Significant defects are spotted by your surveyor – will it cause the deal to fall through?
Any major defects noted in your survey will need to be translated into hard cash. This means arranging builders’ quotes or obtaining specialist reports, typically for things like drains, heating systems and electrics.
Structural engineer’s reports are occasionally requested to confirm whether movement such as cracking is ‘progressive’. Based on the total cost of these works, you may have grounds to renegotiate the price.
However, not every minor blemish gives buyers the right to demand a price reduction. Some defects are fairly obvious. Things like seriously off-putting decorations and prehistoric plumbing, would have already been factored into the asking price.
So if you later try to renegotiate on the basis that ‘the windows need replacing’, the seller will quite reasonably point out that this should have been clear when you made your original offer.
Our next blog – coming soon …….
Reasons property deals fall through: Buildings insurance problems
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