Buyer having full survey a week before completion- then reducing offer price!!

[Dolly77]

Hi, can anyone tell me whether they have experienced anything similar to this please? My dad has rented out a property following a full refurbishment 8 years ago, now has decided after retirement it’s time to sell. The house is in a perfect location and has been well looked after. Within a week of going up for sale 8 viewers came and one put an offer in for the asking price. All has been fine until a couple of days ago, with just a week to go until contracts exchange, the estate agent rang and said the buyers had the report back from their full survey and based on this want to offer £15000 less! The report is worded in such a way that you would think the house could potentially fall down! Things like “there MAY be a potential problem” or “in the future XYZ could happen”, it’s full of speculation! Would their mortgage valuation surveyor not have picked these potentially disasterous things up? There is nothing wrong with the house as 2 of my uncles (unbeknown to the buyer) are very experienced builders who have both checked everything including the roof etc prior to it going up for sale! Is it possible this has been done on purpose to reduce the price? I think my dad should put it back up for sale! Any thoughts?

[paulajayne]

Basic answer - he tells them NO. If they want the house it is at the initial offer price.

[des8]

Not an unknown ploy to try and get a price reduction.
Get close to completion date and the seller (they think) won't want to lose a buyer and so will negotiate a reduction.
I always dealt with peeps like this with "No, you have 24 hours in which to confirm you are going ahead with purchase or the property will be remarketed"

[Crazy council]

hi

its not an uncommon move from unscrupulus buyers to reduce price at last min. . and can sometimes be them trying to do no blame withdrawals from offers

Tell them ( the buyer ) no,your not interested. If your confident on the report being usless, tell them you will challange there report formaly if rfequired and that your concerned at both the timeing in relation to the compleation, being related to your wish to reduce the price unfairly.

Tell them that you have costs now, and that you had other interested person when you acsepted there offer, and if there is a dispute betrween the survayor employed for the morgagee co, and the survaoyer he has employed, then these should agree a report between them that you could challange.

[Dolly77]

Thank you for the reply’s, I think dad is going to put up for resale! Good luck to them in trying to find a house as good for the same amount!

[MIKE770]

good for him

[Captain Haddock]

Well done! I had the same nonsense, many moons ago on the sale of my first flat. Put it up for a fixed price and accepted the first one that hit it. A week before docs were due to be exchanged, the buyers lawyer pops up, citing an alteration that would not have been in the building's original plan (a minor issue). They wanted a reduction of several thousand and back in the '80s that was a considerable amount of coin! We told them that we'd expect a note of agreement of sale verified within 24hrs or the property would be put back on the market. They shut up and paid up!