Drains test - who pays?

[hayeser]

I have recently gone sale agreed on a house in Cork City. I got an engineers report done on the property which suggested that there maybe signs of subsidence. If subsidence does exist the seller should claim on their house insurance to have it rectified or alternatively a renegotiated price could be agreed on.

The engineer suggested a drains test be done on the property prior to closing the sale to get a definitive answer on the subsidence question. The engineer also said that it is the seller who would get this test done and foot the bill as it is important for the buyer not to be compromised (i.e. buyer could claim results were bad in order to get a better price)

That did sound a bit strange to me and sure enough when I got on to the auctioneer about it he said that it was out of the question for the seller to pay for this..

After forking out 400EUR for the inspection I'd rather not give another 585EUR (Dyno rod price) for a further inspection on a house I may not buy if the results are negative.

Anyone able to clear this up .. who should pay for the drains inspection ?

Any help much appreciated,

Thanks,

Sean

 

[Ravima]

in pure simple terms, he who wants the test, pays.

however, if you are buying the property subject to the defect being fixed, then you should agree with seller beforehand, that you expect the repairs to be carried out by him and/or his insurers. You are assuming that he has insurance cover to cover the fault. He might not.

 

[Sherman]

That did sound a bit strange to me and sure enough when I got on to the auctioneer about it he said that it was out of the question for the seller to pay for this..

Well of course the auctioneer is going to say that, you're not his client!

 

[Caveat]

I would say if you are very interested in the house, try to get some agreement with the seller as to covering costs/getting reduction - if he is very eager to sell, you might get something.

More likely he won't cough up anything and will be happy to wait for another buyer who won't get the house checked as carefully - which happens all the time.

 

[hayeser]

To be honest, I found it surprising that it would be the sellers responsibility. If the buyer were to walk away the seller is out of pocket, possibly with a negative report in their possession. However my engineer was adamant that it is standard practice for the seller to pay. It is probably a rare enough occurrence but I'd be interested to know if my engineer is correct.

If we are to carry out the report and the results are negative and the seller refuses to move on the price we'd be down 1000EUR with nothing to show for it..

I think we'll forego the drains inspection and push for under pinning claimed to be claimed on the vendors house insurance based on our engineers report prior to closing the sale. We have enough evidence of the subsidence here although it is stated not to be severe at present, it will only get worse.

Alternatively if they are in a hurry a reduction in the agreed amount as we will need to carry out the repairs at a later date. They may demand a drains inspection prior to agreeing to this in which case we can negotiate payment.

We'd probably be told take a running jump with such a request this time last year but hopefully with the slow down its more of a buyers market.

 

[gonk]

I think we'll forego the drains inspection and push for under pinning claimed to be claimed on the vendors house insurance based on our engineers report prior to closing the sale. We have enough evidence of the subsidence here although it is stated not to be severe at present, it will only get worse.

Beware! If there is a known pre-existing subsidence problem, this may make it very expensive or impossible to get further cover for this risk in future. You should definitely speak to your insurer before committing to buy.