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Burst pipes after freeze in a house I'm buying.

2

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  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 24,452
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    When it dries out a lot of the woodwork warps. You need new floors, maybe new joists, a new staircase ... Plaster gets contaminated and has to be hacked off. A colleague had this problem, They were out of the house for 12 months whilst work was done, and I think the total bill was over £100k.

    Your vendors have insurance, and you may be able to negotiate taking over their insurance claim rights as part of the purchase, but how is that going to compensate you for all the distress?

    This is a disaster for your vendors, but don't get suckered into letting it become a disaster for you. Unless the damage is far less than you have made it sound, you'd have to be completely bonkers to continue with the purchase.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • Barneysmom
    Barneysmom Posts: 10,123
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    Do not exchange. Walk away.
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103
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    Barneysmom wrote: »
    Do not exchange. Walk away.

    Tempted to agree. It's the vendor's lack of attention that led to the problem in the first place, It's still their house. It's their problem.

    Find yourself another that hasn't been flooded.
  • Entertainer
    Entertainer Posts: 617 Forumite
    edited 26 March 2010 at 4:36PM
    Thanks guys. I don't have a mortgage. Thing is, the place needs refurbishment anyway- new kitchen, central heating, electrics probably, bathrooms, carpets, some new partition walls. Obviously it wouldn't have needed to have new floorboards and plasterboard. So it's not a case of it being a "normal" house you'd be looking for them to put back to how it was before the water damage. I'm not even sure their insurance would cover them, it is a family selling the parental home and it's been empty for ages and they were obviously very cavalier about not putting any heating on or draining down the water. There are not many similar properties around as an alternative that I know of; there was a bit of a discount anyway to take account of the work that was required pre water burst.

    The leak itself seems to be upstairs and most of the upstairs floorboards are warped. The plasterboard has mould growing on it at one end of the house which was the worst affected. All the carpets have been removed downstairs to reveal the solid floors underneath which seem to have that black bitumen like stuff on it(tanking??)The agent who is supposed to be reputable is saying it's just a "burst pipe" which they've had other instances of recently and that it is not too much of a problem and would dry out with some dehumidifiers going. The agent is also saying that they had viewings booked for Monday (the property was put back on the market when they turned down my revised offer which they later decided to accept) and basically I was now getting a good buy and needed to proceed now.

    I don't know what to believe really.
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 24,452
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    Well, of course the estate agent will down-play it. If the house was unoccupied the water may have been running for days. That's different from having the basin overflowing for 2 minutes.

    At the very least, do yourself a favour and get a surveyor in to advise you.

    Just think for a minute - warped floorboards may mean warped joists. Warped joists may mean renewing ceilings. The electrics may need replacement. As I said before, maybe a new staircase.

    Anyway, you are in a better position to judge than anyone else here on MSE, as we haven't seen the property. If it were me, I'd probably be looking for some tens of thousands off the previously-agreed price, else I'd walk.

    You seem to be looking for someone to tell you that it's fine to go ahead, so let me do that for you: 'Go ahead'. Feel better now? But do bear in mind my sig.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • Entertainer
    Entertainer Posts: 617 Forumite
    GDB2222 wrote: »
    Well, of course the estate agent will down-play it. If the house was unoccupied the water may have been running for days. That's different from having the basin overflowing for 2 minutes.

    At the very least, do yourself a favour and get a surveyor in to advise you.

    Just think for a minute - warped floorboards may mean warped joists. Warped joists may mean renewing ceilings. The electrics may need replacement. As I said before, maybe a new staircase.

    Anyway, you are in a better position to judge than anyone else here on MSE, as we haven't seen the property. If it were me, I'd probably be looking for some tens of thousands off the previously-agreed price, else I'd walk.

    You seem to be looking for someone to tell you that it's fine to go ahead, so let me do that for you: 'Go ahead'. Feel better now? But do bear in mind my sig.

    Thanks. I appreciate only I can really decide this as you guys haven't seen it but all this input is very useful.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
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    Since it is a refurb job anyway get them to agree to stripping out all the obviously damaged stuff, this will make it easer to see if there is any more damage

    Also make the drying process quicker since you can get the blowers to areas that are currenly covered.
  • Walk away from it. The EA is an idiot and doesn't know what he is talking about. I bought a property in similar circumstances and had to spend £70k to get it habitable for my family. I even had the local council come out and declare it unfit for human habitation so that I didn't have to pay council tax.

    The difference is that I was buying it knowing exactly what was wrong with it. I hadn't fallen in love with it and then watched it become hazardous to health. It took me a full year to get my property sorted out.

    And I repeat, the EA is an idiot and doesn't know what he is talking about.
  • joolley
    joolley Posts: 100 Forumite
    It may be a refurb job , yes. But it would be far less of a refurb job if their insurers made good all that water damage. You may just have to paint! :)
    Keep it simple and you will find the middle way.
  • Ulfar
    Ulfar Posts: 1,309 Forumite
    What worries me is you stated the floorboards have been coated in bitumen and there have been problems before.

    This does not signal a one-off leak, to me this means a serious underlying damp problem that has got so serious they can no longer cover it up.

    I would ask the vendor to pay for a full structural survey and that they give you a copy. Without this there is no way to establish the full extent of the problems.
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