survey and house re-roof

courtjester

henster wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply!

Needs a new roof because it has nail rot?? Quite a few missing slates etc. Survey came back saying that we should get quotes for roof before proceeding so this is what we have done - having arranged for the roof people to quote, the vendor then told us that he had just had a quote done for a re-roof -which came back at similar price to our quote. the fact that they had a quote done after accepting our offer seems strange - as if they were expecting us to come back and argue?!

Nail rot simply means that all the nails that hold the slates on have gone rusty and are breaking leaving the slates to slide - this will continue until all the slates fall off if unchecked. It's probably a victorian property and the slates are 100+ years old, so if they are cracked and broken, the slates are perishing too as the roof has effectively reached the end of its projected life. Underlying battens may be rotten due to age or water ingress and no lining means that everything in the loft is probably a mess of dirt and dust (which will get worse when the roof is taken off).

Incidentally, did your survey provide a valuation for the property? Is the asking price within the valuation (taking account of the condition of the roof) or above it - that will give a pointer to whether the price you are paying plus the cost of re-roofing is in order.

Walking away is a good move from a negotiating point of view - the vendor may well come back to accept your revised offer if they know you won't proceed otherwise - and you may well find a better property which needs no roofing if you continue your search.

It always seems easy to assume that you have found the perfect property and there can be no other at the price, but you may be surprised at what else is out there. Good luck.

henster

Thanks for your helpful reply. You're right about the age of property etc and the detailed info is useful - we're definitely worried about what might be 'uncovered' when it comes to re-roofing...!:eek:

Just to update, we have now said that we are definitely pulling out unless the vendor agrees to meet us halfway with the roof quote (halfway is around 3.5k). That was 24 hours ago and so far no news from the EA ... In the meantime we have convinced ourselves that the house just needs too much work so we won't be too disappointed when our revised offer is rejected.

Don't want to become one of those people on Property Ladder with no 'contingency fund' and no money left...

Thanks for all the helpful replies, will let you know what happens.