I found a nice house with low energy efficiency, should I buy it?

toja

Infact I posted a topic here few weeks ago, that time I viewed a maisonette which I liked but did not have money in hand. Now money is there, and the property I liked is still on the market, however I requested HIP and was disappointed to see that Energy efficiency report shows current rating 30 and potential 48 (very low). There is indication "very poor" on walls (solid brick with no insulation), roof (half without insulation), no room thermostat, and electric immersion & standard tariff for hot water. The maisonette is 2 bedroom, 2 reception on the 1st floor of Victorian building. The owner said they pay fixed fee to British gas around £70 a month for gas + electricity.

Now another thing, currently I live in a rented accomodation, 1 small bedroom flat in purpose built house. Heating is electric. We pay around £80-90 a month which seems too expensive for 37 sq.meters. However there is energy efficiency report provided with our tenancy agreement which gives efficiency rating of 71 (good).
Both properties are in the same area.

I really like the property I want to buy and I don't want to be put off only because of the energy efficiency. Do you think is it that important and true?

The property is priced at £163000 and I was going to offer quite generous £152500 but now after I saw HIP I am thinking of £150000.

Also HIP shows that there is some kind of water pipe going through the garden but I hope is not a big issue, is it?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

gjchester

toja wrote: »

I really like the property I want to buy and I don't want to be put off only because of the energy efficiency. Do you think is it that important and true?.

Forget the HIP, if you fall in love with the house thats all that matters.

You can't change the walls but you can always insulate the roof and add in therostatic valves and energy efficient lights as you go on.
You can live with a house, but your going to spend a good few years in wherever you buy, you need to make sure you love it rather than start resenting it in the future.

pickles110564

toja wrote: »

Also HIP shows that there is some kind of water pipe going through the garden but I hope is not a big issue, is it?

It is very handy haveing a water pipe going through your garden, dig down tee off it and you will have free water for your garden all year round.

Geenie

These energy efficient reports are completely daft in my opinion.

If a a house has solid walls there isn't much to be done apart from pull it down and rebuild with cavity. There ought to be something which takes into account when a property is built, and judge it on this.

One minute they are listing a building for historical importance, and saying you can't touch anything unless you keep it the same or re instate 17th century features at great expense. The next they are saying your property is a blight on the environment because it is not energy efficient for having said 17th century features!!!!:rolleyes:

Another load of tosh.

Norma_Desmond

My house is very old and pretty and I love it - but it's carp in the energy efficient department - solid stone and draughty single glazed wooden sash windows - the only thing I can do is make sure the loft is well insulated!

pickles110564

fatpig wrote: »

pickled69 lives in a council flat with his Mum. So there's no point in taking advice on property transactions from the likes of him, you'd be as well asking the cat.

I thought you had put me on ignore, or was it Napolen or ad etc etc.:rotfl:

toja

Thanks for your replies.. for anyone that lives in old "inefficient" houses, do you find the price you are paying for gas and electricity reasonable? I would also like to find reasons to by that property, rather than not to buy.

dopester

If there is no stopping you buying, please at least find out more about that water pipe - type, size ect.

I'm no expert on the subject but remember local newspaper a few years back, carrying the story of a woman who received a £55,000 bill from the water company, as it turned out she had liability for the repair of some major water pipe stuff - not just the supply part to her property.

Water mains should not run under houses, and a water company spokesman admitted that if it had burst, it "could have taken out the whole house". / If the pipe burst, water would escape at a rate of 300 litres per second.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2428919.water_relief_as_pipe_gets_moved/

TheBaldwins

I live in a 1930s detatched bungalow with solid walls (no insulation or cavity) on the side of a hill. We actually added foam backed plasterboard to all our internal walls and had them replastered. It took time and money but it was so worthwhile - we do feel the difference.

Also you will do yourself a huge favour getting the loft insulated properly. You can do that yourself.

Finally once you've at least done the loft, a thermostat makes a massive difference... but get yourself a decent boiler and heating system. My husband works in an office but fitted all the heating pipes and radiators himself... we did of course get a corgi engineer to do the boiler for us.

Our gas and elect bill together is £100 a month but our house is big and we have a massive cold cellar right below all our rooms! You can loose a lot of heat through the floor strangely enough!

Doing all the above should improve your HIP but do try to get some money off the price to do all the work - it will be worth it as it will be very cosy! Victorian houses/flats can be chilly!

Time2Go_25

I think you should find out more about the pipe under the garden, but as for the HIP and the energy rating, who cares, all that is important is do you like the house and is it somewhere you would like to live.

themanbearpig

Hang on a minute, are you seriously factoring the houses energy efficiency in when your talking about spending £160,000 in the current climate.
You should be more concerned with the current rates of depriciation!
If prices drop another 15% this year, you'll have to deal with an equity deficit of £25,000 because you bought at the wrong time.

Before you think about it anymore, have a look the prices of any similar propertys that have been through an auction. Houses I though were worth £200k+ sold for under £150k at auction. That is the real market price.
http://www.eigroup.co.uk
The above site is great, as it has a really powerful search, covering all the auctioneers.