Vendor requires engineer survey before accepting bid

Prospectors

Hello,

Has anyone else experienced the following when bidding on a property:

Selling agent refuses to accept bid unless the bidder carries out a pre-purchase engineering survey at their own expense. Apparently the vendor requires this so they know how serious the bidder is.

I see it as a scam to lock the bidder into the bidding process for another few rounds of bidding because they're after forking out €600 for a survey, might as well go €5-6k more in the bidding process.

Alkers

Or the house has issues that have caused previous buyers to pull out of the sale

notharrypotter

Of the vendor doesn't want to go sale agreed only to have the process delayed while the buyer gets a survey done.

tigger123

Prospectors wrote: »

Hello,

Has anyone else experienced the following when bidding on a property:

Selling agent refuses to accept bid unless the bidder carries out a pre-purchase engineering survey at their own expense. Apparently the vendor requires this so they know how serious the bidder is.

I see it as a scam to lock the bidder into the bidding process for another few rounds of bidding because they're after forking out €600 for a survey, might as well go €5-6k more in the bidding process.

What's the general condition of the property? What year was it built?

Have you asked the EA why a surveyors report is required?

Gumbo

tigger123 wrote: »

What's the general condition of the property? What year was it built?

Have you asked the EA why a surveyors report is required?

A surveyors Report should be got for every second hand house purchase, but in general it is carried out after the buyer has an offer accepted (Subject to Survey).

In this case, the vendor wants survey done before accepting the bid, this can be for a number of reasons, such as being burned previously or there could be some issues that the buyer needs to be aware of before entering talks.

Prospectors

tigger123 wrote: »

What's the general condition of the property? What year was it built?

Have you asked the EA why a surveyors report is required?

General condition is good. We have been told the other bidder must also get their own survey done before any further bids will be accepted from them.
It could be that a previous sale fell through on the strength of an engineer's report.
Or the cynical side of me thinks it's a ploy to confirm that a bidder will continue with higher bids if required

KevRossi

If there is some issue with the property then surely the bidder would make it known via his own report to save their time and every body else's time.

Its an odd one.

The_Honeybadger

That’s a strange one and would be enough to put me off personally it’s a lot of money to be paying out before a bid is even accepted

tigger123

Prospectors wrote: »

General condition is good. We have been told the other bidder must also get their own survey done before any further bids will be accepted from them.
It could be that a previous sale fell through on the strength of an engineer's report.
Or the cynical side of me thinks it's a ploy to confirm that a bidder will continue with higher bids if required

It's certainly odd. Generally you go sale agreed and then get a survey done.

Plus, if it's because the vendor got burned before they're being a little over sensitive about the whole thing.

But it's a sellers market at the moment, so if you like the house you should consider proceeding with it and have a very thorough survey done.

km79

We are selling our house next spring. It’s a house in area where houses should move fast and house itself is also in great condition
We are relocating and due to change of schools etc we can not really afford any time wasters /delays
For that reason we had actually been considering requiring survey take place before bid was accepted

However having read the comments here I can see that this could create more problems so I won’t now !

KevRossi

km79 wrote: »

We are selling our house next spring. It’s a house in area where houses should move fast and house itself is also in great condition
We are relocating and due to change of schools etc we can not really afford any time wasters /delays
For that reason we had actually been considering requiring survey take place before bid was accepted

However having read the comments here I can see that this could create more problems so I won’t now !

You would be wasting more time. Why would I do a survey when there is the possibility it will be sold between me asking for a survey and the surveyors report.

You could state that any bidder needs to put a non refundable €100 deposit with the estate agent.

But if the area is that desirable then a good agent will have a few potential buyers on the books.

Askthe EA

This is more common than you think, especially at this time of year.

The obvious reason is that the EAs clients are trading up / down and dont want their purchase to fall through if the sale of their own house falls on an engineers report.

If a sale falls through now, it would be new year before they would likely go back to the market.

It could also be due to known issues in an area (subsidence etc) and they want their bases covered.

Andycap8

Ask the estate agent why they want the survey done in advance.
If he says its a demand of his client, ask him if the house has been previously listed and if the vendor is aware of any specific issues.
A good survey will only cost €500-€800. Relative to the actual price of the house its minuscule.

cruizer101

Andycap8 wrote: »

A good survey will only cost €500-€800. Relative to the actual price of the house its minuscule.

The issue is what if you had to get multiple surveys done in order to bid on a number of different houses.

Seems like a strange request to me.

Askthe EA

cruizer101 wrote: »

The issue is what if you had to get multiple surveys done in order to bid on a number of different houses.

Seems like a strange request to me.

You dont HAVE to do anything. Just like a vendor doesnt HAVE to sell their house without demanding engineers reports in advance. They are trading bidders for certainty.

Andycap8

cruizer101 wrote: »

The issue is what if you had to get multiple surveys done in order to bid on a number of different houses.

Seems like a strange request to me.

Bidding on multiple houses? How's that "fair" on the vendors?

A vendor can ask for whatever they like. It's up to the bidder to decide if they want do any of it.

Sarn

To be honest, it would put me off. If we had got a survey for each of the houses that we bid on over the space of a year it would run to several thousand euro. Even going sale agreed and getting your survey done could leave you out of pocket if the vendor changes their mind, although that would be less likely.

If there is something wrong with the house that could affect the sale then the vendor would be better off highlighting it, as it will be discovered after going sale agreed.

Metric Tensor

It would put me off too. Quite possible that something is up with the house and the vendor isn't being upfront.

Buying a house is a business transaction and you have to fight the urge to let your heart rule your head (I realise this is easier said than done). With this in mind:

Even in a seller's market the vendor won't want to turn away the possibility of a bidding war or a buyer with more reserves so I think a little hard ball is in order:

Call the auctioneer and say your bid of X stands but you will not be wasting money on a survey in advance of having a bid accepted. Then drop in that upon hearing the vendors demand your surveyor told you there must be something wrong with the house and said you should consider walking away.

*Obviously the above might go wrong and you might have to walk away which brings me back to my business point above

The_Honeybadger

Andycap8 wrote: »

Ask the estate agent why they want the survey done in advance.
If he says its a demand of his client, ask him if the house has been previously listed and if the vendor is aware of any specific issues.
A good survey will only cost €500-€800. Relative to the actual price of the house its minuscule.

It’s minuscule if you end up buying the house, if you are eventually outbid it’s a complete waste.

Andycap8

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

It’s minuscule if you end up buying the house, if you are eventually outbid it’s a complete waste.

So there should be no risk without guaranteed reward?

The_Honeybadger

Andycap8 wrote: »

So there should be no risk without guaranteed reward?

When we were buying we were fairly close to sale agreed on four places before we eventually bought our house. If we had gotten a survey done on each one I’d be down thousands of euro. You wouldn’t get an engineer for love nor money if every vendor insisted on this. It’s an unreasonable request imo.

If the vendor places a condition on accepting the bid that a survey must be completed within 10 working days I’d say that is more than adequate protection from time wasters.

Andycap8

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

When we were buying we were fairly close to sale agreed on four places before we eventually bought our house. If we had gotten a survey done on each one I’d be down thousands of euro. You wouldn’t get an engineer for love nor money if every vendor insisted on this. It’s an unreasonable request imo.

If the vendor places a condition on accepting the bid that a survey must be completed within 10 working days I’d say that is more than adequate protection from time wasters.

So you were bidding across 4 properties at the same time?

The key thing you seem to be missing is, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's not rocket science.

km79

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

If the vendor places a condition on accepting the bid that a survey must be completed within 10 working days I’d say that is more than adequate protection from time wasters.

Thats a good idea and a reasonable request. I think we will go down that route

The_Honeybadger

Andycap8 wrote: »

So you were bidding across 4 properties at the same time?

The key thing you seem to be missing is, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's not rocket science.

No, we were looking for about 12 months and the others fell through for various reasons, we were outbid twice and on another property the vendor changed their mind about selling and withdrew it from the market. Another one is still for sale afaik, we hit our max bid and it wasn’t enough for the vendor.

I’m not missing anything, of course you don’t have to bid. It’s a daft and unnecessary condition, but if that’s what the seller wants to do fair enough. I wouldn’t bid under that condition though, and I’d imagine most other people wouldn’t either.

Prospectors

Thanks for all the input.

Spoke with engineer this evening and he advised I look elsewhere. He believes there is some defect that it is hoped will be missed by a rushed report/decision, or it is purely a move to lock me into the sale and encourage a bidding war with the other "bidder".
Think I'll be taking his advice.