FTB- Home buyer report has arrived - next steps!

LA_Bel

Hi everyone,

Hoping for some advice on next steps. We have had an offer accepted on (hopefully) our first property and we've just received a copy of the HBR and mortage valuation. (Apologies in advance for the length of post!)

There's been a couple of issues flagged up which I'm hoping to get some advice on.

The mortgage company has advised that,
'there is evidence of extensive rising and penetrating dampness.'
They have asked us to instruct a specialist firm to investigate full extent and provide a report and estimate for remedial work.

We are arranging for a damp specialist to inspect the property and give us an estimate. When we were viewing we didn't notice any extensive damp- not sure how we missed it!- so our offer was based on there being little work to do with the property.

Do you think when we get an estimate we would have grounds to negotiate the price with the vendor/EA?

From the HBR the overall opinion of the property was that
'This property is considered to be a reasonable proposition for purchase at a price of £x, provided that you are prepared to accept the cost and inconvenience of dealing with
the various repair/improvement works reported' so we're not sure if we'd have grounds for negotiating!

The HBR had quite a bit to say about the damp but we'll know more after the damp specialist has visited but it also mentioned the electrics and central heating and I'm not sure how frightened to be.

Electrics:
The electrical installation has been partially upgraded but would benefit from further
upgrading. You are advised to instruct a qualified electrician to provide a
report/estimate in respect of upgrading to current IEE standards.

Heating:
Oil fired central heating is installed to the property. The boiler is ageing and rusting
and there is wear and tear to radiators and pipework within the dwelling. You are
advised to instruct a qualified heating engineer to provide a report/estimate in
respect of upgrading the heating installation. (We had been leaning toward changing from oil to gas heating anyway once we'd purchased so we'd factored in this with our offer)

From lurking on this forum I know that HBR's generally mention that services should be looked at by a specialist, would you recommend getting these issues looked at before completion? Or are these types of comments fairly typical?

Final question, if we can negotiate a price and complete and everything goes well what order do we do the work in(for inside the property)?

-I know the damp work will probably need done first, with my (very) limited knowledge if a damp course etc is needed then plaster comes off inside the house.
-Before replastering would you then be looking at electrics?
-Then getting the oil changed to gas?
-Then replaster?

I'm probably overthinking at this stage before the damp specialist has even been! Nervous FTB.

Thanks in advance for any comments and apologies again for the length of the post!

G_M

Make sure your 'damp specialist' is independant. NOT a 'surveyor' (= salesman) working for a specialist damp company that does damp proof work. He WILL find damp (even if it is not there) and WILL recommend his company to do 'essential' work.

Read this here..

Electrics -very few properties (basically only those built in the last year or so!) comply with current standards - the standards change and properties don't get 'upgraded each time. A property that was built 10 years ago, and complied with electrical standards then will be perfectly safe (unless a dodgy DIYer has messed with the wiring...)

But if in doubt, ask a sparlie toinspect. Just be sure to understand the difference in his report between something dangerous and something not up to current standards.

Heating. If you're switching to gas, the age of the old oil boiler is irrelevant.

outdoorcjc

LA_Bel wrote: »

Do you think when we get an estimate we would have grounds to negotiate the price with the vendor/EA?

From the HBR the overall opinion of the property was that
'This property is considered to be a reasonable proposition for purchase at a price of £x, provided that you are prepared to accept the cost and inconvenience of dealing with
the various repair/improvement works reported' so we're not sure if we'd have grounds for negotiating!!

If you no longer feel the property is worth what you originally offered then you always have grounds to renegotiate, especially with the findings of the survey as back up.

Whether the Vendor will accept any reduction is another matter, at that point you would need to decide whether as the homebuyer report states, you are prepared to deal with the cost and inconvenience of dealing with the work or not.