Buying a house with a large tree <1m from the gable end wall

Toiletduck

Hi,

We are thinking of putting an offer into a house we quite like. It’s a 1930s 3-bed detached marketed at a very attractive price – cheaper than 3-bed semis in the area. The house d!cor needs cosmetic updating throughout but as far as I can tell from an initial viewing, there are no expensive jobs required (subject to a survey obviously), new boiler, electrics double glazing throughout, kitchen and additional downstairs bathroom extension and conservatory built.

From the initial viewing I have just one cause for concern. There is a very large tree I would guess to be 40-50 years old around 1m from the gable end. The branches are interfering with the roof on that side although the main concern is obviously the roots which must extend under most of the house given the proximity and size of the tree. I cannot see any signs of subsidence to the brickwork on that side (or anywhere) and the drains run at the opposite side of the house so I don’t think it would have caused problems with those.

If we have an offer accepted its going to cost us a non-refundable £399 booking fee further to that the building survey is in the region of £650 with potentially valuation costs on top. This is obviously an outlay we have to be prepared to walk away from however, should we walk away at this stage and save ourselves the £1k costs of putting an offer in now? Or perhaps look to have a tree roots investigation done prior to even making an offer? Who would do this?

This is a picture of the offending tree:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jGbfq9IV2YF2fSePGuUrFQ?feat=directlink



Thanks for your advice in advance.

Andy

sunshinetours

Why would you not have a roots investigation done wouyld be my question? Its something that clearly worries you and it won't go away and the tree will at some point need work if its interferring with the roof already.
Could be an insurance issue as well and cbheck if tree has a TPO on it which may prevent you doing what you want to do with the tree. Also if thinking of getting it cut down then get a quote. Big trees that close to a house could be very very expensive to get sorted

Toiletduck

sunshinetours wrote: »

Why would you not have a roots investigation done wouyld be my question? Its something that clearly worries you and it won't go away and the tree will at some point need work if its interferring with the roof already.
Could be an insurance issue as well and cbheck if tree has a TPO on it which may prevent you doing what you want to do with the tree. Also if thinking of getting it cut down then get a quote. Big trees that close to a house could be very very expensive to get sorted

Thanks for your reply,

I am looking for advice on the best way to do this in order to minimise any costs we may have to write off. I presume that even if we went for a full building survey this would not cover the tree and the mortgage would be subject to a positive Arboricultural survey. Given that we would have outlayed ~£1000 just to get to this point would it be better simply to make an offer subject to our having a positive Arboricultural report BEFORE we went through with the mortgage application and survey, therefore we would be able to walk away without loosing too much money?

Im just wandering what peoples experience is with obtaining mortgages when there is a large tree close to a house? Is it standard practice for them to withold a mortgage pending a positive tree roots report?

Cheers

Andy

pmlindyloo

Have you spoken to the seller about this tree? Do they have any reports from when they bought the house?

When we had our survey done, the surveyor (we met him at the property) talked us through about potential problems with nearby trees.

Just on initial observations the tree is extremely close to the property and I wouldn't be proceeding without a full survey first and then depending on the report would go for a specialist report.

Depends really on how much you want the house.

puddy

makes you wonder why the current vendor hasnt chopped down the tree? is it protected?

dslator

Look on the local authorities planning site and search for the property. There may be a tree report on there already.

Toiletduck

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Have you spoken to the seller about this tree? Do they have any reports from when they bought the house?

When we had our survey done, the surveyor (we met him at the property) talked us through about potential problems with nearby trees.

Just on initial observations the tree is extremely close to the property and I wouldn't be proceeding without a full survey first and then depending on the report would go for a specialist report.

Depends really on how much you want the house.

Im not sure why it hasnt been cut down but the house has been empty for 2 years following the death of the owner.

The vendor says that the tree was not an issue when her daughter bought it in 1999 and she isnt aware of any current problems.

I cant see anything on the Warrington council website that lets your search for reports, however the section on trees does throw up a further issue - its also close to the neighbouring property, we could become liable for damage to thier house!

Its begining to sound like a potential can of worms...

puddy

well grief and bereavement may be the reason this is not a high priority for the seller. also the owner (sounds like she died young) may have been ill for a while before dying?

in any case i suppose i can see why this wasnt attended to however, i would say that anyone with a modicum of common sense would see a treee that close to a house's wall and feel that this is a recipe for disaster

if you like the house a lot, i would commit to getting some sort of root/structural examination plus a quote for removal, before the survey

Toiletduck

Ive spoken to a Tree Surgeon, a report on the tree, local soil condition, water take up rates, pruning/ felling recommendations which will be acceptable to a mortgage company would cost around £225 however he cannot comment on any structural damage that the roots may have caused. Therefore I would need his report commisioned in conjunction with a Structural Engineers report to assess any structural damage to the house, and so the costs are now starting to really escalate.



Andy

puddy wrote: »

well grief and bereavement may be the reason this is not a high priority for the seller. also the owner (sounds like she died young) may have been ill for a while before dying?

in any case i suppose i can see why this wasnt attended to however, i would say that anyone with a modicum of common sense would see a treee that close to a house's wall and feel that this is a recipe for disaster

if you like the house a lot, i would commit to getting some sort of root/structural examination plus a quote for removal, before the survey

puddy

well you either feel that the house is viable, or could be without the tree and any real damage to the structure, or you dont

if you do, then to spend 255, plus ? before going ahead with a survey would seem a valid outlay. it will then tell you whether to go further ahead. you could find out for instance that there is no structural damage but that its going to cost 1k to remove the tree, or you could find out that the tree has caused damage to the house to the tune of 20k, then you know to pull out

its a question of how much you like the house, but if you do go ahead, dont get the survey first, as you say it wont answer any of these sorts of questions and you'll have to get those extra investigations done on top of a survey price

pmlindyloo

From the sounds of it - downstairs extension and conservatory - you would be going for a full survey anyway. Therefore, the 'tree report' would be the only extra.

Are there documents re: the extension and conservatory (planning permission, building regulations) in place already? If not, that could be another headache for you.

Unless this is your dream house I would keep looking!