Vendor had a list of engineers that they “don't want used”

I'd 1st of all seek some information as to why they are seeking to restrict the purchaser in whom they chose to conduct a survey.
It strikes me as very odd.

Then barring a satisfactory answer I'd walk.
A house purchase is a massive commitment, and one that a purchaser is fully entitled to ensure they enter into with as much detail as possible.

Interesting - I wonder how the Vendor compiled the list? Has the house been on the market for a long time or maybe the EA supplied it?
You need to decide whether it’s worth losing the house over but it would ring alarm bells for me!

Pretty outrageous. Typical of estate agent behaviour though. Would set alarm bells off for me anyway - what do they not want discovered?

At the end of the day, it's pre-contract so they can stipulate what they want. But by the same token, just because your engineer produces a list of issues it doesn't mean that the vendor has to act on them. Its for your own peace of mind.

So, does Vendor know of issue which would likely scupper the sale if discovered/ result in purchase price being reduced, and they want to avoid wasting time by pulling the sale now instead?

Or, is Estate Agent just acting the billy big bo**ix and trying to call the shots and badly advising his/ her client? You could call their bluff and ask them to take vendors' direct instructions.

Bypass the Estate Agent by getting your solicitor to write directly to Vendors' solicitor - that should clarify who's calling the shots.

FutureGuy wrote: »

He’s known to be very picky. Will spend 4-5 hours on a property and the reports are very thorough. Will fail a larger percentage than the average.

You can't fail a report on a house it is simply an engineers opinion. Not sure how they can legally tell you who to use and by the same logic they can't tell you who not to use.

I would simply ignore it. It sounds like the enginer did a survey before or the estate agent as some issues. Let the engineer that such a list exists and he is on it. He may be very interested. I know I would and then be taking legal action.

Ask your guy and a few others how much it would cost to survey that property.

Or straight out, ask your guy would he have a survey of that property done already.

FutureGuy wrote: »

We have the engineer booked for Tuesday so the the EA is going to do nothing slow everything down by pressurising us to change engineer.

Well, what I mean is they probably see it as better to pull the sale to you now if you don't find someone new and go back to market rather than proceed and spend a few months dealing with your engineer's report findings and requirements for X Y and Z to be dealt with. Maybe there's a planning issue they don't want discovered/ the hassle of having to deal with retention application etc. etc. If contracts are signed it's much harder for Vendor's to get out and they'll have to deal with you on report findings. Not necessarily agree to act, but the correspondence process would definitely drag the conveyance out a bit.

So maybe they would prefer to wait a few weeks (although who knows when the next acceptable offer will come in) and go with a more straightforward sale. It's all a bit of a gamble on their part though - will the market drop further etc etc.

Bottom line, you need clarity as to what the reasoning is. You need to be comfortable that the property you're buying has no ghosts in the closet. There's no way of guaranteeing that, but a thorough engineer is an excellent step.

Theres no such thing as pressure from the EA.. just ignore him, you're not his client nor he yours. You choose what ever engineer/surveyor you want its your prerogative, you choose, you pay, they facilitate access. End of story. I would of laughed if the agent said that to me. The point here is you get independent advice.

This is like you going to the vendor and saying you want him to get a different EA, it makes no sense!

awec wrote: »

I doubt it's the EA to be honest, more likely an awkward vendor.

The EA likely feels like an idiot even having to bring it up. They know how it's supposed to work.

The vendor is the estate agent the owner is totally different. The idea that the owner would know so many engineers and want to exclude them is the most unlikely scenario. Most likely the estate agent who would know who would know them and want to avoid them from previous experience.

That really sounds like a few engineers have been to that house and found issues.
It would be a HUGE red flag to me.

Maybe ask your engineer have they ever surveyed that property before?

Book the engineer and ignore the EA.

If they dont like that ,walk away.

FutureGuy wrote: »

I asked if any engineer reports have been done and he said no.

You do know that estate agents lie don't you ?

Paddigol wrote: »

Except that the Vendor owns the house - he/ she doesn't have to give access to anyone. No contract signed - no obligations. Even with a contract signed, there's not much a potential Purchaser can do regards getting access when/ how they feel like it.

The whole thing in this case is very odd.

When I say 'they' i include the vendor

They either want to sell the house or they dont... playing silly beggers is all theyre doin. Dont dance to their tune.

TuringBot47 wrote: »

That really sounds like a few engineers have been to that house and found issues.
It would be a HUGE red flag to me.

Maybe ask your engineer have they ever surveyed that property before?

That's actually the best advice so far ,and tells more than anything else ...
If he's inspected it previously ,he'll probably tell you straight what the result was , if he knows the current owner in some capacity he'll probably tell you that too...

mrslancaster wrote: »

I heard something similar when a friend was selling about two years ago. There was lots of interest & the local EA agreed a sale above the asking price but it took months to close.
There was nothing wrong with the house but the surveyor said the house was overpriced so the bank wouldn't give the buyers the loan they needed. The buyers really wanted the house so they got a different surveyor. Everyone happy.
I never heard that before but maybe it happened the seller & they know the three on the list won't stop the sale.

You're mixing up the valuation report and the survey report. Separate reports done by separate people.

awec wrote: »

Tell them you're not changing engineers. Pull out if they don't accept this.

That’s the long and the short of it, up to them.

kceire wrote: »

The buyers surveyor doesn't value the house.
The report is for the buyers eyes and doesn't go near the bank.

thanks, When I heard it first, I thought things had changed a lot from when we bought but I probably misunderstood.:(

mrslancaster wrote: »

thanks, When I heard it first, I thought things had changed a lot from when we bought but I probably misunderstood.:(

That's not strictly true, your solicitor has to sign that the property is mortgage-able and if they know of something which is going to cost 30 grand to fix you could run into issues.

Tell the EA now that they have raised the objection you have no choice you have to use that engineer come what may. Ask them do they still what to accept your offer.

the_syco wrote: »

Translation; seller has had multiple possible buyers walk away after said engineers found sh|t wrong with the house, and wish for you to try one that hasn't :pac:

This.
I've been there, still wearing the tattoo.
Seller was hiding faults in the build. Moved 'personal items' into an affected room and prevented the engineer from entering (for 'privacy' reasons). Turns out we bought a crock with 'features'. Engineer highlighted these concerns in his report, but we still thought better of his analysis and bought. Don't.

based on the bizareness of their behavior i'd just walk away. Buying a house is difficult enough without a difficult vendor/ea

The only reason they'd have a "list" imo is it's a list that's found problems previously.

Or it's the EA's list and claiming it's the vendor. Either way it's odd and i wouldn't go near it