Sale agreed and offer reduced after visit from plumber

sophfudge

I would just like to see if anyone has heard of this before. I am selling a property and it was sale agreed at the end of Jan. It was taking awhile for the bank to send the deeds and in the meantime the purchaser organised for a plumber to visit the property as there was a leak they had noticed. The plumber then sent an email advising that the whole heating system may need to be replaced and the purchaser wanted to drop the offer by thousands! Bearing in mind there was a new boiler put in within in the last few years. I have asked a plumber to go to assess the situation and repair leak. To me it seems like this guy is chancing his arm! I have a tenant who is moving out in a few weeks so I want it to move quickly but it seems crazy to me.

the_syco

Have they signed the contracts, and if so, what does you solicitor say? And perhaps ask your plumber how this leak would have occurred.

sophfudge

Solicitor thinks its mental but contracts had just been sent so not signed. I will get all the info from the plumber when they call tonight. Apparently their plumber said the big issue is that the tenant has been topping up with fresh water which is very bad!

hawkelady

Get your estate agent to tell the purchaser that you will contact the other people interested in your property so !! That might put a spark under the purchaser to keep going with the sale!! I doubt he'll pull out now tbh

Sleeper12

Usually you send in a surveyor or engineer to inspect the property. They draw up a report highlighting any issues. The purchaser can try use this report to try reduce the price that they already agreed to. You don't have to accept the lower offer. You can tell them that it is what it is & the price is what it is.

It'll all depend on the market. Do you feel lucky to have gotten the original price or do you think you'll get another buyer easily enough?

denismc

It's a sellers market right now, there isn't a huge supply of housing out there at the moment and I am sure the buyer is well aware of this.

If you just want the sale to go through quickly then you could negotiate with the buyer, otherwise talk to your estate agent, if there other bidders then consider them.

sophfudge

Yes I do want it to progress quickly and I was really happy with the sale agreed price(it was almost 30K over the asking price) but they have reduced it so much that I feel they are taking the pee. Maybe ill see what the EA says after I talk to my plumber.

Chapeau

I suggest you get a plumber to inspect the house yourself and find out if there really is a serious problem. I wouldn't rely on a plumber's opinion who has been engaged by the buyer. Once you know the extent of the problem and have an estimate for repair costs you can decide whether to negotiate or simply put the house back on the market.

jimmycrackcorm

Chapeau wrote:

I suggest you get a plumber to inspect the house yourself and find out if there really is a serious problem. I wouldn't rely on a plumber's opinion who has been engaged by the buyer. Once you know the extent of the problem and have an estimate for repair costs you can decide whether to negotiate or simply put the house back on the market.

This. Get a plumber in to fix and evaluate it. The buyer is chancing his arm and you could save yourself thousands by simply fixing the leak and selling then. All the better also if you have the vacant possession.

bleary

What does topping up with fresh water mean?

Sleeper12

bleary wrote:

What does topping up with fresh water mean?

Constantly topping up the heating system with fresh water will rust the rads from the inside out.

davo10

This happens regularly, a survey throws up a problem and the buyer tries to offset the cost of repair against lowering the purchase price. Don't take it personally, it's like picking up a slightly soiled shirt and asking for a discount.

Don't bother getting your own survey nor plumber, as an earlier poster suggested, ask your EA to inform the buyer that you will be open to new offers while you are checking out the issue. If your property is in demand, the buyer will be back like lightning to say the deal will go ahead at agreed price.

sophfudge

Thanks everyone for the advice. I love your take on it davo10! My plumber went last night to locate the leak and is due to go to fix it. This morning my EA asked if it was ok for the buyers solicitor to speak to the plumber. When I hear back from them today I think ill go with your suggestion. Thank you

annoyedgal

Our survey pointed out an issue with the boiler. Our solicitor strongly advised us to have it investigated and sorted before signing.
We asked the owner via the estate agent, plumber fixed it, serviced it and issued us with a cert. Problem solved. I would have no problem doing the same with my own house i am selling. Moving into a house with shoddy heating or finding out a new heating system is needed would be pretty lousy in my opinion.
If your willing to get it fixed with plumber of your choosing I'm sure they'll be happy with that.

the_syco

sophfudge wrote: »

SApparently their plumber said the big issue is that the tenant has been topping up with fresh water which is very bad!

Ask the tenant. Could be bullsh|t to lower the price?

godtabh

Unless its a structural issue I wouldnt be reducing the offer.

I've just moved house. Heating was in a jocker. My offer was based on having to replace that.

Did my survey. Found some issues. Got an engineers report with costs. Agreed a reduced price based on some of the issues. Others, as vendor advised, should have been noticed like the heating and offer reflecting that.

dubstepper

It is quite normal on the sale of a house that there will be issues raised by the survey. Some mix of the following three can sort them:

1) Offer to fix the issue raised
2) Offer some money off the agreed price
3) Tell them to go whistle (Boris Johnson approach)

I have sold twice and had to deal with these. First house was in poor condition. One item raised was to do with drain from neighbour's extension in my garden. I had to call in and agree to get it moved. It was sorted out.

Next house I sold had an extension I had put in. Few bits came back on it. I agreed about 1200 reduction in price. A couple more items I had to stand firm and see who blinked first. They did, mainly due to housing shortage i guess.

sophfudge

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

filbert the fox

sophfudge wrote: »

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

Be careful .....the buyer still has not signed contracts and may try another stall...Anything is possible before the contracts are exchanged. Gazumping Gazundering ..still a problem.

I don't know how much is involved but you must remember that every penny counts when you are buying/selling.
good luck

April 73

sophfudge wrote: »

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

Did your plumber tell you that there were expensive repairs/replacement needed? If not I would have fixed the leak & left it at that.

the_syco

sophfudge wrote: »

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

They'll be asking you to drop it further when their electrician finds another fault, and then the building surveyor finds something else... be careful.

Sam Quentin

Words can be manipulated to sound scary and shocking..
The whole heating system needs to be replaced...
Could actually mean: A few radiators could do with being replaced just in case you have issues down the line..
Sounds like your being shocked into something that's not necessary, at a time when your under pressure and no offence but in a weak state of mind/position....

hawkelady

Please don't let the buyers do this to you. It's a sellers market out there. Let us know if they try knock some off. You should insist that they sign contracts asap and don't let them know you are under pressure at all.

marieholmfan

Smart move OP.

sophfudge

Im thinking I made the wrong decision reading the comments now. I accepted the offer to reduce the price and I am fixing the leak. The only worry is I will have to start the whole process again if I play hard ball with the buyer. I can still change my mind as the leak hasnt been fixed

annoyedgal

Don't do both anyway! Is it cheaper to fix the leak or reduce the offer? Do whichever is cheapest to you. And if you fix the leak they would be mad to walk away from the offer because your not reducing the price.

sophfudge

It's way cheaper just to fix the leak

PrettyBoy

sophfudge wrote: »

Im thinking I made the wrong decision reading the comments now. I accepted the offer to reduce the price and I am fixing the leak.

Why are you doing both?

TJ Mackie

I don't get your logic OP.

"I'll offer you €10,000 for your car."
"Deal."
"On second thoughts, I see there's a scratch on it. I'll offer you €9,000 instead."
"Tell you what, I'll fix the scratch and sell it to you for €9,000. Whaddaya say?"

Thestones

I bought a house about 2 years ago, the survey found a leak issue and we knew a new boiler was needed, I approached agent to reduce price but he strongly suggested we didn't go ahead with the request as we had been in a bidding war and he felt the seller would move on to the next person and not entertain reducing price, we took his advice and went ahead with sale, we didn't want to risk loosing it as there was nothing else on the market we wanted. I think you've been soft OP and why would you fix issue and reduce price, makes no sense?... do one or the other. If your happy with lower price don't fix the leak, sure that's what the lower price is supposed to cover.

annoyedgal

Simple then, do not reduce price. I'd be very very surprised if they walk away.


quote="sophfudge;106686412"]It's way cheaper just to fix the leak[/quote]

Lantus

There are desperate people queing to buy a house 1 week outside the office before they go on sale at 500k and your worried?

Put house on market for 5k more than sale agreed. Just disclose issue with heating. A few k is nothing to the hassle of buying.

Wabbit Ears

Fix the heating and relist at a higher price.

I also cant fathom the fix and reduce agreement. The buyers really must have been leaving out many nightly offerings to the gods of chance and luck.

sophfudge

thanks for the advice everyone!

beeno67

sophfudge wrote: »

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

Correct decision.
Fixing the leak is easy. It does not fix the damage caused by the leak or the potential damage caused by the constant topping up of system.

I would get out, get the money into your hand and get on with life.

sophfudge

beeno67 wrote: »

sophfudge wrote: »

I decided to drop the price in the end! I know there are issues and just want to proceed. I am selling so I can buy my own home as we are currently renting

Correct decision.
Fixing the leak is easy. It does not fix the damage caused by the leak or the potential damage caused by the constant topping up of system.

I would get out, get the money into your hand and get on with life.

That was my thoughts too! Now I just hope my tenant leaves next week. She currently has no where to go apparently even though we advised her we were selling in Nov. I would never advise anyone to become a landlord. Its a nightmare.

the_syco

sophfudge wrote: »

She currently has no where to go apparently even though we advised her we were selling in Nov.

Doubt she's moving in that case. The day after she's meant to be gone, start the eviction process, as Threshold will probably advise the tenant to overhold.