am i being ripped off by estate agent/mortgage advisor

[astina]

hello everyone i am new to all this and to buying property. i have had an offer accepted for 6k less than the asking price. i had mortgage offer for the amount pending survey. the survey came back saying that the house needs a complete rewire. i have been contacted by the mortgage advisor to tell me that i have to pay £1800 to do the work even before i have it signed off???? she tells me that the estate agent will not ask the seller to pay even half as i have already got a bargain for 6k less than the value of the house. i think this is disgusting. is there anything i can do as if i pull out i will lose a lot of money that i have already paid for solicitors mortgage advisor and surveyor. please can someone advise me what to do and not merely pull out of the deal

[astina]

ANOTHER POINT:- i have not had a brochure either from the estate agent..... any help would be much appreciated please please help me

[astina]

If I do pull out will i be able to recoup the money paid out for survey solicitors etc if i have not been issued with a brochure or will i be considered at fault for not asking for one - i need urgent help please can someone help me.

[astina]

looks like i cant get any help here from 49 readers cheers anyway

[googler]

Originally Posted by astina

looks like i cant get any help here from 49 readers cheers anyway

Well, since your first post was only yesterday morning, there might be the possibility that some regular contributors have been on a day off......

Your choices;
Walk away. A possibility, but you don't want to.

Pay up to have it rewired. If the mort co won't lend unless it's rewired, they won't lend; and you (I assume) can't afford to buy without a mortgage.

Tell your mortgage advisor to find another mortgage co, or another mortgage product. However, there's always the possibility that they too will insist on the house being rewired.

What exactly do you find 'disgusting'?

Also, could you clarify where the mort advisor and seller's EA fit together? Did you get your mortgage advice from an advisor who works with, or within the selling EA's organisation? Is this the reason why 'she' (mort advisor) tells you the EA won't even ask seller about splitting cost of rewire?

I don't see what the sales brochure has to do with your situation. If you don't have one yet, ask the selling EA for one. I doubt very much there'll be any pertinent information in it relating to the wiring, so I don't see why this is relevant.

[alchemist]

Astina, I can understand your frustration. I am also in the process of buying a house and find myself in very stressful and frustrating situation due to a restrictive covenent and other hidden repair costs of the property (only found out in survey!) which the vendor refused to negotiate or do anything at all...
My thoughts:
-Do you mean the Home Imformation Pack when you mentioned 'brochure'? - you should ask for the HIP as it should include Land Registry title plan, water search, sales statement, questionnaires etc. It helps you to know more about the property. Evaluate if this is still a property that you want to buy. Walk away if you think it does not worth it. Don't buy the property just because you have spent money on surveys/solicitors. It's a huge commitment!
-I am surprised that the mortgage advisor asked you to pay £1800 to do the work. Does he/she get any written instruction or conditional offer from the mortgage company? Ask for the document. Where did he/she get the quotation from? Also, you do not own the property and you have no rights to work on the property! How can you pay to do the work when you are not the owner?? If rewiring is such an important condition of a mortgage offer (which I find strange), then the vendor will have to do something about it as other buyers will not be able to get a mortgage offer either!
-What did the surveyor say in the survey? - talk to him/her to clarify if that is an immediate action or future maintenance consideration.
-Get electricians to check and get a quotation (get 2-3 quotes if you can)
-Talk to another mortgage provider direct and arrange another mortgage.
-Try to talk to the owner direct - meet him/her if necessary. It's always easier to negotiate when you know the person and vice versa. Afterall, estate agents act for the vendor!
Hope this helps!

[brian]

Remember, it's a marketplace, and it's for buyer and seller to reach agreement.

Obviously the complete re-wiring takes value off the property, but just because it's had £6k taken off the asking price does not mean to say you are actually getting it at a significant discount - market prices are only what people will pay for.

It really grates on how their are various fees a buyer must incur, sometimes before finding out about issues - but you can treat this as another reason to haggle.

Alternatively, look at other properties - unless you are absolutely in love with this one, there's no compunction to buy it.

[astina]

a huge thank you for all your help and advice apologies for the impatience but i had to give an answer last week i chose not to answer this has bought me some time cheers

[Ryan Forbes]

You have mabye got this sorted out by now but in my opinion its a buyers market. I would be looking for the seller to contribute in some way. The seller is going to keep having the same problem.

[mortgage_advisor]

As already mentioned, if the property is unmortgageable due to the wiring issue, then the seller can't sell the property without this being done.

At the same time, you aren't going to pay for work to be done on a property that you don't own, as the vendor could just say they are not selling you the property after you have done the work.

So, a potential solution, get the mortgage adviser to sepak to the lender, hopefully you can get a mortgage offer with a condition that there will be a retention until the work is done. On the back of this mortgage offer, you can then get your solicitor and the vendor's solicitor to arrange an exchange of contracts with the right to pull out if the work is not done before a specified completion date. This means that if you pay to get the work done, you can be certain that you will still be buying the property.

Then arrange with the vendor to perhaps split the cost of the work, and maybe even get the vendor to pay for it but increase your mortgage and the purchase price by say £1k which would be what you are paying towards the work.

This would get the work done, reduce your risk, split the cost of the work and somewhat solve the problem.

Alternatively, play hard ball and say if the work isn't going to be done by the vendor then you are pulling out. For the sake of approx £1k it would be a lot of hassle for them to pull out now. But if you go down this route, you have to be genuinely prepared to walk away.