Have I any rights to see my house buyers Survey Report or builders estimate?

B

badabling

Guest
Apologies for the long post but I am at my wits end!

We went sale agreed on our property a few weeks ago.

Since then the buyer has had a survey and valuation on the property.

EA was there for both and told us that the valuation went fine. She also said that the surveyor gave little away but did say that over time the extension roof may need to be replaced. As this is a flat torched on felt roof we were happy enough that this wouldn't be a big issue.

Last week the buyer contacted the EA to say he got the survey report and the extension roof was listed as an 'essential repair'.

The buyer said he was still interested in going through with the sale but he wanted to get a builder to look at the roof to see how much the job would cost and more importantly if it had to be done immediately or if it could wait a few years.

The builder came and reported back to the buyer. EA contacted me the next day to say he had said it would need to be done immediately and quoted the buyer a figure for the job. As he is a family friend he allegedly only listed a small fee for labor. When I heard the price I was astounded!

As the person living in the house at the moment I can safely say that there are no water marks on the ceiling, no leaks, no drips etc, and certainly no prior indication that there was even a small problem with the roof, so having someone tell me that it was a matter of urgency to get the roof replaced, not even repaired is quiet hard to fathom!

EA advised us that the buyer was prepared to split the cost with us which meant we would have to reduce the selling price even further again. I told EA I needed to get someone to look at the roof from my end and to estimate the cost of repairs if indeed any were needed. I told her I thought the quote seemed excessive. EA was surprised I wanted to do this and said she was expecting me to make a decision over the phone as she felt the buyer was being very fair! I laughed at the EA and told her that I don’t normally associate myself with the practice of pulling figures out of the sky to come up the price I will pay for a product or service!

I contacted a builder who worked on our property last year and asked his opinion. He said he will have a look at the roof on the weekend but can’t see how it would need to be replaced in full if we were experiencing no problems with it. I queried how much a replacement would be and he gave me an approx cost. His quote was 25% of the price the buyer told the EA her builder quoted her!

Am I right to have alarm bells ringing????

What are my rights in this situation?

Have I any rights to see buyer’s survey report or builders quote?

Buyer has paid deposit to my EA but no contracts have been signed yet.

I am seriously thinking of pulling out of the whole thing as I really feel that I’m being given the run around and that the EA is on the buyer’s side and not mine. A few people have commented that maybe the buyer is a friend of the EA and this is a theory I’m starting to believe more and more…………..

Any comments, tips, advice etc are more than welcome!

 
Have I any rights to see buyer’s survey...
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No you don't.

It's a bizarre practice - if you pull out of this deal and get another buyer, the next buyer has to get a new survey done. They'll pay for it all over again. If they coincidentally go to the same surveyor, the surveyor will be laughing all the way to the bank.

...or builders quote
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You cannot demand to see it, but if you're asked to pay half, it would be reasonable for you to ask to see it.

The EA is likely to try to convince you to do anything that ensures that the sale closes quickly. Don't expect impartial help from this quarter. If you end up pulling out of the purchase the EA has to try to sell your house all over again, which is extra work for no extra money, especially in this climate.

Do go ahead and get your own written estimate from another builder. If it comes up at 25% of their verbal figure, send your written estimate to the EA and tell them that you're prepared to pay for half of this figure.
 
Firstly be calm, if you really want to see the survey you can ask the surveyor to do a survey for you, I guess you could get it cheaper as he doesn't have to look at the house again. Personally I wouldn't bother, you know the roof is fine. Flat roofs are not as good as tiled roofs and over time they will leak and need replacing - anyone viewing a house would (ought to) know this and would factor it into their offer price. In my opinion they are trying to get you to reduce your price so don't get distracted by the survey report, proposed purchasers friendly builder or the EA antics.

Remember you don't have to sell to this purchaser (unless you are really desperate to have a sale) - you can call their bluff. Another idea would be to ask the EA for a copy of the report from the proposed purchasers - would their be any reason they wouldn't let you have a copy of it - their shouldn't be and there is no harm in asking.
 
I agree with Bronte hold fast say that the price agreed is the price and that you have consulted with your own experts who disagree with their surveyor. If these people went to the cost of getting a surveyor they want the property. Ask yourself if the kitchen needed to be repaced at some stage in the future would you pay for their new kitchen?
The agent wants this off his books and to get his fee so of course he sees this as reasonable. Surveyors reports are always very long and full of problems as if something goes wrong and they have not picked it up they are in big trouble.
 
You could say that, like any second hand house, there will always be maintenance work to be done from time time - you are aware of this and the house is already priced accordingly - "what you see is what you get".

This isnt about whether or not your roof needs fixing. This is all about the price - the bidders are offering you lower than you want.
 
Bronte said:
Firstly be calm, if you really want to see the survey you can ask the surveyor to do a survey for you, I guess you could get it cheaper as he doesn't have to look at the house again. quote]
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If you do decide to get a surveyor youself, it would be madness to use the same one. Get an independant opinion and you may be suprised by the results. Chances are they are 'trying it on'.

One thing to consider is that even if the roof is fine, even sugesting that it needs repairing to a builder will get you a quote in most cases. i.e. cheaper for the builder to carry out if there's nothing wrong in the first instance.

I would personaly ask to see the surveyor's report, if they are not forthcoming with the information then alarm bells will ring. Why would they not want you to see it if they're genuine?
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Agree with the above. Don't be drawn in by the EA. He doesn't care whether you sell for the agreed price or the agreed price less half of the buyers builders estimate. The difference between what he earns on the higher and lower amount is minimal. The difference betwen selling it now at the lower price or putting it back on the market to him is huge as he has to start all over again.

You need to assess, what the difference in price means to you compared to what's involved in starting again. That's the key to it. If you call his bluff you need to be prepared to hold strong in my opinion. Because if you call the buyers bluff and say you want the agree price and he backs off, you're in a very weak position if you want to go back to him after all.
 
Camry said:
Doesn't sound like a big job. How about you propose to the buyer that you will have replaced if you think you can have it done for 1/4 of the buyers quote.
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Its the principal Camry - why should I have to pay for a job that dosen't even need doing? The buyer has said it is has to be replaced immediately as a matter of urgency. My builder has said it may need replacing in a few years and is only to be expected with a house of its age.

(btw it mightn't be to you, but 2K is a lot of money to me!)

Thank you all for your replies so far
 
I suppose it comes down to "do you have another buyer if this one pulls out?"

I think if you read some of the other posts you'll see that the market is fairly dead and any prospective purchaser is better than none. So, will they walk if you say no chance? If they do, will someone else buy at the same price? If you negotiate ( and I suspect this is just about a price reduction) will they close?

Again the advice on this board to most purchasers is to bargain and bargain hard. But its crap when you're the one trying to sell!

mf
 
I think that getting into builders quotes & who is or isnt going to do the work and/or whether or not the work will be done before or after the sale or even needs to be done at all is all too complex.

Its quite simple, they want a couple of grand off the price because (i) they think the house needs work that wasnt apparant pre-survey or (ii) they want a few grand knocked off the price and are using whatever excuses to try to get you to reduce the price.

Personally, I would ask them to quote an offer for the house in its current state of repair full stop. If the offer is acceptable, I would accept it. If it wasnt, then I would reject and ask them to submit a higher offer or the house goes to next bidder or back on the market.

Personally, a couple of grand is not going to be a deal breaker. If I genuinely liked a house, it wouldnt bother me to spend a couple of grant on the roof after I purchased it, consequently, if I were selling in the current climate, an offer within a couple of grand of my sale price would probably be accepted (unless there were other bidders with similar price).
 
Well, I stood my ground and said no way to the price reduction as the roof was not in need of immediate repair and I had already reduced the price a lot to go sale agreed.

I also threatened to pull out of the sale altogether.

I requested the quote stating that if I was being asked to pay half, its only fair I see what I'm paying for (thanks Dave!).

I also requested the report stating that if there genuinely was a problem with the roof the buyer shouldn't have any issues with me seeing it (thanks Bronte & Garbow!)

5 minutes after I sent the email to my EA, she phoned to say the buyer had (would you beleive!) just phoned her to say he had reconsidered and that the roof wasn't an issue anymore and he was prepared to go ahead with the sale for the agreed price!

Thanks guys for all your help and advice. If it wasn't for this site I would probably be either a few grand less well off or have a house back on the market again!
 
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