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NickBane27
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi - I'm hoping you can all help, I'm not that used to negotiating!
So, we accepted an offer on our flat in early September. The offer was for £7.5k over asking price, which we were very pleased with. Over the last 3 months, everything has been progressing, although our buyer has been very slow - their solicitor was the last to raise queries, they were the last to get their mortgage sorted, etc. The estate agents say they are just naive first time buyers, but who knows.
About 2 weeks ago, everyone in the chain said they were ready to sign and exchange. However, at that point our buyer announced that they want to carry out a survey, even though they were told in September that they should do it then, and they said they didn't need one at that point. This was annoying for everyone, as the whole chain wanted to complete before Christmas.
Following the Homebuyers survey, they carried out a further damp survey today. They claim that the surveyor told them that 90% of the walls have signs of damp and therefore they will need to carry out a full damp proof course, estimated at costing £7k. We haven't seem the report yet, but they said they will provide it when they receive it.
Unfortunately we are very keen to move as soon as possible, as we have a baby coming in March, and so don't want to risk losing the buyer. However, we also had a damp survey done when we moved in. This highlighted that the main causes of the damp where the concrete 'garden' that meant water pooled by the back wall, and some dodgy guttering. We fixed both of these for a cost of around £4k, and haven't noticed any damp issues since. Our survey said that following this work, it would take up to 2 years for the walls to dry out. We did the work around 3 years ago.
So, my questions are:
- should we push back?
- if so, how hard (noting that we can't really risk losing the buyer)?
- if so, how do we push back? what are our arguments?
Thanks very much
So, we accepted an offer on our flat in early September. The offer was for £7.5k over asking price, which we were very pleased with. Over the last 3 months, everything has been progressing, although our buyer has been very slow - their solicitor was the last to raise queries, they were the last to get their mortgage sorted, etc. The estate agents say they are just naive first time buyers, but who knows.
About 2 weeks ago, everyone in the chain said they were ready to sign and exchange. However, at that point our buyer announced that they want to carry out a survey, even though they were told in September that they should do it then, and they said they didn't need one at that point. This was annoying for everyone, as the whole chain wanted to complete before Christmas.
Following the Homebuyers survey, they carried out a further damp survey today. They claim that the surveyor told them that 90% of the walls have signs of damp and therefore they will need to carry out a full damp proof course, estimated at costing £7k. We haven't seem the report yet, but they said they will provide it when they receive it.
Unfortunately we are very keen to move as soon as possible, as we have a baby coming in March, and so don't want to risk losing the buyer. However, we also had a damp survey done when we moved in. This highlighted that the main causes of the damp where the concrete 'garden' that meant water pooled by the back wall, and some dodgy guttering. We fixed both of these for a cost of around £4k, and haven't noticed any damp issues since. Our survey said that following this work, it would take up to 2 years for the walls to dry out. We did the work around 3 years ago.
So, my questions are:
- should we push back?
- if so, how hard (noting that we can't really risk losing the buyer)?
- if so, how do we push back? what are our arguments?
Thanks very much
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Comments
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Are they purchasing with a mortgage? Presumably the bank carried out a valuation of its own and is happy at the price you are selling at.
Their own survey will have a valuation price associated with it as well. If the survey matches what they have paid (or is more), tell them to jog on.0 -
What if they said, I want to knock £7k off, because you were wearing a blue t-shirt when the surveyor visited.
My point is - it doesn't matter what the reason is. Nor what the report says (nor that you can rely on the report anyway).
Either you accept, reject, or compromise.0 -
Sounds like you had a fake win of £7500 at the start now you have a fake £7000 loss - if they offered £500 over the asking price would of you accepted it?0
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They don't sound like naïve first time buyers, they sound like pretty ruthless buyers who offered over the asking price to secure the house with every intention of gazundering when Christmas got close.
If I were you I'd reiterate that the price is what you agreed on, the house is not damp and you won't be renegotiating. I'm not the one actually in the situation though, so its a case of considering what is most important to YOU.0 -
Had they already had a mortgage valuation carried out?NickBane27 wrote: »So, we accepted an offer on our flat in early September. The offer was for £7.5k over asking price, which we were very pleased with.
About 2 weeks ago, everyone in the chain said they were ready to sign and exchange. However, at that point our buyer announced that they want to carry out a survey, even though they were told in September that they should do it then, and they said they didn't need one at that point.
The HBR surveyor covered his backside, and they got scared.Following the Homebuyers survey, they carried out a further damp survey today.
They got a salesman in from a damp-proofing company.They claim that the surveyor told them that 90% of the walls have signs of damp and therefore they will need to carry out a full damp proof course, estimated at costing £7k.
I thought this was a flat? So they can't anyway - it would be the freeholder that would need to do that.
So they haven't seen it yet, either.We haven't seem the report yet, but they said they will provide it when they receive it.
It's also not the driest and warmest time of the year... Waving a cheap buzzy-proddy wonder scarebox around will result in high readings from cool walls.However, we also had a damp survey done when we moved in. This highlighted that the main causes of the damp where the concrete 'garden' that meant water pooled by the back wall, and some dodgy guttering. We fixed both of these for a cost of around £4k, and haven't noticed any damp issues since. Our survey said that following this work, it would take up to 2 years for the walls to dry out. We did the work around 3 years ago.
Simplest answer is to say "Show me what the valuation says, relative to your offer." That valuation will take account of the issues the surveyor found. I bet it agrees with the offer.So, my questions are:
- should we push back?
- if so, how hard (noting that we can't really risk losing the buyer)?
- if so, how do we push back? what are our arguments?
Either way, it all depends how badly you "can't risk" losing the buyer. If the buyer decides he wants the full £7k off, else he'll walk, then what?0 -
Thanks all for your comments.
Few things to clarify:
- yes their mortgage provider carried out a survey in September and were happy with the value of the flat.
- we own the share of freehold, so not sure how that works with carrying out the damp proof course.
I agree that we would’ve taken the asking price at the start, but that doesn’t mean I want to give up on £7k at this point!0 -
Something you could consider, can you cascade part of the cost up the chain.
e.g. you accept (say) £6k less, your vendors accept £4k less, their vendors £2k less?0 -
NickBane27 wrote: »I agree that we would’ve taken the asking price at the start, but that doesn’t mean I want to give up on £7k at this point!
If that is the case then reject the offer, you may lose out on the sale but you may not. If you lose this sale at the asking you may or may not get a better offer now.0 -
The last time that I moved house, our second buyers (first pulled out after 3 months in a chain of 7) asked for 2.5k off after a survey and then 2 days before exchange came up with another reason to ask for another 2.5k. The original agreed price was 247.5k. The reasons for reductions do not matter. they wanted money off the agreed and lender valued price.
I spoke to my work colleagues/friends about it and their view was fairly unanimous for us to tell them to do one. But, at the end of the day, the numbers still worked and moving was the most important thing for us at that time, so we just accepted it through fairly gritted teeth. After completing, we just thought how glad we were to have moved.
My point is that as hard to stomach as this kind of situation is, if you need to move and that is the key driver for you, then you need to make unpleasant compromises, but once you exchange, it is done and you can move on. (also helps justify not cleaning when you vacate)
If you are just moving for the sake of it, then I would not accept meekly, but with a deadline of pre March, I think you need to decide what matters most to you and the best way to achieve it can sometimes be against your initial instincts0 -
AnotherJoe wrote: »Something you could consider, can you cascade part of the cost up the chain.
e.g. you accept (say) £6k less, your vendors accept £4k less, their vendors £2k less?
I'd say the chances of no-one in the chain saying words to the effect of 'no, I will not reduce the sale price we mutually agreed on x months ago' are minimal.0
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