Should we have the Seller fix defects or do a price reduction?

Everyone wants to move into a house which doesn’t require you to do any work. It is annoying to have to organize tradesmen, supervise them and then pay them after it is all done. So the temptation is to have the Seller do all this. Let’s face it, they created the problem they should fix it.

Unfortunately as nice as it sounds for the Seller to fix things it is generally better to do a price reduction and organize it yourself. We have had numerous situations where the Seller instructed the tradesman not to repair everything requested by the Buyer, without telling the Buyer. The Buyer thinks the work is done and doesn’t find out until it is too late. The other problem we have is that if the tradesman does a bad job which only becomes evident after settlement then the Buyer has no rights to force the tradesman back to fix the problem.

On a matter, where we were involved, the roof needed repairing. The Buyers found out that it still had problems 3 months later when there was a heavy downpour. The Seller had disappeared and the plumber said he recommended doing more work but the Seller told him only to fix certain parts.

We recommend you always take a price reduction. This will allow you to ensure the work being done is what was agreed and that if the tradesman doesn’t do it correctly the first time then you have the right to force him to come back.

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