O/T House buying advice needed please

We're currently attempting to buy a probate house and a number of issues have popped up.

1) The boiler was replaced in 2012 and there is no Gas Safe certificate. We have checked the website and it is not registered.

2) The windows were replaced in 2012 and there is no Fensa certificate. Again, we have checked the website and it has not been registered. This wouldn't bother us except that our Home Buyer's Report stated:

Plus:

3) Internal walls were removed in 2012 to make the whole of downstairs a living kitchen. Where one of the walls was removed, there looks to be a beam in place. However, there is no building regs certificate and he responded to our solicitor's request for one by saying:

We do not believe that is true due to the presence of the beam.


We are not sure how to proceed next. The vendor may possibly offer to pay for indemnity insurance but is that enough as it doesn't protect us if the work was shoddy in the first place? As an important side note, our valuation came back at 15k below the asking price but the vendor refused to budge at all from asking. We do really want this house as it is in the perfect location where not many go on sale but we don't want to take it to the point where we are being daft if it seems like a bad purchase.

Any advice on what to ask our solicitor to say/do next will be greatly appreciated!

 

We needed work doing on ours and offered a few thousand lower - we met them and agreed to meet half way. Could you speak directly to vendor and meet up ? Issues like this could lose them a sale

 

My advice would be to try again to get the price down, to give you some funds to do the necessary repairs. As far as I know it's illegal to install a gas boiler without a certificate and it could be life-threatening if it's not been done properly. Getting a certificate would cost under £100, but only if everything is in order. The other necessary repairs sound very expensive, possibly more than the £15k valuation discrepancy. Your mortgage supplier may also impose conditions on your funding when they see the report, or even withdraw their offer.

I can imagine how much you've set your hearts on this house, but honestly I would walk away. You're both young and one day you'll want to sell the house again. At that point the same issues will reappear, and you'll be under intolerable pressure to reduce your price. That's my view - either get a discount to finance the remedial work, or walk away. Sorry to be so blunt.

 

Bit of a dilemma really JD. When I was buying a property in Donny some years ago,
the survey I had done revealed a number of faults. My Solicitor wouldn't exchange
Contracts until the remedial works were done by the seller.
The seller ended up getting three quotes for the work and knocked the lowest amount off
his asking price and my Building Society inflated my mortgage to cover the cost of
the works that had to be done. Sounds like a Catch 22 really, you want the house but the
vendor won't budge on the asking price. Personally I would be tempted to test his resolve once
again and appeal to his sense of fair play. In truth if he still won't move, I'd be tempted to walk away.

 

I agree with what Stahlrost says 100%.

Either you will need to pay for this stuff to be done, which could be pretty expensive or it will come up again when you try to sell.

In my opinion such clear requirements for remedial work to be done warrant a comparable discount on the price and if he won't budge then I would 100% walk away.

Based on the valuation coming in lower than the asking price, what you have to bear in mind is that you are looking at over paying for a house that also needs serious money spent on it. Do you really want it that much?

I obviously don't know how much dealing you have had with the bloke or if indeed you have even met him, but perhaps the vendors reluctance to come down is based on his picking up on how keen you are. You have to be prepared to call his bluff. Sorry..

 

when My Mother passed away 10 years ago I inherited her Bungalow. My Dad had put a small extension onto the back bedroom. Also took out a portion of wall in the living room to make it L shaped( he knocked into the hallway. He had a front porch put onto. They had also extended the garage to make it into a double. There was a small triangle of land that on the deeds footprint was seemingly owned by the council. However they had tended it for the amount of years required to be the owner of it. I had to get an inspection for the building regs inspection and certificate before I was able to sell it. The land was done by taking an indemnity which I had to swear on oath to a solicitor. I think the whole lot cost about £300. The vendor is liable to that. The gas boiler should not be a problem as I am sure you can geta qualified gas company to inspect and issue a safety certificate. Ours is inspected every year and certified (that required by home sure who we are insured with) Not sure about the glazing though. But the bottom line is that the vendor is responsible for all of this should they want to proceed.

 

As a side note, I would say that any offer to pay for indemnity insurance is worthless. As far as I am aware, its only purpose is to cover the cost of compliance if the council become aware of works that should have been covered by buildings regs, i.e. you wouldn't do anything about any of the points raised until that compliance situation came to pass.

In this instance you are talking about several items of remedial work you would clearly want to have done to make the house either safe or more habitable. i.e. you'll want to sort the damp issue and you are almost certainly going to want to sort the crumbling openings. And you were aware of them at the point of purchase. No indemnity insurance will cover that.

 

Recent experience. Kaht Junior completes on her first house on Friday. The valuation came in 10k under (ex local authority house, but very sound property otherwise). She spoke to the estate agent and assumed this scuppered her purchase. Her vendors had a related purchase (moving up - family enlarging and all that). They accepted the situation and agreed to sell for 10k less. While that seems unlikely, they accepted that the reality was that any other valuer would likely take the same view in the prevailing market and they negotiated to add 10k to their mortgage on the new place. Probably didn't make a catastrophic difference to their mortgage.

As regards windows and 'Fensa' certificates, as I understand it, this is all about complying with building regulations consent. The limitation period for local authorities to take action regarding non-compliant window installations is a maximum four years. So if the installation was in 2012, the local authority is out of time to take any enforcement action. If you can get indemnity insurance at your vendors' expense - so much the better but it shouldn't really be an issue. Hope this is helpful.

 

Seller doesn't have to change their view on the asking price just because you've got a few gripes.

A proper surveyor, hired by and answerable to you, will advise as to whether, given said gripes, the price is right.

And if it isn't, what you should expect the vendor to do about your concerns.

 

Thank you everyone. In regards to the mortgage @Stahlrost, the lender have offered the full amount the valuation came back at, we obviously have to stand the shortfall up to asking price though. @tobyornottoby the RICS surveyor advised that the price should be 15k lower.

So, should it be us that pays for a Gas engineer and a structural engineer? My worry is that we will get them out, say yes we need X amount of work and he still won't budge on price. In that case, we've just paid for them for nothing. We've really got our heart set on this house so it's incredibly frustrating!

 

Your buying a house in an area that doesn’t have many sales.. it’s a sellers market. No reason for him to budge.

 

I know it's probably irrelevant but it is bugging me that we're having to pay for things that he should legally have. I'd understand if we just wanted to check out something that we had an issue with personally (and there are other issues flagged on the survey which I wouldn't expect him to pay for us checking) but the things I mentioned are things that he should have certificates for by law. If I was paying valuation price then I'd accept that all houses have things that need sorting and it was valued accordingly, however, at 15k over I expect him to be able to supply proof that things are above board.

 

You have the whip hand. You don't have to go through with the purchase unless he satisfies you as to the condition of the house. Much as you like this one, there are an awful lot of houses out there.

 

In particular, he should be able to satisfy you in regard to safety and structure. If not, withdraw.

 

That is the way we see it too. I will be absolutely gutted if we have to walk away as it has taken us literally years to find a house we like and of course we have already sunk money on a home buyer's survey and part of the solicitor fees. There has to be a limit though and we might be reaching it.

 

100% correct, you obviously have the ability to look at it objectively, despite your obvious love for the house. Substantial discount, or walk away. I can't dress it up any other way. Good luck.

 

Solicitor's fees should be returnable - particularly if you indicate you will use the firm for any alternative purchase. Kaht Junior lost a couple of homebuyer report fees in her search. But remember, that is not money 'lost' - it is money invested in preventing you from making an unwise purchase, and in that respect is money well spent.

 

I know what you mean, and whilst true, it doesn't really help The solicitor's fees wouldn't be returnable as most of it has gone on searches and to be fair, she has done quite a bit of work which I wouldn't expect for free. It was only an initial deposit, not the full fee.

 

The legal fees are usually, but the outgoings you won't get back.

 

Search fees should be minimal prior to exchange of contracts?