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Survey done, roof, electrics and heating probs

Hi there,

Excuse me if my post isnt in the right place, im new here.

We had the survey done on a house we were hoping to buy. Its come back saying that the flat roof by the attic conversion isnt satisfactory, he wants the wiring looking at and the central heating. We were expecting the boiler to be queried so arent too worried about that. What now?

Who pays for the reports to be done? We've already had to pay £189 for a new drainage and water search. Who pays for the roof to be done? (as we know this is a definate) What about the wiring? We didnt have a clue about any of this before. I did query the roof but was told it was fine...obviously not.

So disheartened as we were hoping this was going to go through quickly. We are currently renting and the house we were hoping to buy is empty.

What now? :(:confused:

Comments

  • ciano125
    ciano125 Posts: 492 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Renegotiate the price if you still want the house. You made your offer subject to contract, and you havent exchanged contracts yet, so tell them to either fix it or knock off the money to do it (but then you'll have to find the cash to do it of course).

    If they wont move, walk away. You've spent money on the survey I know, but think how much you would have had to spend if you hadnt.

    And who told you the roof was ok? The seller?? Dont trust a word they, or their agents, say.
  • gezi
    gezi Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    The agent lied to us from the start so I took the "ok" with a pinch of salt. I've yet to discuss the report fully.

    I'd be gutted to let it go, but well, I dont want to pay too much for this house no matter how much we like it. We knew it wud need the heating replacing and the kitchen is a health hazard, but we took it in our stride as we thought everything else was ok :(

    How much should we aim to knock him down for the roof and rewire? I know its hard to say for the roof, as even im not sure what needs doing...but what would you say was fair? to meet us half way? for him to get it sorted or for him to drop the price enough to cover the cost of work?

    Im aware that if he drops the price we will have to find the money, im not sure what we'd do to be honest.

    First time buyers if you hadnt noticed lol
  • pawpurrs
    pawpurrs Posts: 3,910 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Its entirely standard for a survey to say along the lines of check the wiring and the heating, and flat roofs all say, something along the line of limited life span.....
    Pawpurrs x ;)
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,157 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Surveyor is probably just covering themselves in case there were problems in a few years time. He can say "I told them to get them checked".

    However I'd use it to try getting the price down a bit (this is raw capitalism - you are haggling in the market now..) but if I really wanted the house & the wiring/roof looked OK I'd probably still buy. I wouldnae tell the vendors that tho...

    Cheers!

    Lodger
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,841 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    As mentioned by other posters, recommending getting electrics checked out along with gas & usually damp/timbers is normal for a survey & is not particular to the property you are thinking of buying.

    If a flat roof is involved, again this would be a standard recommendation to get it checked.

    It would be down to you to arrange tradesmen to check these things out, but you could possibly negotiate on price with the vendor if work needs doing.

    All houses have some problems, so it's unrealistic to expect to find a house that doesn't need anything putting right. It's rare that a problem is that urgent it needs doing straight away. When this happens the lender will put a retention of a part of the mortgage & only release it when necessary work is done.

    Most problems are able to just be put on a to do list & get done when time & money allow.
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • gezi
    gezi Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    Do you think I've panicked prematurely?
    Apart from the points raised in the report, the house needs a kitchen and the rendering on the outside is horrid..its more like a textured paint. The comments on the roof were "not satisfactory".

    We want the house, we think..but we dont want to be buying a house with problems, if we could haggle on another...ah im at a loss! Thank you for all your replies.

    to give you a bit of information it started at 100, we got them down to 90 and its a 3 bed, the third being the loft conversion. 2beds in the same road are up for 115, 125, 113 etc. there is a 3 bed, one room being the box room with two living rooms for 115. obviously we havent negotiated anything on these tho
  • pawpurrs
    pawpurrs Posts: 3,910 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I think you may have panicked a little, flatt roofs dont last that long, but they are cheap to replace, if the area is small, its an easy DIY job. All surveys mention Electrics, timber and damp, so there may well not be anything wrong there. If you are at all concerned ring the surveyor, and he/she will be able to chat things through with you.
    Pawpurrs x ;)
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,841 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 6 June 2009 at 3:08PM
    As far as the roof goes you could phone up a reputable roofing company & ask them for a rough guide how much replacing it would be. If it's part of a loft conversion scafolding would probably be needed & depending on where in the country you are, this could add anything up to £1k onto the cost

    With my own current property, which I bought last year, the flat dormer roof of a loft conversion was flagged on survey. I have a roofer I've used previously & he gave me a rough price for his work & what he thought scafolding company would charge him for scaffold. Total came to £3k & vendors reduced price by £2k to allow for this. On reflection I wish I'd pushed for whole amount, but wanted this house as the bedroom in the loft conversion is lovely & large & knew it would be very hard to find anything that I liked as much.

    Rewiring again depends on where you live but if needed can cost in the region of £3-£4k & every room would need redecorating afterwards.

    So if you are going to try to renegotiate, go armed with estimates of what the work is likely to cost.
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • gezi
    gezi Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    well, the rooms need redecorating anyway. only the living room was decent. but u make some valid points. we bought up the boiler and gave a rough quote to push the price down from 92500 to 90. we will definately do this.

    we love the loft too...im a little calmer now lol
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