Owning your own home

when it comes to any matter

Ftfy

It's quite annoying when it happens but unlikely to be the end of the world.

@ExTra you need to stop worrying so much, I thought I was bad at house-related anxiety but you're next level!

The underlay thing is really annoying but as you didn't specify anything in particular I think you might struggle to get them to take all the carpet up and fit better quality stuff. That said I think it's worth just complaining that you can feel the boards and the quality is therefore poor - you'd expect a certain level of quality.

The doors bit though, WTF - if they took them off I'd be expecting them to refit them.

I'm afraid though that this is an object lesson in using trades for anything - spec everything in writing or they'll just do it the cheap/quick/easy way. Even then they'll quite possibly fuck it up :/

If you try and chip them for £4.5k because you think it might need a new roof and that hasn't been brought up in the survey or there is no visible sign of damp or leaks, then I'm afraid you're contributing to the worst parts of buying/selling. The sellers likely haven't replaced it as they don't think it needs it. If it is not leaking/visibly sagging/tiles coming off left right and centre or the surveyor hasn't said "not sure about roof but will likely need replaced in 5-10 years, then the seller would be totally reasonable to tell you to jog on.

And using "they need my purchase to get their dream home" is pretty shitty tbh.

If it doesn't need replaced now, it will in future. Maybe by you, maybe by the next owner. But that is part and parcel of owning a house. You don't negotiate based on every potential future expense. If something is falling apart now and the place hasn't been priced accordingly, then go for it. But if surveyor and lender agree the house is worth the accepted offer, then caveat emptor.

Tl;dr don’t be a cunt

Agreed. Surveyors can advise on which bits are negotiation points and which bits are just things to expect down the road. Some buyers think ALL flagged issues are negotiation points.

The flip side is some sellers think their house is 'perfect' as-is.

For sure, and I say all that as someone who asked for £25k off this place. Got £12.5k off in the end. Kicking myself slightly with hindsight that I didn't negotiate harder (was still a good deal but some of the works needed done sooner than expected - eg. the impromptu shower in the middle of the bedroom ceiling put a hustle on fixing the roof), but it was backed up by surveys and visible issues.

Luckily our sellers knew the place was fucked.

It difficult for me to also say this without sounding like a complete dick head, but, the house extra is buying is at the cheaper end of the scale. It's not a brand new show home with a warranty.

I can understand if you were spending 800/900k and the survey said it immediately needed a new roof at a cost of 75k. That would be a material consideration as to whether the purchase price was reasonable or not.

If it's a cheaper house then it's completely reasonable for the incoming purchaser to be alive to the fact that old houses, particularly cheaper ones, need maintenance. They need in some respects, constant maintenance. You cannot expect a seller to significantly subsidize the obligation that all house owners have in one way or another which is the obligation to maintain the house during their period of ownership. That includes fixing the roof when it eventually leaks (which might not be for a few years).

I speak from bitter experience given one of the reasons my cunt of a buyer wanted ten grand off was because "all the gutters need renewing". Those were the gutters that were just 8.5 years old and fully replaced in 2013 were they pal?

Yeah, hindsight's 20-20... the floorboards we lifted in our victorian terrace showed excellent joists/footings and the loft was in great shape too. Since then, I've found bad footings/joists elsewhere and wish I'd investigated more thoroughly.

(£500 of timber and a few days of fun fixed the issues.)

To be fair surveyors have a lot to answer for, filling their reports with scary boilerplate about how everything might need replacing. This tends to put the willies up people who are about to spend more money than they ever have in their life on something that could ruin them.

It's easy to be a bit nonchalant about it when you've bought a few houses and presumably now have the means to spend £k on them after purchase.

Yeah, our roof leak turned out to be much older than we could know. But the rotten ceiling joists were replaced when we had the bedroom gutted just recently.

Again, old house, priced almost accordingly.

Who caulked the top of the skirting boards?

Honestly and im not gonna being a dick here but it does feel like your looking to chip money off here and there as you've maybe paid too much on alot of what ifs and might be's.

I think the main issue with house is they cost you money, new and old and it comes with the territory.

Yeah this. Surveyors write reports in a way that prevents them from being liable for anything.
Lots of "may need" and "might do maybe".

@ExTra buying your first house is nerve wracking for sure, we stressed our first place getting flooded as it was on some sort of flood something, but we prob over worried seeing as it was 3 floors up.

Deep breath all will be fine. You will have to replace some things.

This, I wasn't intending to call out. Rather call in. Yes, negotiate absolutely if there is something that wasn't known when you submitted your offer. But a lot of maintenance costs will be par for the course and something you would not have even considered when renting.

Did modern house really count the 'roof terrace' in the floor area on this floorplan?

They included the garden in the flat below us 🤷🏽‍♀️

What's the chances the sellers pull out with all the hassle your giving them now and trying to knock off money?

Pretty high, I would've thought. I'm feeling rather sorry for them already.

Paignton is a shithole btw

Seconded 😂. Although that area is much nicer, and Broadsands is a fantastic swimming beach.

To be fair surveyors have a lot to answer for

I got to a point where I felt the whole RICS thing is a total racket.

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I had to reduce the sale price of my house I was selling by 3k to keep the chain intact. I was absolutely furious about it tho and the figures involved were not small. So I sucked it up but I wouldn't have reduced my house by anymore than that.

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