Survery Results - Not good. Help please!

vickyb242

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a 3 bed semi detatched house, but the survery's report has come back and i'm not sure what to do next. Please can someone help me?

The report says the following:

1) High damp reading were obtained to some wall and further investigations should be made by a specialist contractor for the erradication of damp making further investigations of all timbers.
2) The property has been extended and legal advisors should ensure that all consents have been obtained. The extension is 10 years old
3) Evidence of movement was seen for example to the junction of the extension and main building. It is not possible to ascertain if the movement is progressive and a structual engineers report is required.

So my questions are, when i arrange for a full structual report to be done, can they also report on the damp or do i need a seperate company/specialist to do this?
Also, i'm 99% certain, the owner did not get planning permission for the extension so i have been informed by the EA this morning. What does this mean to me? What are the reprecussions of me not having a planning permission certificate?

Any advice would be much apperciated.

V

boinging_2

Hi there, first of all calm down, surveyors are always very matter of fact / bordering negative.

How old is the house? If it's a period property then it's not surprising there is some damp. Ring a local damp expert and get them to go and look at the house (the EA should be able to recommend one to you).

Better to get these things checked before you move but most of this should be free as you can get estimates on costs from local companies.

teabelly

Even if the owner didn't get planning consent it is out of time for action by the council for planning. Not sure how long it is for action if it doesn't comply with building regs, think it might be 10 years so it might be just out of time for that too. But you need to make sure it does comply and it is safe. If the extension is below a certain size then it won't need planning anyway as it is within permitted development.

My last survey mentioned planning but I already knew the extension had been approved so often it is surveyors just wanting something to write about to justify their fee.

Unless this house is in some way really special I'd consider trying to find a better one that doesn't have such issues.

Cazza

It might not be serious, Valuers will alway (understandably!) look to cover their backs!

The extension is down to your solicitors, so get them to look into this.

The damp report and the structural engineers report won't usually be done by the same company. The Damp report should be fairly easy to arrange and should be free; if anyone tries to charge you for this, move onto another company.

The structural engineers report will cost you, so it's maybe worth talking to the firm first, to get an idea of the costs you will encounter as structural engineers aren't cheap. Once you've found out how much it will cost, you can then decide if you've fallen in love with the house enough to have the report done. If it comes back and there are problems, you'll have lost a few hundred pounds, if there aren't problems then you've spent the money but you can go ahead with the house. Just a case of balancing the cost / risk in your own mind. Good luck!

Lotus-eater

Damp's a strange thing, if you get any free survey I would bet my left foot that it would come back with you needing a new DPC.
Firstly you need to find out if the property has an existing DPC and what the guarantee is on it, normally its around 15 years if I remember correctly. However its probably not worth the paper its written on.

You can pay to have a damp survey done, do not go to a firm that does DPC's, or you could use your common sense and work out if you think its going to be a problem. Has a wall just been redecorated? It might be hiding something.

Cazza

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Damp's a strange thing, if you get any free survey I would bet my left foot that it would come back with you needing a new DPC.
Firstly you need to find out if the property has an existing DPC and what the guarantee is on it, normally its around 15 years if I remember correctly. However its probably not worth the paper its written on.

You can pay to have a damp survey done, do not go to a firm that does DPC's, or you could use your common sense and work out if you think its going to be a problem. Has a wall just been redecorated? It might be hiding something.

Yes, you do have t be careful with thing like that! Not all are like this though, I have about 3 companies that I think are reputable locally, whose names I would pass to my clients for damp and timber reports. I have absolutley no link with them and have formed my opinions from looking at the reports and advice they have given my clients in a similar situation.

OP, if you know the name of the firm who did your survey, they may be able to give you a couple of names of firms that are worth talking to, I've not come accross any surveyors being biased in this area, they're usually very good with reccomendations like this. I probably wouldn't go JUST with the Estate Agents recommendation on this one, most of the time you're fine, but I have come accross a couple of instances where the report produce was a little too sympathetic!

tbs624

Cazza wrote: »

..... The Damp report should be fairly easy to arrange and should be free; if anyone tries to charge you for this, move onto another company.

I have a different view on this one - generally the people that offer you a free damp or timber survey do it because they are in the business of selling you their services via timber treatments or a DPC. Why else would anyone do it FOC?

Check our Jeff Howell (constructions background & writes property matters column/books) links to independent damp/timber surveyors. http://www.askjeff.co.uk/index.php

I would also not ask an EA to recommend firms - they act in the interest of the vendor not you as a buyer.

Edit: agree with Lotus-Eater's comments above. Post not there when I started!

RHemmings

vickyb242 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a 3 bed semi detatched house, but the survery's report has come back and i'm not sure what to do next. Please can someone help me?

The report says the following:

1) High damp reading were obtained to some wall and further investigations should be made by a specialist contractor for the erradication of damp making further investigations of all timbers.
2) The property has been extended and legal advisors should ensure that all consents have been obtained. The extension is 10 years old
3) Evidence of movement was seen for example to the junction of the extension and main building. It is not possible to ascertain if the movement is progressive and a structual engineers report is required.

So my questions are, when i arrange for a full structual report to be done, can they also report on the damp or do i need a seperate company/specialist to do this?
Also, i'm 99% certain, the owner did not get planning permission for the extension so i have been informed by the EA this morning. What does this mean to me? What are the reprecussions of me not having a planning permission certificate?

Any advice would be much apperciated.

V

I know that it's common for surveyors to be general and to cover their backs by saying that other experts need to be called in, but this doesn't sound a very useful opinion. High damp readings? How is damp measured? Can you hire the tool yourself? Extension. Most people should be able to spot this. And the checking of the legality has been left to the OP and whoever s/he hires. Structural movement. OK, that might be useful to spot, but if we don't know if it's progressive or not, is this really that much more than you could find out anyway by looking for cracks and non-square edges/walls?

Couldn't a reasonably intelligent person have done all that themselves after a bit of web/book research?

JimmyTheWig

vickyb242 wrote: »

2) The property has been extended and legal advisors should ensure that all consents have been obtained. The extension is 10 years old
...
i'm 99% certain, the owner did not get planning permission for the extension

You can get an indemnity policy against not having the relevant permissions. Your solicitor can sort these out for you. You might be looking at a couple of hundred quid. Get the vendors to pay.
But, as has been said, building regs are more than just a bit of paperwork. They ensure that something has been done safe. An indemnity to cover you legally for not having the paperwork is one thing, but an extension falling down is another thing entirely.
Sounds like a full structural survey is in order.

Or else find another property??

vickyb242

vickyb242 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a 3 bed semi detatched house, but the survery's report has come back and i'm not sure what to do next. Please can someone help me?

The report says the following:

1) High damp reading were obtained to some wall and further investigations should be made by a specialist contractor for the erradication of damp making further investigations of all timbers.
2) The property has been extended and legal advisors should ensure that all consents have been obtained. The extension is 10 years old
3) Evidence of movement was seen for example to the junction of the extension and main building. It is not possible to ascertain if the movement is progressive and a structual engineers report is required.

So my questions are, when i arrange for a full structual report to be done, can they also report on the damp or do i need a seperate company/specialist to do this?
Also, i'm 99% certain, the owner did not get planning permission for the extension so i have been informed by the EA this morning. What does this mean to me? What are the reprecussions of me not having a planning permission certificate?

Any advice would be much apperciated.

V

Hi Guys,

I'm now at a dead end and looking for somebody to point me in the right direction.

The damp and Timber report came back showing a small amount of damp in the hallway and have been quoted £700 to fix it, is this fine.

The vendor agreed to pay the indemity insurance policy to cover that side of things. But i have also found out that there was no buildings regulations done on the extension.

The structual engineer did a full report and confirmed that one corner of rear extension has sunk by a few inches and caused the join between the extension and house to crack, he thought it was a problem with the drainage pipe leaking and advised me to get a drainage report. I got a drainage report done this morning and there is nothing wrong with the drainage pipes, i then rung Thames Water and asked about the mains, they said they checked them 2 weeks ago and found no problems, but they will come out again on Thurs to double check.

I then rang the environmental agency and there is no streams/rivers etc running under the property.

When i rung the Structual Engineer back he had no other idea's of what it could be. I am now at a completely dead end.

Please can someone advise me of why else the property might be sinking in one corner adn who to contact next.

Also, can i not get the vendor to find out what is wrong with the property as i just keeping paying out for report after report.

I hope someone can help.

V

Incisor

vickyb242 wrote: »

... Also, can i not get the vendor to find out what is wrong with the property as i just keeping paying out for report after report. ...

You could try it, but think what the vendor will want to tell you. Reports will drain your money and at some point, if you don't finally want it, then you have wasted your money. If you do want it, then you have to ignore the reports, so again they were a waste of money. So really, you need to understand the first report you get and if you can make your mind up on that. A report will rarely tell you that something is fine, but they will uncover heaps of problems. In this case, I think the problems were laid bare from the outset and no amount of reports is going to resolve the issue for you.