House inspector identified a fairly large slant of a back wall in the basement and said a structural engineer needs to be called in to make sure it won’t get worse.
I am the buyer. My lawyer says I pay for the engineer, so does Google. But my real estate agent says in his 15 years of real estate, it’s always been the seller. Who is right? The property is in NJ.
After house inspection flags a “significant lean” in the basement and says a structural engineer is needed, who pays: buyer or seller?
byu/jdavidson888 inRealEstate
Posted by jdavidson888
4 Comments
It’s negotiable, but consider this. If you require the seller to pay, they get to hire whoever they want and they own the report. You (probably) wouldn’t be allowed to attend the inspection or ask the engineer any questions.
Your agent might be thinking of situations where the seller agrees to pay as part of negotiations but legally speaking your lawyer and google are right – the buyer typically pays for any additional inspections they want done. I went through something similar last year with a foundation issue and ended up paying about 800 bucks for the structural engineer but it was totally worth it since we found out it needed like 15k in repairs. Used that info to either walk away or negotiate a serious price reduction. The seller has zero obligation to pay for your due diligence unless you specifically negotiated that upfront in your contract which almost never happens. Your agent probably sees sellers agree to split costs or pay for it during negotiations after the fact but that doesnt make it a rule
Per the contract, you pay for the inspections. However, when things like show up more negotiations are common and it’s not unreasonable to ask the seller to pay.
But right now, it’s your bill.
>who pays: buyer or seller?
Are you doing the work after closing? Is the seller doing the work before closing? The answer is in my questions.