Survey done,valued £10,000 less than offer..

Benny24

Offer accepted for £164,000. Survey carried out and bank have valued it at £154,000. This is due to the loft conversion currently in the house. It was converted without full building regs, meant to be used as an occasional space and not habitual accomodation.

The surveyor states a structural survey needs to be completed on the loft, to ensure the structural integrity of the house hasn't been compromised by the trusses being cut.

The vendor has no loft conversion plans, as he is handy and did the conversion himself with the help of a builder. He was aware if there was going to be a problem it would be with the loft. The rest of the house is ok.

The surveyor has said if the structural survey is sound the house valuation would be raised to our offer price.

Would it be fair to split the cost of the structural survey bewteen ourselves and the vendor, as we do want the house? And also would it be fair to say that following the survey, if there are problems with the conversion, the vendor then drops the price or gets the work done to make it right?

Thoughts please?

lynzpower

you can certianly ask

thiese sort of statements alarm me

[QUOTEThe vendor has no loft conversion plans, as he is handy and did the conversion himself with the help of a builder. He was aware if there was going to be a problem it would be with the loft. The rest of the house is ok

.][/QUOTE]
didnt the builder think about getting regs, seeing as this sort of thing is surely bread and butter to him?

the thing is with structural surveys, unless YOU commission it, chances are your lender wont accept it, so do check it out with them

I would certainly negotiate on this.

Benny24

Also what is a retention?

CB1979_2

the retention is the £10k.

prove it had building regs and get the £10k extra.

alot of the time, it happens that the mortgage companies need certain works doing before the release all the cash.

Madjock

it doesn't matter if it's you or the vendor who commission the report.

coco123_3

Hey Benny24,

We had a similar problem - the house we're buying has a loft conversion but it is noted counted as a third bedroom as it does not have building regs.

We decided that we should get indemnity insurance (the vendor is paying) which will protect us against prosecution from the council for not having them - however it does not mean that we knew the loft had not damaged the house or whether it was fit to occupy.

We commissioned a structural engineer earlier this week and their survey came back saying the loft had been well thought-out and professionally done. The floor joists had been strengthened and the roof was fine – phew what a relief. The survey has cost us about £400. I would be reluctant to share the cost of the survey with the vendor as I would want the surveyor to be acting on my behalf.

One thing I would say before shelling out all the money – you should quiz the guy and ask whether he had the floor strengthened or whether he checked its weight loading capacity. Since he did the work he should know what he has done.

Good luck

Benny24

Ok had a structural surveyor in. The house isn't going to fall down, but the loft needs to be strengthened. The options for the seller are to place trusses back in and we would lose the use of the loft as an 'occasional' room, or to have RSJ's fitted keeping the loft room.

My mortgage company will not allow me to knock off the cost of either option and accept a lower offer on the house. They have said £10,000 less or get strengthening work done. Which is a tad annoying if the work costs less than 10K, we lose a room (putting the trusses back in will be the cheaper option for the seller to do!) and the seller still gets his house at the original price agreed!

If the house were put on the market with the trusses back in, and an effective loss of a room, granted the house marketed as a Three bed and not a four, I'm sure the house would have been valued for less!

Anyone any thoughts or what we could do next?

CB1979_2

surely you can renegotiate, afterall you'd be buying a house with 1 less room!?!?!?!

o_t_e

As I understand it the mortgage provider will offer only 154k as the loft is not legal nor structurally sound.

If the work was done to make the loft structurally sound the original surveyor suggested it would be worth 164k and presumably the mortgage provider would lend at that level.

If the owner did remedial structural work to restore the loft to it’s original condition ie puts trusses back in, then the surveyors criteria for achieving the higher valuation have not been met and the property it still worth only 154k, though as the work has been done the mortgage provider will not apply a 10k retention.

I don’t believe the current owner would wish to go to the expense of redoing the loft conversion – the fact that it was done on the cheap the first time suggests he may not have the funds and he certainly lacks the technical knowledge to comply with building regs.

It seems the only course available to you is to make a reduced offer of 154k conditional on the trusses being replaced and the work approved by a surveyor. You could then redo the loft conversion properly and legally at a later time. Or you can find another property where this was done in the first place.

Benny24

Thanks....any other thoughts anyone?