Roof membrane - can anyone help?

donnaessex

Morning all!

We are in the process of selling our house (3 bed semi - Essex) and the buyers got their survey through yesterday - it was a homebuyers survey, not a mortgage valuation one.

It came up with lots of minor defects with the house, which we have agreed to put right (cost will be around £350) but another recommendation was that the roof membrane should be replaced as it is torn in places. It states that to replace it, all tiles must be taken off, the membrane replaced and then tiled again which will cost thousands obviously.

Now when you go into the loft, it looks like some kind of bin bag material has been used to line the roof - when we bought it 7 years ago and had our home buyers survey done, there was no mention of the roof membrane being faulty and it still looks the same today as it did then. We also had a basic mortgage valuation done 2 years ago when we remortgaged and the surveyor definitely looked in the loft for that too. Both my husband and I are a bit "green" to say the least when it comes to DIY and anything homey so we thought that was just how roofs were lined? Now the buyer is saying that he wants to come round on Saturday during daylight and have a look up there and that he shouldnt see any roof tiles from inside the roof. But you can see them! All of them!

What can we do? We are now thinking that this material should never have been used - do we have any comeback whatsoever on our original homebuyers survey? Or would we really have to replace it before selling our house? Or is this a way of lining the roof? We dont have a clue.

Is there anything that can be done to fix it without the cost running into thousands?

The surveyors conclusion was however that the house was a fair price taking into account the condition so they wouldnt have any bargaining power would they? The roof has never leaked in the 7 years we have been there...

Thanks in advance for anyone who has read this - I am in a major panic as we are meant to be moving in 4 weeks!

latecomer

You could pay for an independent inspection saying that its never been a problem and has never been noted as a problem. But that said, I would expect that the buyers will try and use it to negotiate a lower price - I know we did when we got our survey back and it listed some significant problems.

donnaessex

Thanks Latecomer. Who would I need to contact about an independent inspection then? Roofer or surveyor? And would they be able to renegotiate even though the survey still says he is paying a fair price?

House_Hunter

Just becasue a survey finds something - doesn't mean you have to immediately fix it or reduce the price...

You have agreed a price for the house "as it is"....obviously the buyer may try to get you to reduce your price as a result of the surveyors report, but as your valuation clearly stated, the agreed price was a good reflection including the roof as it is..

All depends on how desperate you are to sell and whether the sale price to you is critical....

If you would rather have a quick sale, then by all means begin negotiation - however personally I would say it hasn't leaked in 7 years and see no reason to justify a reduction in price.

latecomer

I'm not 100% sure how things work in England but I thought that the buyer could basically walk away at any point up to the final exchange - if thats the case the the buyer could use anything to renegotiate, even without a reason. I'm not saying thats what to expect, its just that its possible.

As to who to get to inspect the roof, if you know a good roofer then you could ask them to inspect it and give a written report but a report from a surveyor hold more weight for any negotiations?

donnaessex

Thanks both of you for your posts.

My husbands best mate is a roofer but not sure that he would be looked on as "impartial"!!!

We ARE desperate to sell and we've bought a beautiful house for a bargain price (was about to be repossessed - eek!) - its in a neighbourhood we would never ever be able to afford to live in but we offered a cheeky price and they accepted.

Our buyers dont know how desperate we are to move though so I am torn between being nonchalant and just saying "the price is fair - look at your surveyors conclusion" and then the other half of me wants to knock £5k off our asking price. The buyers themselves are a young couple who love the house and really want to move asap but its the guys dad who is doing all the arguing with us and I think he's going to tell them not to buy it - however, the young guy doesnt want to throw away £700 (which is what he's spent so far) and might just ignore him - I hope so.

When they look up there they are going to see what a mess it is. I'm dreading them backing out.

latecomer

If you think they are really interested then try talking to them. Explain that its never been noted as a problem in both previous surveys etc. highlight the fact that their surveyor has said that its a fair price for the condition.

Obviously dont let them know you are desperate to sell. I guess you need to balance how much you want the new place against how much you need to get for your house etc. Maybe its worth dropping the price by £5k if it guarantees they buy your house.

dougk_2

Many houses don't have a membrane. Its not essential and is a secondary layer to protect against water ingress. If the primary layer (tiles/slates) is in good condition it has no effect. As a buyer I would want to know if the roof tiles or slates are serviceable.

latecomer

As the surveyor states it needs replaced then I guess its safe to say the OP has one.

donnaessex

Thanks dougk! I've just emailed my neighbour and shes going to call me soon. Both her and her brother live within 5 houses of me and I'm going to ask them if they have/had a membrane in their roof.

I hope they dont - if they dont then I can send my buyers round to their houses for confirmation that you dont NEED the membrane.

donnaessex

latecomer wrote: »

As the surveyor states it needs replaced then I guess its safe to say the OP has one.

Maybe our former owners put it up - it doesnt look very tidy up there so I would presume its a diy job just by looking at it. If we dont need it, then we could take it down maybe?