what can I do about unfavourable surveys

[Romave]

my husband and I are in our 70,s and put our lovely 50,s bungalow on the market in April 2007 because it was on an elevated site and we needed something flat.It sold immediatley for the asking price but the buyer withdrew his offer just as we were ready to sign, he said he was not happy with the survey. He would not let the agent see the survey. It was then July 2007 and we were ready to move into our new property,we decided to move and thought it would sell within weeks however the property crash occurred at that time. It has been on the market for 4 years and we have dropped the asking price by £30,000. We accepted an offer ( the first in 4 years) 2 months ago and they have just withdrawn the offer as they dont like the survey !!!! They would not allow the agent to see the survey .We are devastated we have never had any problems while we lived there for 18 years and even though it has been empty for 4 years there is no trace of damp. We really need to sell but fear this could happen every time, we have been told that surveyors are putting every eventuallity into surveys to avoid being sued at a later date.This is crazy, how do peaple sell any house? any advice would be welcome.

[drhouse]

You could approach the last surveyor firm and ask if they will give/sell you a copy as the buyer is no longer proceeding. Or you could commission your own survey. This would at least show what value they put on it and give you the opportunity to rectify any defects. It will cost you some money but could be well spent.

[Michelle Alden]

Hi Romave

I would advice that you pay your own surveyor firm and have a new survey conducted. This survey would be yours and thus you would be allowed to study it and see what changes you can carry out in order to fix the house.
Hiring your own surveyor and paying for the changes he makes will cost yo money but it will eventually be worth it when it's easier to sell your house

[ComareTheMortgageMarket]

I am surprised that the potential buyers will not let the agent see the report or even try and use the report as a bargaining tool to reduce the price of the property. If both potential purchasers have only had a basic mortgage valuation done then perhaps there is some underlying problem that the valuer has picked up on. You could also offer to pay the valuation fee from the latest buyer so you can see this report. Failing that then instruct your own surveyor to see if they can pinpoint the problem.

[nick81uk]

for people on the other side of this it can be worth hanging on and negotiating heavily with the sellers. Ive heard a few stories of sellers just getting fed up of no sale and selling for a heck of a lot less than originally asked for.

[qetta]

Surely the sensible thing is to commission your own survey and find out exactly what is wrong with your property. It does seem strange that people won't tell you what has put them off it, though.