Issues raised in survey - next steps

anoushka3005

Hiya, I'm hoping you might be able to help me out. I'm a first time buyer and I've had the survey done on my prospective house and it has thrown up a couple of potentially pricey issues:

- It's a Victorian semi and there is an indication that the roof tiles are original, and are starting to slip, and will therefore need recovering in the 'short to medium term'
- The wiring is approx 30 years old but there is no 'residual current device' which will need to be installed, plus there is the need for additional wiring.
- If the mains water pipe is still the original lead pipe, then it will leak progressively over the coming years and need replacing and will have a knock on effect on the plumbing and connection of the utility pipes in the road.

So is this the kind of thing I need to get quotes for, or can I hand it over to my solicitor? I'm guessing we might be able to get some reduction off the asking price - but how pricey does it need to be before we can get money off?

Thanks for any advice you can give! Anoushka

suisidevw

What has it been valued at compared to what you are paying for it?

cattie

Lead piping is always picked up in older properties & is not a major concern. I've lived in a few Victorian properties with lead piping & have never had one leak on me, so feel the surveyor is being ultra cautious here.

The roof you may be able to negotiate on, but as the surveyor has mentioned 'short to medium term', it's not an essential job & probably would just benefit from having the slipped tiles replaced to start with.

The wiring isn't particularly ancient at 30yrs old, but again you should try to renegotiate the price for a rewire, especially as the surveyor has mentioned need for a consumer unit & additional wiring.

Renegotiating is something you do yourself via the estate agent, unless you are in Scotland, where things may be done differently.

There isn't really an amount thats acceptable to want to start to renegotiate for works needed, but as a rough guide if it's up to £1k then it's probably not worth bothering. Anything over this figure is quite reasonable to want to try for a reduction. A lot of vendors will offer to go 50/50 on required works to a house.

ILW

Led watre ppies era not a porblem.

anoushka3005

Thanks for the advice. The surveyor has given ball park figures of £3K for the whole roof and £4K for the complete rewire, so will aim for half of that. Good to know about the pipes too.