Survey advice

Daisy70

Hi, I'd appreciate some advice as we are very torn as to what to do!

Put in an offer on a house priced way too hight, EA said that it was priced high but they would consider offers at X. We offered at X and were accepted.

Survey results came back showing a bad loft conversion, bowing ceiling and distorted shower room. We asked for building regs approval (loft conversion was done in the 90's) and the EA has said that they have a letter from the council basically signing it off. Not sure if it would pass now as building regs are more strict.

We wanted to lower the price based on the fact that the loft needs work but the vendor said no, they accepted our lower offer, knowing that the house needs work.

Our solicitor is concerned about the conversion and that it could be too much money to fix and building regs might not be adequate. We took advice from a builder we know well (after seeing the report, hasn't been to visit) that it would cost about £20k to fix the conversion. He also said that it wouldn't be something we'd have to do straight away and could do it later down the line. There are other problems with the house but those we can fix easily ourselves.

Question is - is it all too much? We've already had to pull out of one house due to a bad survey and we really like this house but aren't sure if it's worth all the aggro.

Jimbo1976

I suspect that the amount you have already spent on the survey is going to be a lot less than the cost of the problems that the survey has highlighted.

Either walk away or offer a figure that you think is appropriate based on the highlighted issues.

Don't feel pressured into buying just because you've already spent a few hundred pounds

DRP

It sounds like you have done a lot of research / legwork, so I would put everything in writing as your justification for reducing the offer and give to the EA along with a week (?) deadline before you start looking elsewhere

Daisy70

Thanks for your replies.

The vendor has refused to lower the price any more, they said that otherwise they will pull out and put the property back on the market. The EA thinks they are being unreasonable but they won't budge:mad:

I'm just not sure whether a letter signing off building regs is enough!

monkeyboy72

For me depending on how much of a bargain I had got the place for I would probably still go for it, the builder has said its safe to live in and use and can be done at a later date, I would probably have a go at doing most of it myself as an ongoing weekend project, seems all houses have some issues has anyone ever had a survey done which has come back 100% clean?, course not

jozbo

monkeyboy72 wrote: »

For me depending on how much of a bargain I had got the place for I would probably still go for it, the builder has said its safe to live in and use and can be done at a later date, I would probably have a go at doing most of it myself as an ongoing weekend project, seems all houses have some issues has anyone ever had a survey done which has come back 100% clean?, course not

i agree with this... if you really love the place and your offer is reasonable (not too high).

also bear in mind this same loft issue will come up if/when you sell it, so will be something you must do at some point.

could be the reason for pulling out, or might just be one of the inevitable compromises you have to make to get the right house/price/location