Surveyor Report - Help!

candykisses

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ciano125

If you dont want to pay more than the market value, don't offer more than what the surveyor says its worth. Simples! There's plenty more fish in the sea and prices will continue to fall anyway so I think you'd be daft to pay more.

DeadCat

Hi Candy

Firstly, don't offer more than the valuation.

Secondly, you need to take the various issues raised into account and deduct the cost of remedying these from your offer.

What type of survey did you commission? Was it a homebuyers report? If so I would not be happy with the vagueness of the report, specifically the item about the damp. You are paying the Surveyor for his expert opinion and advice. If he's detected damp he should explain what is likely to be causing it and how this can be resolved. A damp and timber rot 'specialist' will not give you an honest opinion. He wants to get work and money out of you and may likely recommend treatment that is excessive and unneccessary. Of course there is nothing stopping you getting a free quotation from them and using this to lever the asking price down however do get a professional independent surveyors opinion before you proceed. This may involve lifting floor boards to check for signs of rot.

Regarding the party wall - get a quote from a builder and again deduct the cost from your offer.

After all this you may end up with a revised offer of £90,000. Don't be ashamed of putting in a low offer to reflect the amount of work which needs to be done to the property. This is a completely normal thing to do. You should not have to be out of pocket.

vegasbaby100

hey i agree with the others you dont want to pay above the odds!!

The house we just sold need damp proofing to the ground floor in the lounge dinning room and kitchen. The cost of the works came to 1,250 inc vat! (it is a 3 bed semi) and it is about 1 week of work that includes are re-plastering after

ognum

Do not underestimate the upset that having a house damp treated can be. You cannot live there while it is done and the house needs to be empty downstairs at least. The dust and mess is incredible and you may need completely new floor coverings and the whole of your downstairs will need redecorating if you also need a wall in the roof you will be living in a building site.
This is fine it its not the way the house is decorated that appeals to you, if it is then move on!

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Not suggesting you pay over the odds, but dont forget the report appears to state the house is worth 100k IN ITS CURRENT CONDITION AND THE STATE OF THE MARKET despite the repair work required..

I'd disagree with Deadcat suggesting you then reduce by the cost of remedying the problems from the report.....Unless they're deperate, why would the sellers accept anything less than what the report suggests... Its already taken into account.

Whether you can be bothered with the hassle of doing the work is a different question..

DeadCat

From reading your original post again it looks as though you have only had a mortgage valuation report. If you are serious about the property and do want to lever the price down commission a Homebuyers Report on the property. If you dont know what this is it is a detailed survey which will investigate a lot more thoroughly the issues which have been raised so far.

In response to the above post I disagree with that. The valuation is mainly taking into account factors such as location, how many bedrooms etc. and what it is likely to be worth based in the current market and the sold prices of similar properties in the locality. The surveyor who carried out this survey will not necessarily take the damp and party wall issues into account as he will not know exactly how much these works cost and exactly what will be involved. Further survey and investigation is needed and an accurate idea of costs. This cost then needs to be deducted from the valuation.

Whether you proceed with the works is entirely up to you, as other people have said, but when you come to eventually sell the property the issues may be raised again by another surveyor.

PasturesNew

As has been said above, it does seem that damp "specialists" will always find something hideously/expensively wrong to rectify - and might even quote you up to £10,000 for this work. It's a real grey area for finding out what's actually wrong - and sometimes there is no actual "damp" just lack of ventilation and heating.

The party wall will need doing, but that's probably just some brickwork and basic building/finish ing work.

I think by putting in an offer of £100k you've done the right thing and unless you're happy spending an indeterminate amount on the damp fixing and living with the mess/disruption, then detach emotionally from the house and don't budge on the price. There'll be others if you pull out.

poppysarah

Not all damp specialists. One we had out to look at an issue told us exactly what was needed to solve it. No fancy sales nonsense on having to do tons of work or anything. Ask at trading standards if they have a "trade safe" list

DeadCat

Let's get this straight - if you are asking an independent chartered surveyor for advice, such as you would via the homebuyer's report then this is the best advice you can get. The surveyor does not have a vested interest in the outcome of his advice - i.e. he is not going to profit by actuallly carrying out any of the works. However if you call in a 'damp specialist company' who also carry out the works then they have a commercial interest and are likely to recommend a course of action which makes them profit. The 'surveyor' they send around will be trained in sales. The works these people recommend may or may not actually need doing. As I said before there is no harm getting a free quotation from them and using this to lever the asking price down but the chartered surveyors homebuyers report will carry more weight to it. If you can present the homebuyer report recommendations and a quotation from a damp proofing company or general builder on the back of it then you are in a better position.

keith969

candykisses wrote: »

The party walls in the roof space are incomplete and will not prevent the spread of fire.

This is quite common actually in Victorian terraced houses. I've owned one that had no party wall in the loft, bit weird seeing your neighbour's junk!