House falling down

lucytricker_2

I am a first time buyer in the process of purchasing a flat, and consequently have no experience of what happens when things go wrong, so I am appealing to Money savers for some friendly advice based on your experiences....

Everything was going swimmingly and according to plan - the mortgage company's survey came back fine and everything was ready to go.....I then got the pack of stuff through from my solicitor, and it turns out that there is a problem with the building, which means it is partially falling down at one side bacsuse the original builders 10 yrs ago didn't follow the original plans properly.

I am now wondering what to do.. It appears that the problem is 'significant' according to a civil engineer, and requires work. The company that own the freehold and manage the building have brushed it under the carpet somewhat, and have said that it will be about £5k between 21 flats to fix. The trouble is, I'm not sure if that cost could escalate.

The estate agent has talked about a 'retainer' and to be honest I don't know what one of those is or how it works, and how long iot would add to the proceedings.

I am supposed to be moving into the flat within a matter of weeks, and don't really want any hold ups, but on the other hand, if buying a flat which needs work is the worst idea in the world then perhaps I shouldn't be doing it.

I also wondered whether I should let my mortgage company know about the problem, since their survey didn't pick it up - my only worry with this is that they will then not lend me the money for the property (it has been thus far difficult to obtain a mortgage on my salary)

If anyone has any pointers on any of the above, I would be most grateful - property buying for a first time buyer is so daunting!!!!

Thank you

MortgageMamma

Have you had a full structural survey done? Have you spoken to your own solicitor about this? Its imperative that you get advice from someone professionally committed to you and not the seller. leave the estate agent and the leasehold company out of the equation in this instance. See what your solicitor says and if you havent already I would recommend investing in a full structural survey. Your mortgage lender should be informed if the outcome of the structural survey is negative.

You need an estimate of any worked needed to be done to quantify if this property is actually worth buying. I would indeed approach the seller (who could have perhaps known about this) and ask for a contribution towards the full structural, or perhaps to discount this off the purchase price together with a proportionate amount of the cost of the repair work that needs doing. Other than to have those terms met I would not buy it.

dwsjarcmcd

I agree with MM, you need to speak to your solicitor. I am assuming that you only had a valuation done, which is not actually a survey and offers you no protection. Have you exchanged contracts yet? I am assuming you probably have, but like MM I would do everything I could to get out of this purchase, it can only cost you even more money. Speak to your solicitor urgently

Good luck!!

lucytricker_2

Thank you!

I haven't had a full structural survey - but the civil engineers report, did much more than that - the trouble is I don't really understand technical speak. I guess my biggest problem is finding out how much the work will cost and whether the flat will lose value as a result.

I haven't exchanged yet, but the civil engineers report was only done a few weeks ago and the vendor was genuinely unaware that there was a problem with the flat.

I will speak to my solicitor tomorrow morning, but I feel a bit stupid not knowing the way these things work and not even knowing what to suggest as the ball appears to be in my court. I don't even know what is 'normal' in these situations......

mountainofdebt

My hubby is a civil engineer (and a damn good one if I say so my self) and his mate is a structural engineer (and also a damn good one) so if you want an explanation of the technical stuff I could ask them to explain it in layman terms.

pm me if it would help.

silvercar

We've just exchanged contracts with a retainer in place.

Basically if work needs doing and buyer and seller accept that the work should be paid for by the seller but it is not been completed at time of exchange a retainer is put in the contract. The buyer's solicitor then retains this money (ie doesn't pass it on to the seller) until the buyer is happy that the work has been completed to their satisfaction. It's a way of letting exchange and completion take place without being delayed waiting for work to be completed. There is often a time limit, so the money can't be held forever. We've got a time limit of 3 months, so if the work hasn't commenced by then the seller gets his money.

Ian_W

What I don't understand from your post lucy is this... If the vendor was unaware of the problem and your valuation came back OK - who decided a structural engineers report was required and why?

All of the above advice is good. If you've not exchanged you don't want to tie yourself to a purchase without quantifying the costs of any remedial work and getting the vendor to allow for this in the price. After all they're going to have the same problem with any purchaser on the presumption that another purchasers solicitor is going to get the same info yours has. Needs sorting before you exchange whether on the basis of a retention or a reduction in price.

BoL.

AndrewSmith

Surely if it is a leasehold property and the building is defective, then it is the duty and responsibility of the Freeholder / landlord to make good on this?

Personally if you want the property I would be arguing that it is not your place to have to pay for remedial works to the building itself. The freeholder should have adequate insurance in place to cover such things. Also if the flats are under 10 years old they may have some kind of guarantee for such things.

I think it's proposterous that you and the other leaseholders would be asked for £5,000 to repair the damage that occurred as a result of a dodgy builder 10 years ago.

Where will this stop? WIll the freeholder then be asking the leaseholders to pay for a new roof? New Gutters etc etc?

As a leaseholder you would be paying ground rent and maintenance charges to cover the cost of building insurance for the freeholder amongst other things. You should not be expected to also pay for structural repairs.

My thoughts would be Tough luck to the Freeholder, he should have discovered this when he/she bought the property originally.

Regarding letting the mortgage company know, your solicitor will advise you to tell them or even may inform them himself.

I would walk away personally.

Andy

Tim_L

Don't go anywhere near this purchase - you would probably end up regretting it for years. If it can be fixed it will be a long and expensive process requiring agreement between the other flat owners. Really it's not worth it.

cornerclose

I agree wholeheartedly with Tim_L.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do I want to live in a flat which may be falling down?

Do I want to negotiate with a number of other people that I do not know, when large sums of money are involved?

Do I want to live with builders for an indeterminate amount of time?

How will I sell the property if I want to move?

Don't touch it with a bargepole!

lucytricker_2

Thank you so much to everyone for their very valuable advice on all this.

I have withdrawn my offer and I am going to go back to the drawing board and start searching again.

I will have lost out money on fees and surveys etc, but I felt that bearing in mond all the excellent advice given, this was nothing compared to what I could have lost if I had proceeded with the sale.

Thank you again - this forum is excellent and full of lovely people!