House Sale And Problems With Boundary Wall And Shared Chimney Stack.

[Jenarry]

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice...
we are in the advanced stages of the sale of our house.As it turns out the buyer is an estate agent so I don't know if that has any bearings on how things have gone. :/
It seems quite late on in the proceedings, our buyer had an advanced survey done on our house which has brought up some issues and so he is asking to reduce the selling price by £5000.
Our house is over 100 years old so it can be expected to have the odd problem.
One is that the downstairs needs a new damp course which we wasn't aware of but is fair enough..
Another problem however is a boundary wall which he had a builder look at and builder says it needs taking down and a new one building.
The wall looks like it is as old as the house but in the 90's a new house was built alongside this wall on a higher level and so their property has forced this wall to lean. around 2-3 years ago our neighbour with the newer property had a builder strengthen our old wall from his side so it would stay as it is and not worsen....so firstly I don't know if the job £6,600 job the builder is quoting for is even necessary and if it is would the neighbour be responsible for paying for it as it's his property that has caused the problem?
Secondly is that our chimney stack needs taking down and re-building.
I have had a second opinion on this and it's been confirmed that this job needs doing in the next couple of years. Unfortunately this chimney stack is shared with my neighbour on the other side of us and when we've previously had work done on the chimney stack we've shared the cost 50/50.
Would it be acceptable for me to half the cost he is quoting to have to pay as it will be up to his discretion to approach the neighbour when the time comes to do the job, for him to pay half the cost?...
We was told by someone who was taking an educated guess-and he was spot on- that the buyer will ask to reduce by £5000 and that we shouldn't say yes to this but negotiate to £2,500.
I know it's not big money in the scheme of things but we have work we need to complete on the house we're moving to(it almost like starting from scratch again )and I'd much rather it went on to that.

[rockyracoon]

It depends on what your happy with to be honest. Around here houses sell like hot cakes so, if it was me I'd tell him to jog on, but that's probably not the case round the country.

The £2500 might be the way to go but only you know if you can afford the drop.

[The Builder]

Considering that those three jobs alone could add up to £12-15,000, then I'm surprised he has asked for a reduction of £5,000 only. It might simply be a case of exaggerating some kind of defect list, and plucking a figure out of the air.

Firstly, the damp-course.......... A 100 year old house would most likely have some kind of DPC. It may well have failed in places, but unlikely over the whole of the downstairs. Generally, my money would be on condensation and poor ventilation coupled with the fact that a house of this age would be constructed of facebrick or stone........... both extremely cold surfaces. Condensation is common with these especially with loads of added draughtproofing.

Garden wall ........... I would say it is unlikely that next door's house has affected this. There is no way (short of bribery & corruption) that a 90s house would be founded on ground that is retained by a 100 year old wall. You don't say how much higher their ground level is compared with yours. Nevertheless, their footings would have been at a depth certainly below the base of your garden wall. No Building Inspector or NHBC Inspector would allow building on such retained ground.

Also, there is little or no way that your wall could have been strengthened from his side. It makes no sense. Truth is ....... they probably simply re-pointed it. Just a guess of course, but if their house affected your wall, then the house would also have been affected ............ by subsiding.

Chimney ............. very difficult .......... simple job, but no certainty that next door will want to pay. I've seen cases where someone in your position has had the work done and paid for it all.

All these things need the opinion of a Building Surveyor to be assessed properly.

I'm not being much help here as I would need a lot more information to be sure. I'll stick my neck out and say that this is an Estate Agent........ he wants the house for sure ........... tradition and "professional honour" would dictate that he gets a discount ............ thus defects are sought out. If it weren't these matters, it would be something else.

If there's any substantiation for the defects, then I would say... give him the £5000........... that's cheap. If not, then holdout for the full amount, or try for £2500.

Good luck with the sale.

[Jenarry]

The damp course was last done 15 years ago, with an outdated system even for 15 yrs ago, according to the damp specialist who called out to check the house. and it has started to fail in the lower parts of the walls.
I have a 30yr guarantee certificate from the company who carried out the work for a previous owner but of course the company is no more so it's worthless.
The wall that apparently needs rebuilding is a garden wall that is between me and my neighbour at the front part of our properties. the part of the wall that is affected is about waist height tall on our side and the neighbours front garden isn't ground height their side but half way up this wall and the lean it's had is definitely since I've been in the property in the last 10 years even though this wall looks the same brick as the house so 100 years old. so it's almost like the weight of the garden and being on a higher level is pushing against this old wall.
The neighbour had a builder fix the problem (or so we thought) by fixing a metal support from the old wall to their newer front garden wall which was needing work done on it anyway .
We had already dropped the house by £5000 at the start (back in June now ) and we are so near completion on this house and our purchase with these figures in mind, for buyer to be trying to get another £5000 all at the last minute is very off putting.