Will you buy a house with below findings in survey?

bosseyed

manan.shah.82 wrote: »

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,

None of that would necessarily put me off (although it does sound like theres a bit of a damp issue!) if there were other positive factors about the property - but all that would make me revise the offer downwards considerably. All that is resolvable stuff but at a price, so if you want to, get some quotes in for the works you know needs doing and then use that as room to negotiate.

manan.shah.82

Thank you very much guys for all your replies.

I think house price is down by 10k then usually it is in this area and we knew about Damp issue that's why we had an quatation around it but rest of the issues are surprise and we were not expecting it.

I'll definietly ask the estate agent/owner to lower the house price for these expenditures and if they dont agree then I'll happily walk away from this deal. Any tips on how to negotiate this and by how much? I was thinking I'll get quatation for all of the works and then add 3-5% as a contengency and ask seller to reduce by that amount.


But still I'm concerned that even if all these things are fixed will you still buy the house because of,

1. there is a risk for groundwater/surface water flooding. Property is in Barking and Dagenham area (near to barking station) and it's far from the river so it has no risk of river flood. But I'm not sure how effective drainage systems are around the house and though property is not on slope but one street around 0.5 miles from house is on higher level (10-12 steps) and rest of the streets are at the same level.
2. Two well reputed Damp Proofing Compnies (Kenwood and Kenway) has given quote and their work is guranteed for next 20 years; but I'm worried because there is risk of surface water flooding will there be possibility of happening this again in near future?
3. This is not going to my home for my rest of life and I may sell this house in next 5-10 years and I know there will be few people out there who are not very much concerened whether property backs to the railway track but what's the general perception? Does this significanty affect from re-saling point of view? Any experience?

Thank you all once again for your support.

Regards