MattN

more opinions and advice please,

saw a flat put in an offer, was accepted, had a Homebuyers survey done and a few big ( i think) problems came up -

""The extractor in the bathroom is no longer operating satisfactorily and should be repaired or replaced. More significantly however, it would appear that the builders never provided a flexible plastic tube from the top of the outlet to the tile vent above it, probably because the sloping internal angle strut for the truss roof passes in front of the tile vent. As a result there is considerable condensation dampness on the trusses, which will cause the rafters to rot and connectors to rust. This work should be attended as a matter of urgency.""

""The ball valve tot the cold water storage tank, which is extremely difficult to access, was constantly overflowing.""

""There was a completely inadequate supply of hot water to the kitchen sink. This should be attended to by a plumber""


Do you think these kind of faults effect the price? I do, and so does the person that did the report.

What do you thinks the best action - get the vendor to fix the problem's or get the price knocked down to reflect the work that needs doing (and how much!!!)?

Also my soicitor says he has yet to receive the draft contcats, the offer was accepted 3 weeks ago, is this an unusally long time to wait to get draft contracts/

cheers chaps

Neil Smalley

hmm tricky one. I would get an estimate of the work needed to be done to bring it up to an acceptable standard. Then seek to get the money off. I would'nt exchange contracts or go any further until this is resolved.

Seek your solictors advice on the matter.

polarbearit

It really is a case of knowing what you were doing, my house needed a large amount of work doing, and the estate agents were great; they arranged for relevant quotes for me. One that sticks out as amoungst the best was the roof work - The guy the Estate agent sent to quote gave a figure of £3.5k to fix it! I payed a friend £600 to do the work, and the highest quote I had after was for £1300...

So my advice on this, get quotes, and use them to negociate on the price, particularly if you know people who can do the work for you. If possible get the estate agent to arrange them as they are usually keen to progress the sale so won't hold anything up. I payed £12k (about 15%) less than the already very low asking price, last year. I would say it depends on the house/area and particularly the seller, some are harder to deal with than others!

Jon

Jon

mook

I would say the ball **** thing is reasonably simple to adjust so that's okay. The other two, especially the roof strut problem are certainly grounds to worry. I agree that getting the estate agents to get some quotes is a good idea then use them to lower the price. Chances are you can then get the work done at a lower price. If you get them to fix it you don't necessarily know how well it's been done and for how much, and it takes more time, better to keep it in your control.

I agree you shouldn't exchange contracts until you've got a satisfactory agreement on a lower price.

I wouldn't say it's particularly long to wait for the contracts although anything over a month and I would start putting pressure on.

hth Good luck

MattN

cheers guys, that was pretty much my thinking - it's good to get other opinions.

ta.