New Roof - who should pay?

[Phil555]

We're selling our house and the surveyor has told the man buying our property that it needs a new roof. Our estate agent has told us that this could cost £8,000 to £10,000.

So - my question is, who pays? My gut feeling is to accept 50-50 but my wise old Dad says "they are getting the benefit.

Any thoughts / prior experience would be much appreciated....

[IFA]

It's great that your dad is looking out for your interests here but think about it from the buyer's perspective. How would you feel in their circumstances?

Yes, they would be getting the benefit of a new roof, but then why shouldn't they? They are buying the house, of course they should have the benefit of a safe, secure and weatherproof roof if the offer was agreed on that basis.

If you bought a second hand car, and 2 weeks later you discovered that the sunroof leaked when it rained would you take it back to the dealer requesting that it be fixed? And would you expect to pay towards the repairs?

If the dealer had told you that the sunroof leaked when you bought it, and you paid a fair price for it with this in mind, then fair enough, but if you paid the full going rate for a car of that age & type then no doubt you'd expect it to be repaired under warranty with no charge.

If your buyers have made an offer that they consider a fair price for a house with no imminently essential major repair items, and they have subsequently discovered that the roof is not in good condition, they are unlikely to be prepared to pay £8-10k extra when that's what they thought they were getting anyway.

I would say that it is maybe fair for the buyers to contribute some money towards the cost (after all they will be getting a brand new roof rather than a good condition second-hand roof that they probably expected), but how much they will be prepared to pay will be a decision that only they can make and the outcome will be different in every case.

All you can do is ask the estate agent to discuss it with them and see what they are prepared to agree to.

But before all of that get 2 or 3 roofers in to assess the roof properly and give accurate quotes for the work, it may not be as bad as the surveyor / EA have assumed.