Countrywide homebuyers report-Damp and wood infestation

Aissplash

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of their homebuyers report grossly overestimating problems with a houser flat? We received our report from countrywide yesterday (we are getting our mortgage from Halifax) and they refused to give a valuation on the property for 4 reasons- damp, wood infestation and gas and electricity.

Firstly- the reason they state for the gas and electrocty was that they had no evidence of servicing - but thy hadn't asked for any previous to the survey.. So I find this a bit ludicrous??

The damp and wood infestation was probably expected on a hse from 1890.. I am getting a damp and timber survey from UK damp tomorrow which looks to be as independent as I can find.

I am a bit miffed that the owners have stated they had no issues with a survey they had done 3 years ago- and that this survey says it estimates approx £150k to fix the issues!!!

This is especially because the garden/grass at the back of the house lays directly onto the house wall - the report says the ground is too high fro the dpc.

Has anyone else dealt with countrywide before??

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ais:-)

thelem

Don't blame the surveyor - these are problems that need looking at, and he could have saved you a lot of money.

Ignore the estimated fix cost - surveyors aren't experts, so they can be wildly inaccurate and are more likely to over rather than under estimate. Get qualified tradesmen in to quote on each of the relevant problems, and use their quotes to negioate a discount on the asking price.

I wouldn't say any problems are to be expected in a well maintained house, particularly the wood infestation as I don't see why age of house would have any bearing on that (assuming it's active).

Discuss the survey with your solicitor, as they will have more details about exactly what the problems are and you're paying for their advice.

mistykal5

Hi there,

I had a homebuyers report done by Countrywide (we're also getting a mortgage with Halifax, so had to have the survey done by them).

The report reported high levels of moisture throughout the downstairs of the property - which we automatically thought could be damp - however there were no tell-tale signs of damp. Anyway we had an independent surveyed go in for a look - please do not get a damp or woodworm specialist to go in, they will more than likely say there is a problem to make some money from you - the surveyor said he couldn't find any signs of high moisture and said it was perfectly fine. He also said that most surveyors will be on the side of caution for homebuyer reports to make sure if anything does go wrong they can't be liable in the future.

It cost us £215 for the independent survey but no doubt we would've paid for work that didn't need doing if we had got a damp or woodworm "specialist" in.

Hope this helps.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! What was the point in paying for a Homebuyer's Report if you are going to rubbish the results? Why didn't you have a full structural on a period property, as recommended by RICS?

kingstreet

£150,000 to fix woodworm, damp and the utilities?

Frankly, I don't believe it.

Have you got a copy of the mortgage report & valuation? If not, ask Halifax for a copy and see how the current value, future value and essential repairs are listed and how the issues compare with the HB.

I suspect a C&P error, with a previous report and this one being mixed up.

kingstreet

UK Damp appears to be a contractor, so I would question the objectivity of someone who works for them.

I would contact an independent damp surveyor in your area and pay for such a report by someone who has no interest in carrying out such repairs.

http://www.independentdampsurveyors.co.uk/

Aissplash

Thanks for all your replies.

I understand I should not rubbish the reports findings but when they ask for no evidence of gas and electrics certain and then report these items are a serious risk because they hv no evidence otherwise it makes me doubt the validity of their other findings. I am a nurse- I don't presume every patient has multiple organ failure!


I thought uk damp looked pretty impartial/independent? I called and they gave me a mobile of their contractor in the area. He appears to work on his own .. It is such a hard thing- you want a thorough survey but not someone on the up sell. At the end of the day it will all come down to countywide and Halifax accepting their findings- good or bad.

Has anyone ever had a disastrous report which has been turned around by a further 'specialist' report?