Will you buy a house with below findings in survey?

manan.shah.82

Hello,

We have found our first home which is somewhat like we imagined and it fits in our budget as well but building survey and searches pointed out things and after that we are bit confused whether we should buy it or not?

Below are the key findings and I'll appreciate if you guys can let me know your thoughts whether to buy or not this house.

1. Damp remedial works to the ground floor walls [ this will cost about £3000 to resolve this issue with 20 years guarantee.]
   
2. Re-line valley gutter to the rear.
   
3. Ceilings on the landing and in the rear bedroom requires some repair work because of leakage from valley gutter.
   
4. Flood report has indicated that property has risk of groundwater flooding based on the underlying geological conditions? [Though there is no risk of any other flooding but I don't know how risky surface water flooding is. British Geological Survey Flooding has given "High" rating for groundwater flooding and Aviva Flood Risk and Insurability has given "Negligible" rating to flood risk]
   
5. Renew timber threshold to the rear door.
   
6. The chimney breasts in the kitchen and bedroom above have been removed. The remaining masonry in the loft is unsupported. There is the potential for brickwork to collapse without warning. This requires immediate attention and contractors should be requested to provide quotations for this work. [I have no idea whether originally there was any such support and it has been removed or surveyor has mentioned this as a precaution]
   
7. Re-point copings to parapets
   
8. The property has been structurally altered by removing the beasts and some chimney stacks and searches showed that local authority's consent was not obtained for this. I have informed my solicitor about this and I think he's going to look in to this.
   
9. Concern was recorded to the wiring condition within the loft. A test of the electrical installation by an NICEIC electrician should be obtained
   
10. Because of a lack of recent testing to the gas supply, a test of the installation by a suitably qualified heating engineer/gas safe registered contractor should be undertaken
    
11. The property backs onto a railway line, which could cause some noise disturbance and effect future saleability. [At first we didnt have much concern with the noise but because this may affect the re-sale and all of the above issues this has become one negative sign ]

Will you still consider buying such property?

Thank you very much.

Regards,

suelizab

walk away. i walked away from 2. 3rd time lucky

Niowrtt

Most of these are no real concern, at least to me to me. But

Items 1, 2 and 3 are work you'll need to do as you can't allow a leak to continue, so use these to negotiate a discount.

However, with items 8 and 6 I'd walk away. Especially 6 as it sounds like the house needs immediate building work. The property has a ton of bricks with no vertical support.

Butterfly_Brain

Don't touch it !

Slinky

The unsupported chimney breasts would be the deal breaker for me - its a symptom of the lack of understanding previous owners have had for the consequences of their actions. What else is there as yet undiscovered

Surface water drainage could also be a big factor for me. We had a serious downpour a few years ago which revealed we are at the lowest point in the street, another 10-15 minutes of rain and I think we'd have had water in the house. Look at where the house is in relation to slopes, hills, drains etc.

Davesnave

It is impossible to advise properly without knowing what kind of discount you are being offered, and what you & your family are like as individuals.

Every property finds its price according to its balance of positive & negative features, but even 'bargains' aren't that if the persons buying prove unsuited to coping with the negatives.

As you are asking about relatively easy to assess survey results, this suggests that you aren't comfortable with building issues, but you seem fairly OK about the railway, which if it's a busy one, might put others right off. If you are happy to put up with some disruption while the essential structural issues are addressed, and if you are getting a good discount to reflect these and the proximity of a railway, then this could be for you. If any of that bothers you at all, walk away now.

FireWyrm

Run...dont walk. The unsupported chimmney is just the tip of the iceburg. Why people insist on trying to take out a major structure of the house without putting in support is beyond me.

The damp is the killer for me. It has the potential to manifest as Stachybotrys chartarum which is that nasty black slimy stuff which is highly toxic especially to children. It requires immediate treatment and is usually a sign of serious damp issues throughout the house. Any sign of black mold would rule out the purchase of that particular house in my book. There's another type called Aspergillus which is just as nasty. There are treatments and depending on how widespread, you could potentially make the house safe, but I just wouldnt bother myself. Given that there is a flood warning regarding surface water, there might be more to this longterm than you are aware of.

So, in short, what you have there is (worst case scenario) a house that could

1) fall down
2) grow black mould due to
3) regular flooding by ground water
4) No gas safety check so if it doesnt fall down, it could blow up
5) old electrical wiring, so you could electricute yourself the first time you turn on the lights
6) And if it is structurally sound, it wont be for long because of the bloody freight trains thundering by.

Nope, that's not the house you're looking for...move on.

Naide

We walked away from a similar situation and very glad we did. We found out afterwards that we weren't the only ones. We went on to find a lovely house, which was solid and needed very little work for less money. Run!

ILW

If the place is 50 0r 100 grand below comparables, probably worth a punt.

Doozergirl

What Davesnave said. It entirely depends upon what you were expecting to see, to do to it and how much you're paying for the house.

There's nothing there that isn't treatable.

Damp readings - it's an old house. Old houses give readings on those little machines that surveyors use. Those little machines don't measure dampness, they measure electrical conductivity. The only person that will tell you categorically is a properly qualified damp and timber surveyor - whom you will pay about £200 for a survey. NOT a damp treatment salesperson who will sell you damp treatments regardless of whether you need them. There may be no problem at all. If you can't see it and can't smell it then I don't believe it exists. It's worth living with for a while rather than chucking good money after a problem which is entirely normal for an older house.

Flooding - ask if it has flooded! Frankly, round my way, if it didn't flood in 2007, it's not going to anytime soon. If the insurers aren't picking it up as a risk, then it suggests no claims in that area.

Gas and electrics - a surveyor will never tell you the condition because they aren't qualified to.

The chimney breast - it's patently obvious they didn't have local authority approval (building control sign off) if they didn't support the stacks! Needs rectifying, isn't a massive building job. Ask them to get it sorted themselves with Building Control sign off or negotiate accordingly.

Gutters and ceilings. We know what the issue is, gutters needs replacing, ceiling may need some plastering.

The trainline - you saw it. The neighbours live there and you want to live there. Some people won't to live there beccause of the railway line, like some people won't want to live in that town, that part of town, that style of house, with that kitchen, whatever. The price is affected because it isn't in Chelsea either (I assume it isn't!) Every house has it's buyer. If it doesn't bother you, there will be someone else it doesn't bother too and I think it's silly to go and pay more for another house not by the trainline because someone eventually will pay more for the house because it isn't near a train line, iyswim.

None of it I find particularly scary. If you were expecting to do some work then I'd say it's a very normal looking survey for an older house! If you were expecting gorgeous move in condition, then it's obviously a surprise (but with damp patches on the ceiling I suspect it isn't!)

dodger1

Find out how much it will cost to fix all the stated problems and reduce your offer by that amount.