Buying flat - problems on survey report

travel_freak

Hi there,

Just had my survey report for a flat I'm hoping to buy which raises a number of issues:

1. It says the floor is a fire hazard an needs to be overlaid with plywood - it's basically just bare floorboards now - it's the first floor flat. Is this as simple as it sounds to rectify, can I just buy some plywood and nail it down DIY style or does anyone know if there's more to it than this and if so whether it will be an expensive exercise?

2. Report says the drains are blocked and need to be "flushed through" and that after this has been done it may reveal that some repairs are needed to underground pipes. I'm not really sure where to go with this - it's a bit scary as I know problems with drains can be very expensive. Any advice re who to contact and likely costs would be gratefully received.

3. There's no insulation at all in the roof - again, is this something I could do myself, by just buying that fluffy insulation stuff on a roll and laying it or is it more technical than that.

4. Also a chimney needs repointing - does anyone know roughly how much this would cost - and is it serious enough to bother doing at all?

Given the above would it be fair to ask for an allowance to be made on the purchase price to cover the extra costs I will incur?

Many thanks in advance.

pboae

I don't know about the other things but we paid about £200 for a drain survey, which included CCTV footage, then a flush then another CCTV, that was in Yorkshire. It came back with a relatively minor problem (£500) and the vendor went halves with us on the cost.

plane_boy2000

Not sure about the floor - you would need specialist advice on that one, but why not ask the vendor to deal with the drains. Re pointing the chimny shoud be a cheep job no more that £200 I would guess, and insulating the roof is also cheep - yes you do just roll the stuff out in your roof, and some local councils will give you a grant towards the cost

travel_freak

Many thanks guys for the above posts which are really helpful, especially the ideas about costs. A huge help!

Regards,

clutton_2

re floor - if it is a first floor flat or above, there are buiding regs re sound proofing, i don't know if you might have to comply with those also - check out with your local building control dept in local council. soundproofing can be quite expensive.