Idiot Surveyor has cost me my sale

Milliewilly

I am furious.

My buyers have pulled out today because the survey says evidence of active woodworm and woodboring insects in my property (its 200 years old).

When the surveyor did the survey I showed him the guarantee against the above and also pointed out that I used to be a woodworm /damp surveyor and there is no active woodworm etc in the property.

The buyers visited last night to discuss and I showed them the relevant documents / guarantees etc. They have not even seen these although they were submitted to their solicitors 6 weeks ago:mad:

I have now also lost several £££'s to my solicitor as he was half way through the conveyancing and got to start from scratch with my sale.

Surveyors are acting for the banks interest in making sure they don't have to lend any money with ridiculous not existant issues.

Running_Horse

Milliewilly wrote: »

Surveyors are acting for the banks interest in making sure they don't have to lend any money with ridiculous not existant issues.

Surveyors act in their client's and their own interest. I would be furious if a surveyor found woodworm (active ir not), and didn't even mention it. Any surveyor not mentioning a potential problem would not be doing his job, and presumably be liable to being sued.

As a former woodworm/damp surveyor you probably know T&D guarantees are not worth the paper they are printed on. I know from having tried to claim on one with a company registered as a "fair trader" with the local council. They wanted to charge £60 to even look at the problem, and of course denied it was their fault.

GDB2222

This guy is a qualified surveyor, and he came to a conclusion about woodworm that you don't like. Do you need any formal qualifications to be a "woodworm /damp surveyor"?

Sitting here, it crosses my mind that he might be right and you wrong. It doesn't seem to have crossed yours.

ILW

Milliewilly wrote: »

I am furious.

My buyers have pulled out today because the survey says evidence of active woodworm and woodboring insects in my property (its 200 years old).

When the surveyor did the survey I showed him the guarantee against the above and also pointed out that I used to be a woodworm /damp surveyor and there is no active woodworm etc in the property.

The buyers visited last night to discuss and I showed them the relevant documents / guarantees etc. They have not even seen these although they were submitted to their solicitors 6 weeks ago:mad:

I have now also lost several £££'s to my solicitor as he was half way through the conveyancing and got to start from scratch with my sale.

Surveyors are acting for the banks interest in making sure they don't have to lend any money with ridiculous not existant issues.

Just to clarify - Banks do not "have" to lend in any situation. It is up to them to decide whether they wish to.

1echidna

It seems a bit precipitate of your buyer to drop out so quickly. Has he had some specialist company accompany him on an inspection so he can see for himself the nature and extent of the problem. It is my understanding that with new methods the costs of treatment are relatively less than they used to be. Maybe a small adjustment in price to cover treatment would be all that is necessary and keep all parties satisfied.

Milliewilly

GDB2222 wrote: »

This guy is a qualified surveyor, and he came to a conclusion about woodworm that you don't like. Do you need any formal qualifications to be a "woodworm /damp surveyor"?

Sitting here, it crosses my mind that he might be right and you wrong. It doesn't seem to have crossed yours.

There is either active woodworm or there isn't so yes the Surveyor is wrong.

I am university educated and have self built and renovated property for the last 10 years so I am not some 'layman' with a vat of woodworm spray. When I first left Uni I worked as a Surveyor for Rentokil for 2 years so I can make an informed opinion if there is active woodworm or not.


The lady who was suposed to be buying has freaked out about 'beetles crawling everywhere' and pulled out so theres not much I can do.

spectre

'beetles crawling everywhere'

uhhh beetles, im not buying your house :rotfl:

GDB2222

There are quite a few brand new limited companies offering 20 year guarantees....

m_13

My sister has just bought a house that had a full structural survey. It found damp and when you were in the house you could smell it. They had a retention on the mortgage to fix it. However, the vendors refused to believe there was damp and even managed to find a damp surveyor who agreed with them despite all the damp patches on the wall!

When we stripped the wallpaper we found that the plaster had been hacked off previously to waist height - a typical action for damp treatment - but there was still damp. The wallpaper fell off in some places.

Today a company have come to fit the new wooden floor and have found woodworm in the house which has to be treated before the floor is put down. It wasn't found during the structural survey.

Your buyers appear to have gone but you need to ensure this doesn't happen again with the next buyers. If any woodworm remains then it needs treating!

Milliewilly

:rotfl:That's the way she's interpreted the Surveyors report - he didn't say there were any beetles (because there aren't)

Surveyor also said there are cracked window panes - there aren't

Airbrick in Lounge has been blocked up - it hasn't and I showed her that last night.

Gas boiler has not been serviced for a long time - I showed Surveyor the service from 08! I agreed with the buyers it would be serviced before they took posession.

The report ran to 35 pages apparently but the EA has told me there was no retainer put on the buyers mortgage. The buyers had 'forgotten' to bring the report with them last night when they came round to discuss it (they asked for the meeting with me but didn't bring the survey!) - I suspect because the valuation is not lower than they had agreed to pay!

GDB2222

Milliewilly wrote: »

There is either active woodworm or there isn't so yes the Surveyor is wrong.

Well, one of you is wrong ...