1st time house buyer, potentially serious structural issues found... anyone have advice re negotiating price reduction / if I should pull out? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Transcendant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Hey all.

Finally in my 40s I'm fortunate enough (with a lot of family help & a mortgage) to be buying a home. It's end-of-terrace; just spoke to the surveyor today after he's done most of the inspection and he's found a lot of structural problems.

Feeling a bit defeated, it's taken so long to get to this stage of having an offer accepted, and being close to exchanging contracts. It's an old house so while I wasn't expecting it to be fault-free, I'm quite disappointed and I guess looking for some advice / reassurance.

Not got the report in text yet but he mentioned potential subsidence; rising damp; cracked walls; problem with the chimney stack; window frames; and others. Said it's all stuff that can be fixed, but potentially expensive. My plan is to wait for the text report next week, then contact the estate agent and attempt to negotiate a price reduction in line with the cost of the repairs, which imo will run into at least £15k. Considering it's on the market for £85k, and the owner wouldn't even put the electric on for viewing because she didn't want to pay £1 a day standing charge, I'm anticipating some pushback.

But, should I even bother? Is this 'sunk cost fallacy' at play? I certainly feel like if they're not prepared to negotiate re repairs then I have to walk away as I could buy a well-maintained property round here for the total cost of around £100k!

Any advice much appreciated.

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[-] Transcendant@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I've done a bit of digging around into UK case law. Not sure whether it's worth the hassle, but there's a legal term 'negligent misstatement' which may be applicable. The tricky part is proving intent, if I can demonstrate that the seller has deliberately concealed pertinent information and massively overvalued the property... they might be liable for my costs.

Lots of 'might' in there though, and proving intent can be difficult. I've instructed solicitor to cease work on the exchange of contracts; wondering if I should say anything to the seller / estate agent. They wasted my time and probably £1000+ of my money, and I definitely feel a petty impulse to waste theirs in turn.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah, you probably won't be able to get your money back but you can screw them out of being able to avoid declaring those issues your inspection found. Just pass the inspection on in a way that can be proven, then follow up by sending the same inspection to that address if a sale does happen along with information that you sent it to the sellers and your contact info.

[-] Transcendant@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yep I was in touch with solicitor today, and they confirmed it's not worth the hassle pursuing. Though, they did seem to be misinformed re the need for a contract; a contract is required to 'negligent misrepresentation' but not for 'negligent misstatement'.

Excellent idea about passing on the details of the survey to the estate agent, that way they at least have an established obligation for future potential buyers. And I'll definitely keep an eye on it with a mind to informing the eventual poor sod who takes it on.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023

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