Any comeback on dodgy survey?

scoobiesnacks

I've just moved into my new house and am very concerned about a few things in the main bedroom.
1. The ceiling is severly bowing
2. The exterior wall is also bowing and the plaster appears to be blown in large areas
3. The floor 'dips' along this exterior wall and is below the level of the skirting board
4. One of the sash windows is in a very poor state and needs replacing

None of this was flagged up in the survey, had it been I would certainly have negotiated money off the purchase price. Infact the survey flagged up very little which is suspicious for a Victorian property, plus the estate agent told me that he thought the surveyor wasn't at the property very long. Is there anything I can do or is it just tough luck?

Thanks for any input.

scoobiesnacks

Forgot to mention, it was a home buyer's report.

cattie

For the type of things you mention you would need a structural survey for them to be flagged by the surveyor.

The problems you mention are pretty common in older properties. It's always advisable to get a structural survey where an older property is concerned as homebuyer's reports are just full of generalisations & recommendations to get specialist reports & don't really tell you much about condition of property at all.

shelly

Didn't you notice any of the problems when viewing the property?


Maybe its just me but when I'm at the stage of making an offer then the property would be gone over with a fine tooth comb.

mi-key

On houses that old you should always go for a full structural survey.

Saying that, it does depend on the surveyor you use - our surveyer told us that as the property was built around 1960, their homebuyers report would show up 99.9% of the things the full survey would ( in fact it does menthion things like unlevel floors and ceilings, but points out they are mainly cosmetic as they arent structural problems ).

scoobiesnacks

I should have known better, it's a total waste of money. £500 to tell me nothing other than some ivy needs cutting back from the extension roof! Surely the survey should comment on the state of the windows? When I viewed the property there was a blind infront of the offending window and I didn't think to look. Obviously neither did he. We live and learn.

chivers1977

My HB report on a victorian property said that we needed to strengthen the roof as the tiles are too heavy, rerender the parapet wall and fix some damp. None of those things we noticed ourselves. I think it depends on the survyor how thorough they are.