Reducing an offer after survey

[MalremoVilla]

First time poster and would appreciate some advice/ tips.

After making several offers our full & final before walking away offer was accepted, in confirming acceptance the EA stated that the offer was subject to no further negotiation. We responded that due to the age and condition of the property (several cracks in every room) we would be getting a building survey and reserve the right to lower our offer should the need arise.

We are still waiting for the formal report, however went round with the surveyor on Friday and he commented that the property needed c£20k worth of repairs, the bulk of which is for a new roof.

When the report is received in the next few days - how do we approach the EA and have you any tips/ advice/ past experience we could draw upon?

The house has been on the market 6 months, after originally offering £270k an offer of £290k was accepted (asking price was offer in excessive of £350k). The house is empty and a son and daughter are selling it on behalf of their elderly mother.

We are maxed out at £290k and can not afford the risk/ money of needing to replace the roof. We want them to reduce the offer to mitigate some of the risk and to offset the cost of all the identified repairs, but are concerned the vendor will not budge.

Any help please........

[brian]

Simply put in a lower offer to account for the extra costs - but it's entirely up to the seller whether they wish to accept it or not.

I know there was a property I was looking at recently that I was tempted by - superficially beautiful but over priced, with potential damp problems. A second viewing and I could see serious cracks along the walls of one side of the property (the EA claimed it was settling - despite the property being Victorian!) and a section of internal plastering had been ripped out showing the damp problem was even more serious than I had presumed.

The sellers were not interested in negotiating, and refuse to get a home buyers report done even though the property has been on the market for well over a year. Probably because the valuation would be significant revised downwards.

Some people are like that.