Are Sellers Often Required To Make Repairs

Once you put an offer in on a home, you move to the next stage of the process, the home inspection. The home inspector's job is to assess the home's interior and exterior structure for any areas that may need repairs. The inspector follows a checklist, and once they have completed it, both you and the seller get a copy of the results.

As you look over the results, you see legitimate home repairs that you feel the seller should take care of before close. Your only problem? The seller disagrees. Now you are left in an awkward position. You want the home, but you genuinely believe it is the seller's responsibility to make some repairs. You're left wondering what you should do if the seller won't make the repairs after the inspection.

What fixes should you ask to be completed after a home inspection?

There are many standard repairs that buyers ask sellers to complete after a home inspection. The home inspection alerts you to any significant repairs that will be cost-prohibitive after you purchase the home. No one wants to purchase a house, then have to sink a large amount of money into it to make it liveable.

You also want to make sure you are not paying too much money for a home you will need to work on. If a home inspector finds anything wrong with these items, you should try to negotiate with the seller:

Electrical
Plumbing
HVAC
Roofing
Mold
Pest issues
Lead-paint
Health hazards

Basically, it is acceptable to ask the seller to fix any item that poses a health concern or safety issue. The rule of thumb is that if it affects your ability to enjoy living in the home, it is fair game for negotiations. Your real estate agent should be able to assist you in these discussions with the seller.

Requests Not to Make After an Inspection

Superficial items should not be high on your list of repairs that you ask the home seller to make. Do not be the person that asks for picture hanging holes to be patched and wallpaper to be re-glued. These items are easy for you to fix and will not cost you very much in the long run.

If you decide to list every little item that needs to be fixed in your request to the seller, the less likely it will be that they will want to fix anything for you. It is best not to nit-pick and focus on the more significant issues. Keep in mind you are buying a previously lived-in home, not something that a contractor just built. There will be items you will have to suck up and take care of on your own.

Does a seller have to make repairs on the home?

In most cases, a seller is not legally obligated to fix anything on the home. There are states where nothing that is brought up on the home inspection report is considered a must-fix.

Although there are some states that have a few non-negotiables. California for instance the contract can specify which party needs to bring the property up to current specifications on items such as:

Smoke detectors
Carbon monoxide detectors
Water heater straps
Automatic gas shut-off valves
Other retrofit items

Most often it is the seller who is held responsible for bringing the home up to current codes unless otherwise specified. If they do not do so prior to closing, they will be in breach of contract.

What do you do if the seller won't make any of the repairs?

Asking the seller to complete vital repairs and having them say no, can be a head-scratcher. How should you proceed?

It depends on the market. If you are in a buyer's market, you may have some leverage to negotiate with the seller and get them to make some of the repairs you really would like completed. Your agent likely placed your offer with a contingency that if the inspection did not come back the way you hoped, you could back out of the sale. If this is the case and the seller will not budge, you may just have to walk away, especially if some repairs are too costly or make you concerned for your overall health.

If the market is leaning in the seller's favor, you may not have very much leverage at all. They do not have to accept your requests and are free to walk away from the transaction, especially if they already have back-up offers in place on the home.

Purchase "As Is" Or Not

At this point, you will have to decide if purchasing the house "as is" warrants the offer you have already made. You and your agent can assess home prices in the area and whether home values will keep rising at a steady enough rate for you to quickly regain whatever money you put into the home for repairs.

If you already made an under-market value offer, you could already be ahead of the game, even with the impending repairs. It just depends on if you feel it is worth it.

The seller may also offer you credit during the closing process in lieu of repairs. This credit would take the place of the repair costs. However, make sure your lender will accept those credits before you get to that point. Sellers will be legally obligated to disclose any major issues to any new buyers, though.

While many sellers are reasonable and fix standard issues that come up in a home inspection, some will not. If the seller stands firm on not making any repairs, you can walk away and recoup any earnest money you put forward already.

Can a seller back out of the home sale post-inspection?

To put it simply, no, a seller cannot legally back out of a home sale post-inspection. They can, however, make things so difficult that they make the home buyer walk away from the sale. If the buyer had a contingency in place dependent on the inspection results, they are within their right to walk away from the sale. Sellers can get buyers to walk away by not agreeing to any repairs or concessions.

The only way a seller can back out of an offer is if they had a contingency in place that gives them the option to walk away from the buyer.

Finding Professional Buying Help

The best way to work through post-inspection negotiations with the seller is to have a real estate agent representing you and your best interests. Often, they and the listing agent can talk items through and make recommendations that both parties will be comfortable with.

If you are still in the beginning stages of buying a home and are looking for a buying agent, UpNest has a unique selection of qualified, well-rated realtors to assist you with your home buying needs.