Conflict in value between valuation survey and full structural survey

SimonMrGreenWard

100% get it all checked out by trades people.

The fact he paid so little is actually a bonus for you as he may be more open to negotiation.

I had a surveyor tell my vendor that the roof needed replacing on their purchase, had a roofer go round and he said it was 100% fine.

Who knows what situation is like on this one.....

tyllwyd

I don't think you would find a 'wall' specialist as such - you'd be better off looking for a builder or a plasterer. Or do you mean a cavity wall tie specialist?

debsirn

Here is the list of estimated cost to repair from surveyor.
1
Take off tiles and replace including lining roof with felt.

7000

2
Timber repairs where timbers have split or twisted due to damp penetration (purlin support).

1000

3

Treat timbers with sprayed preservative.

1000

4
Repair party wall holes etc including chimneystack.

1000

5
Break off render coat of pebbledash and renew.

2500

6
Windows need replacing with double glazed units.

3000

7
Repair and replace cast iron rainwater pipes, gutters (not essential to replaced immediately but in short term needs to be repaired).

1000

8
Refurbishment of bathroom.

2000

9
Repair and replace concrete footpath, patio and side path.

2000

10
Landscape garden, repair fence etc.

750

Max

21250

11
Repair brickwork – (possible underpin) (provisional).

5000

26250

Quite a huge bill! Should I walk away? or which items on the list I can get the owner to sort out or negotiate price reduction with the owner?

I quite like the area where this house located and the agreed price is close to houses nearby were bought end of last year and beginning of this year, however, I don't know what was the state of those house.

SimonMrGreenWard

If the surveyor is going as far as to give you a breakdown of estimated costs, which they don't normally do, I'd say that he/she's trying to make it very clear that it's a bad idea to buy.

Speak with the surveyor direct, ask them what they think. Much more open in non-recorded telephone conversations than they can be in writing.

debsirn

I just receive the full report and it quite scarry.

“The walls were inspected for significant structure movement and the indications are that movement has occurred throughout the property in the pebbledash render coat.

Numerous cracks are evident on all elevations stretching from below eaves level down to the rendered plinth courses below dampcourse level.

The evidence would suggest, that this movement has been occurring over a long period, as there are patches of different stone textures, where previous making good has been carried out in various isolated areas. The cracks are too numerous to define in this report but I have scheduled separately sketches of the extent that exist at time of survey. As well as surface cracking, the render coat has suffered from erosion due to weathering in exposed areas particularly along the flank wall elevation.

It will be necessary to break off this render coat to discover whether the cracking has been caused by thermal movement in the render coat itself or see if there has been significant movement in the building which has caused the brickwork underneath to move. There are other areas, inside the entrance porch wall for instance, where cracking was clearly visible on the flank wall together with internal cracks in the front small bedroom and landing wall along the flank which would suggest settlement has taken place.

A significant horizontal crack was prominent in the render coat along the plinth wall, the flank parts of which, have broken away where there has been loss of key.

If the existing pebbledash rendering is not broken off and re-laid, cracking and the breaking up of the eroded surface will continue due to frost action, where dampness has ingresses into the cracks and has frozen in severe weather conditions. You will need to budget for re-rendering all elevations and the possibility of subsidence existing in parts of the flank wall.”

Unfortunately, vendor doesn’t allow me to remove render coat for further investigation. Can structure engineer investigate this issue without breaking off the render coat?

I arrange builder to have a look. He can provide me a quote for re-rendering but can’t comment on the crack.

I am kind of struct. What should I proceed?

neverdespairgirl

I'd find another house, this sounds like a money pit.

brit1234

Any one else hear alarm bells?

Walk away or get a far bigger reduction, after all prices are falling and that is one hell of a mark up for nothing.

poppysarah

Don't buy it if you can't be sure it's solid.

There are plenty more houses out there.

Doozergirl

Ok. From another property developer.

Can I tell you to please walk away. You are paying the same as other people have paid but your house is suffering.

A structural engineer can not tell the full extent of the damage unless the pebbledash has been removed. FYI pebbledash is often only put on to disguise structural issues!!!

This house has been to auction. It is unusual to see straight repos in auction which haven't already been on the open market and failed to sell. I wouldn't be surprised if it's already been turned down by another lender and that is why it went to auction.

As a matter of bloody priciple I would not allow a sheister to sell you a lemon which they have made £40k of profit on something which IMO isn't worth any more than they've paid for it. If other houses sell for similar prices without the issues then you will never see the money back that you spend on invisible but fundamentally important things like sorting out the render and replacing the roof. If they don't do obvious things properly then it's entirely possible that what they have done is sub standard and if they have repainted recently you might find after a short amount of time that you get damp patches from water ingress through the cracks which need to dry out.

For the sake of my own bank balance I would never buy anything from a property 'developer' that had failed to renovate the house properly. There's a lot that a surveyor can't see behind 'new' things. Your bloke has done none of the important stuff that keeps the integrity of the house. I'd say he's just plastered over the cracks, but he hasn't even done that.

I watched HUTH a while back where a family bought a house and just painted over dry rot! And then when the paint fell off immediately, they just plastered over it. It's still behind there doing it's thing...

Don't buy it.

kmmr

And one more from a property developer in training. I would walk away. The work is too unknown, and the fact that another property developer has given up should be a good sign that the costs to fix it up are much greater than any return he can see on the horizon. He KNOWS the things you don't, and is walking away.

Also, if you are saying properties in the area are going for similar values, then one with a massive amount of potentially serious work (cracking terrifies me!) should be selling for a significant discount. I'd say probably something close to the auction value paid by the guy who owns it now.

Hard to walk away from things sometimes, but this sounds like a clear example of money well spent on a structural survey!