Owning your own home

I wish we had got a builder to have a look round as well as the survey. Survey to tick boxes, builder to tell us more realistically how much work was needed, when and for how much. That all depends on having a builder you trust though and that you would use for most of the big work.

As @aggi says, the price they offer is for the flat as is. If a survey or other inspection shows something that even you weren't aware of or wasn't mentioned in the listing/visible on viewing then there's a discussion to be had.

Things like redecorating, flooring, fixtures and fittings, they can jog on.

that's my thinking too. There's some under cabinet lights that only work sometimes so we're getting someone to look at that but otherwise the EA just said they'll send a list of things they want fixed and I can't think what that might include. We'll happily fill in any holes in the walls but can't do that until we've taken down shelves etc.

We'll happily fill in any holes in the walls

That, to me, comes under decorating. I didn't bother when I sold my flat, and I wasn't concerned that it wasn't done in the house we bought. You'd expect that kind of thing moving into a rental, but not buying somewhere IMO. If you want to do it though, that's very considerate of you.

They should know that if the shelves or fixings are not part of the list of things that come with the flat, that they will be removed. And doing so will leave the screw holes. But again, that's just what I would reasonably expect.

Yeah, I have a friend of a friend that is a builder. He has already been around for a look as the bathroom needs changing around and the kitchen is very 'vintage'...

@Sumo I am considering those things as 'sold as seen'. I cant think what else your buyer might want fixing. It isn't rented accomodation!

I guess I'll find out soon. Can't really think what else they could ask for.
You still need to show us the place you've bought.

Do let us know!

I will show when, for better or worse, I 100% know its going through!

Have you posted your new pad yet???

They've still not declined or accepted our offer yet. They've got some more viewings this week so waiting til those are done. Otherwise there isn't many other options right now, there's been a couple of nice places but without parking and we plan on getting an electric car so need somewhere to charge it.

A buyer (who pulled out a few weeks before exchange) wanted us to make good all the holes from the tomado wire shelving that was going with us, 7 units so 27 holes in total all needing to painted over in 3 different coloured rooms.
that was a firm ‘No’ apart from the holes from coatrack in the common parts which obviously would need to be done.
will happily get the boiler serviced but i fail to see why we should do decorating for them when i’ll be walking into another property and having to start sorting the walls/holes out!?

before listing the flat the blown double glazing unit has been replaced plus new handle, sash window chord replaced.

every property is different but i would sort out broken stuff but bigger refurb stuff is for new owners. my partners flat has a brand new kitchen and everything else is clean and painted but the consumer unit will need updating and the bathroom floor has some cracked tiles, if a purchaser can’t take this on when spending half a million pounds then another buyer will.

edit: if they insist i would go round with a pallet knife on moving day and splurge some filler in the holes and walk out.

I wish we had got a builder to have a look round as well as the survey. Survey to tick boxes, builder to tell us more realistically how much work was needed, when and for how much

I agree with this. I think a "full structural survey" (whatever that means) is more likely to give you false confidence than uncover some terrible issue that would have been a nightmare to sort.

This is all quite timely.

We found out yesterday our chain is complete at last, so have told solicitors to crack on with enquiries and are going through the survey again now in order to sort out quotes for the bigger stuff.

The survey pointed to a couple of missing/slipped tiles that have resulted in some water coming through and staining a bit of ceiling below. That back section of roof also may need new felt.
They’ve flagged the electrics as needing a safety check as they are dated (I know nothing about electrics, but doesn’t have a modern board with trip switches - I have pics if anyone is good with this stuff?). Lastly, the garage shows some signs of movement and may need a small section being rebuilt.

Once I have quotes I’ll need to decide whether we need to discuss price or ask to get stuff looked at before moving.
Of that list, what are people’s thoughts? Definitely worthy of price negotiations or swallow the costs? The vendors accepted our offer slightly below asking, but not by much. The electrics and the stained ceiling we clocked when viewing, but not the tiles or garage issue.

My take on this is that if a survey flags up something major like a bay window that needs underpinning, rotten joists etc then it’s a negotiating point.
anything immediately obvious just by looking without an expert opinion (old style consumer unit/broken tiles etc) which isn’t a huge undertaking on purchase then it’s for the buyer to deal with.

but this is from a standpoint of having multiple offers after 3 days on the market, if you have struggled to get a buyer then a different view on what’s reasonable might be an order.

you can’t buy a fixer-upper and expect the seller to do all the work for you...

There's not really any such thing as a "full structural survey":

https://www.istructe.org/find-an-engineer/structural-engineers-near-me/search/handy-tips/what-is-a-structural-survey/

House surveys tend to be undertaken by chartered surveyors as part of a valuation, a homebuyer’s report, or a building survey. Such reports often highlight the need for a structural engineer to assess a specific structural defect, this would be more usually termed a structural inspection.

As a structural engineer, we rarely get called in as part of the home buying process, but when we do, it's often because there the lender won't loan unless we give the OK.

edit: if they insist i would go round with a pallet knife on moving day and splurge some filler in the holes and walk out.

toothpaste & blutac ftw

There's not really any such thing as a "full structural survey"

That's why I put the term in scare quotes ;-)

I wish we had got a builder to have a look round as well as the survey.

A tenner says that there is not a single private purchaser in England who's got a builder, who isn't family or friend, to go over a prospective house in 2022.

toothpaste

We used this to full up the holes we drilled in our uni house for Ethernet cables.

The guy we favour now does it quite a lot he reckons. And I would be tapping him up if we were in that position ourselves.

Interesting. How much does he charge?

A tenner says that there is not a single private purchaser in England who's got a builder, who isn't family or friend, to go over a prospective house in 2022

My sister did it a few months ago, although in that case there was the promise of £xx k of work from a side return extension.

Not much, if anything at all as he reckons it's where a lot of his work comes from. But that is likely not a common approach. He's been round here a few times being patient with our indecisiveness so I usually try to add something on when he asks for payment for work. "get the guys a drink" kind of thing.

TBH I'm staggered that you can get a builder to come and do such speculative work when it's so hard to get them to do work that already exists right now.

from a busines point of view, if a builder is such-minded and has the ressources, it is a good time to expand and sideline competition. focus on the large-ish-scale business ( full houses ) sub-contract as much as possible (ie. hire and possibly overpay smaller side-lined contractors, , bid higher, put more signs up, etc.)

We get builder after survey point out some key factor kids to get an assessment/quote, rather than asking them to check everything and quote everything.

Much flattery, he lives close, we have always paid him in full and on time so I think we're probably easy customers.

But he's a unicorn is a sea of total wankers. And that's just the ones we've had in.