Negotiation after survey

[Woman in distress]

Hello everyone, I am new here and desperately hoping someone could shed light on this.



My partner and I are about to walk away from house purchase. We had our offer accepted, survey done, but the survey revealed quite a few problems with the house. There are a few "Red" ones (serious and urgent ) which the vender agreed to take on themselves. (But then those "Red" ones were easy to fix stuff, like the boiler needs servicing.) But what we've been demanding from the very beginning is we want all the repairs done including "Amber" ones BEFORE we move in.



The vendor got back to us last week and said they would be happy to contribute half the total repair costs £3500 (we are not sure if £3500 is the total or half that). They are basically saying that it is unreasonable that they have to do all the repairs. Plus, they are all external work (chimney breast, repointing, damp proofing etc) that will delay the whole process and would be done by one company. Now, my partner was not prepared to negotiate and told them that they repair them all or we walk away. We argued over this as I think the vender’s offer is quite reasonable considering it is an old Victorian house, and in the heat of the moment he emailed EA that we are walking away from the purchase. However, now that he realised how upset I am, he says we will go along with the proposition (they pay half, we pay half) if that is the vendor’s final offer. Even though it might be all too late after that email, I would like to speak to EA myself on Monday (it’s Saturday afternoon now) and see if the vendor is prepare to negotiate any further.


Thank you so much for reading so far. And my question is, is it fair to ask the vendor the full costs of repairs? Or in this instance, should we share the costs?


The house is not exactly our dream house but neither of us wants to go through house hunting all over again.


If anyone could give me any advice on this, I would be most grateful.

[WishToBuyAFlat]

I'd stand on my position and say repair all or we walk away; I don't usually change my decision when I have made one but it depends on the personality and also how willing you're to compromise as this is now the last phase of the negotiation.

If the vendor is really willing to sell, reducing £7k from the house price wouldn't be a big issue but if the vendor has other chances to sell the house as it is, they wouldn't compromise.

On the other hand, if really £7k would resolve all the issues, sharing half of it wouldn't be a huge put down, would it?

From what I have got your husband doesn't really like the house, does he?

My general approach to this kind of issues:

1) Create a Decision-Making Table
2) List reasons why you should compromise
3) List reasons why you shouldn't compromise
4) Value each reason and see how important each reason is to you both
5) Decide with open eyes and when seeing all the reasons and values; know that there is no perfect decision, there is always a risk factor and not making any decision is also a decision!

Hope it helps

[surf]

the housing market is currently very slow so im sure the vendor knows they may not get another offer for a while so may well go for the full amount if you push it

i suppose it comes down to if it is worth the amount they are asking, all propertys have their faults, its just a case of how much you are prepared to pay for it compared to other propertys in the area

[Woman in distress]

Thank you so much for your messages!



It’s great to know that making such a request is actually not that unreasonable. Last week EA told us that to request all repairs done by current owner is very unusual. I guess we just have to see what they have to say on Monday and if there is any chance of further negotiation, we will push for the whole repair costs. The vender seems desperate to sell, plus, we are FTB, mortgage sorted and an ideal buyer for any seller! Our offer was 98% of their asking price and the house was advertised to be in a “scrumptious” condition throughout.


Wishtobuyaflat – you are right, I am more attached to this property than him…

[New Homes Expert]

This is simple to sort out.
get an estimate for the cost of the repair work and reduce the agreed price by the same amount.
If this is unacceptable to the vendor walk away. That is why you had a survey in the firts place - to make sure what you were buying was worth the money!

If it is also not your dream home then even more reason to pull out.

[editha]

I've just joined this forum.

As someone who has bought and sold several houses and flats, I can say that I would never ever agree to do repairs to a property before selling, and would only make that demand if I was buying from a builder or developer.

The reason is simply that as seller, I could spend a lot of money on repairs, only to have the purchaser walk away. As buyer, I'd rather buy the property and then have repairs done myself to make sure they were done to the standard I wanted.

I might negotiate on price. If the seller won't lower the price, that is because they think the property is worth that value even before the repairs are done. You have to remember they've been living in the property without the repairs and probably don't see the need for them.