Survey back...advice please..

Sarahpuggy

Hi all,

We just had our survey back today and a few things have been highlighted to us which we are not sure what to do about. If i type them out on here, i am hoping somsone can tell us what action we should take.

Its a 2 bed flat in New Malden, Kingston Upon Thames, and was on the market for £179,950, to which we secured for 175. We requested a homebuyers report.

Here goes :

Category 2- Roofing: There is a missing tile and a slipping tile requiring overhauling. As i have already reported, i was unable to inspect the flat roof. from viewing the edge, the covering appears to be of a fair age. As flat felt coverings have limited life, it would be advisable to contact the management company to establish whether there are any plans to have the covering replaced.

Category 2 - Rainwater Fittings: The front gutter should be re-aligned to ensure adequate discharge of water and a rear gutter section is in poor condition requiring replacement.

Category 2 - Outside Area : The rear decking bridges the damp course. ideally, you need to provide a 150mm gap between the decking and the wall.

Category 2 - The reception door is ill-fitting.

Category 2 - The blocked reception room flue should ideally be ventillated to avoid the build of condensation.

Category 3 - Water, Plumbing & Bathroom fittings : There is leakage to the WC (Is that the toilet?) which should be repaired.

Category 2 - The radiators are quite dated and it would be prudent to have them tested to establish their adequacy. (does this suggest that the pipes will be n same condition, although there is nothing mentioned)

Thats it, he has valued the property at £175,000.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether we should re-negotiate the price with the EA/developer, or do we need to get our own quotes for all the work and then present it to them? Although this would not be ideal as we both work full time.

i'd really appreciate some feedback from someone who has had experience of this, as we are FTB and want to make sure we get it right and dont want to overpay.

Thanks for any help.

AndrewSmith

Why would you want to re-negotiate if the surveyor valued the property at the price you are paying? What it does prove is that you negotiated well and are not paying over the odds for the place.

None of the above are what I would consider to be major defects just items of routine maintenance.

New Malden? Ive a few clients that way. Spent many a happy day sat on the M25 carpark. :rotfl:

Debt_Free_Chick

Sarahpuggy wrote:

Thats it, he has valued the property at £175,000.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether we should re-negotiate the price with the EA/developer, or do we need to get our own quotes for all the work and then present it to them? Although this would not be ideal as we both work full time.

To be honest, it's valued at £175k even with these issues. They all seem relatively minor to me. Also, as it's flat, it looks like some of them would probably be for the management company to resolve e.g. roof, guttering. An ill-fitting door probably just needs re-hanging and should cost only about £40.

I can't see anything that needs immediate and urgent attention. Just the normal "wear and tear" that used to be expected when buying a property, although there does seem to be a new trend for not accepting anything less than a "perfect" property.

I think the best thing you can do is to find out which of these things are actually matters for the management company to address.

Regards

Sarahpuggy

Thanks for the replies...

Its not that we particularly want to re-negotiate the price as we are pretty happy with the price we are paying, but if there is going to be alot of extra cost when we move in, it is something we have to think about as we dont have alot of extra money available.

Im unsure how i approach the eastate agents really..do i just call them and tell them everything that has been highlighted?

How do i even know if they will carry out the necessary repairs. Im especialy worried about the roof, although i need to find out if there are any plans and if this would be covered in the maintence costs we would pay.

Thanks again.

clutton_2

i would want to know more about the blocked flue - ring him up and ask him about this. also ask the management company when they last had a new flat roof, these can be expensive, depending on size.

wc - yes it is a toilet

get missing and slipped tiles repaired as soon as you move in to prevent further water damage - very small job.

radiators - are they hot all over, if not bleed them - you can do this yourself - buy allum key from a DIY shop for less than £1 and stick it in the hole at the top of the rad till water comes out then stop.

i agree all the rest is down to the managment co.

good luck

Sarahpuggy

I wouldn't know about the radiators..we have only viewed it twice and neither time the heating was on.

Should i arrange to view it again and check some of these things?

marybishop

Your solicitor should be able to tell you from the lease what is down to you to do and what is covered by the annual maintenance charge and therefore carried out by the landlord/management company. I would have thought externals i.e. the roof/gutters were a landlord's responsibility (windows could be the exception, check) and internals i.e. inside the flat would usually be down to you. Phone your solicitor and get him to check these issues.

MortgageMamma

where the flue has been blocked off - you don't have a gas fire in use in the propertyt? Sorry if that seems like a daft question but I have to ask - I had an awful experience 7 years ago where me and my eldest kid could have ended up in body bags. If its not in use then thats ok, but if you ever intend to put a fire in in the future it would need unblocking. I would speak to the EA about this, but everything else seems trivial. You need to check if roof maintenance is the responsibility of the landlord or yourselves, but even so, this is only minor work

Sarahpuggy

I dont really know what is underneath the blocked off fireplace. It just looks like it has a piece of board over the top of it with a vent in it..

izoomzoom

Hi

Just wanted to say well done on getting the survey completed.

We are still waiting.......

westernpromise

clutton wrote:

also ask the management company when they last had a new flat roof, these can be expensive, depending on size.

Definitely - felt roofs last about 10 years I think so there will be a bill to replace that at some point of which you will be paying some percentage.

The last place I bought was a flat in a Victorian white stucco block. It is in a conservation area and is required to be repainted every 5 years at a cost of anything up to £30,000...split five ways. Gulp. If that was coming up, as a buyer, you'd want to know exactly when, and start budgeting...