as if they are throwing a challenge at you, in my view.

True, they have actually only told you what price they will not go under. True, they probably believe there is nothing whatever wrong with their house that a survey could possibly find.

Equally, you may find a problem, walk away and then the same problem keeps recurring for them with every prospective purchaser. How many buyers will walk away until the sellers realise that the dream figure isn't necessarily going to happen.

The only house in my entire life that I truly "fell in love with" didn't have a valuation/survey/ownership problem. However, it did have a catastrophic restrictive covenant problem which was only discovered the anticipated day of exchange. It meant that we could not buy the place free and clear and we reluctantly withdrew.

I do understand that people (both buyers and sellers) get very fed up with trying to play the game by the current so-called rules, but I personally would find such "conditions" served only to make me be extra wary.

selectcase

I would not worry - if something serious came up you could still negotiate i expect - all the seller is trying to do is make sure you wont niggle over silly things like fixing a door hinge etc.

if you are wary get the full works survey to find out everything