[exhappy] …. hi everyone – and “Happy Easter”,
I just wanted to ask a question please. We had a building and pest inspection completed yesterday on the property we put an offer in on and have heard back from the inspector briefly – he will have the full report for us on Tuesday.
He said that the property was in pretty good shape overall and no pest damage but he did say that the roof over the units was sagging and leaking a bit. He said it would need to be fixed fairly quickly and would cost around $6,000 – $8,000.
My question is – does the current owner need to pay for this before we go any further and settle or is that something we need to cover ourselves after we take over?
I would like to negotiate the repair with the owner before we commit further but dont know if that is what happens normally? The sale was conditional on pest and building inspection but we are unsure if that entitles us to ask for the repair be done before going further or if it just means that is something we have to plan on having repaired once we finalise the sale?
Feedback appreciated [strum]
Lee
Depends if you are purchasing 1 unit or the whole block of units.
Might be the responsibility of the body corp to fix a roof.Hi there,
We are purchasing the whole block of units so there is no body corp involved here to fix anything – they are all on the one title as well along with a 3br house.
Cheers
Lee
I have just expereinced a similar problem.
We placed an offer on a property subject to structual pests etc etc.
Inspection found sagging ceilings in the lounge and hall.
The report stated the sagging ceilings were not a structual fault.
We questioned the report with building inspector and he checked with the relevant dept.
Found to be not a strucual fault because ceiling still serving its purpose – ie ceiling has to be falling down before it’s a structual fault. The owner is not obliged to fix due to no structual fault.
So try your luck and negotiate with owners on cost of repair.
We had it fixed after settlement.We still cant believe a ceiling almost falling on your head is deemed not a structual fault – CRAZY
Lee,
The clauses in standard RE contracts, are typically “walk away clauses”, unless there is a specific dollar figure mentioned in them.
By “walk away” clauses, the condition simply gives you the right to tear up the contract and walk away if you aren’t fully satisfied. What the clause doesn’t do, is give you the right to haggle and discount the already agreed offer price if you are only partially satisfied with the report.
It’s an all or nothing clause….not a “happy with 97% of it, but you’ve got to chip in for the other 3% we aren’t happy with”.
Have a crack at negotiating with the Vendor if you think they are a pushover, but I’d be very quickly telling you if I was the Vendor that
“I knew about that condition, and all others mentioned in your report, and hence why I agreed to such a low offered price….else it would have been 12K higher….now do you still want to proceed or not ??””
Will you walk ?? What’s the dirt worth on the deal, as a percentage of the deal ?? 10 years down the track – what will the 6-8K be worth to you if you don’t proceed and have to start your DD process all over again ?? Could be another 6 months before you are at this stage of a deal again……all things that I am sure are running through your mind. I find most people don’t walk….especially if the numbers regarding the bigger picture of the entire property look robust.
Same goes for a white ant clause….it’s an opportunity to walk, not an opportunity to haggle.
… thanks heaps for this advice – sounds reasonable to me – I just wanted to know where we stood so I knew what I could/couldnt do. I dont think we will walk from the deal as apart from this there is nothing to be fixed – but we shall speak to our property advisor on Tuesday and see what they say!!
Cheers everyone!
Lee
Hey Guys,
I have just gone unconditional on aonther deal similar only it is a single dwelling…. We did not know about hte roof at all and as far as the agent was concerned the house was in good nick aprat from a bit of floor vinyl in serious need of replacement. We did a full building report and the roof was absolutely stuffed!… so we hit them up for a discount and since we had the proeprty tied up under a 15 dowking day due diligence clause … they decided it would be better that they agreed to our discount as I sent a bunch of photos to hte agents also …. this means they cannot sell the house now without disclosing this now known issue!!!! Clever Aye!!
…..
Anyway we got a $15K discount off the asking price of $94K…..
Another deal had the same issue…. and we tried the same trick and they said no way… so we walked … better to pay a few hundred dollars and be prepared to walk …. than to pay too much for the property and then have to fix it also!
Cheers
KiwiHi Lee
Definitely ask for a discount, you never know your luck!
offer to go halves for the repairs.
If the say no you are in the same position you are today, but you might get a happy surpriseGood Luck
Troy
TroynBec
The ducks are flying closer to home!!!!
[exhappy] … thanks heaps for this Troy and to all others for their feedback – we have decided we will ask for the discount and see how it pans out – we have nothing to lose, so fingers crossed!![strum]
Lee
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