Survey done for possible new house... Should we be worried?

Topoftheflop

Hi all

Had an offer accepted on a 3 bed semi subject to survey - just got the survey back as the following points were highlighted

The principal issues found were:
· Roof coverings – past serviceable life and require replacement, this is generally around £10,000.
· The bay to the front elevation shows minor signs of movement probably caused by insufficient support to the opening. It is prudent to monitor this over a period of time (12 months) before any necessary remedial works can be assessed.
· The replacement windows do not appear to meet Building Regulations standard principally on background ventilation. I couldn’t find a certificate for anything other than one window. This may present a problem if you intend obtaining a mortgage for the property and if the owner cannot produce anything. They can apply for retrospective certification but this is long winded (and may involve further works) alternatively, you can obtain indemnity insurance should the Local Authority take enforcement action.

We had our initial offer accepted £9000 under asking, is it time to go back with another offer lower?

Any advice greatly appreciated

searchlight123

Topoftheflop wrote: »

Hi all
We had our initial offer accepted £9000 under asking, is it time to go back with another offer lower?

Any advice greatly appreciated

if the original offer was made and accepted on the assumption that there were no structural issues then clearly you are entitled to adjust your offer accordingly. (the seller is not under any obligation to accept a lower offer of course).
if you are estimating remedial works to be in the region of £10-15k then use this survey document as a basis to renegotiate starting with the full cost of repairs and when that is refused, meeting somewhere in between. other potential purchasers will no doubt expose the same issues as you have, unless of course the seller had already allowed for these kind of works in his original negotiated price to you.

DRP

Topoftheflop wrote: »

Hi all

Had an offer accepted on a 3 bed semi subject to survey - just got the survey back as the following points were highlighted

The principal issues found were:
· Roof coverings – past serviceable life and require replacement, this is generally around £10,000.
· The bay to the front elevation shows minor signs of movement probably caused by insufficient support to the opening. It is prudent to monitor this over a period of time (12 months) before any necessary remedial works can be assessed.
· The replacement windows do not appear to meet Building Regulations standard principally on background ventilation. I couldn’t find a certificate for anything other than one window. This may present a problem if you intend obtaining a mortgage for the property and if the owner cannot produce anything. They can apply for retrospective certification but this is long winded (and may involve further works) alternatively, you can obtain indemnity insurance should the Local Authority take enforcement action.

We had our initial offer accepted £9000 under asking, is it time to go back with another offer lower?

Any advice greatly appreciated

Do you know exactly what this refers to? It would be useful to get specifics for this problem - is the surveyor talking about replacing a few tiles? all the tiles? the entire roof? Where did the 10k figure come from?

hazyjo

£10k seems pricey for a roof to me (mine cost in the region of £5k), but obviously it depends on the size and design of the roof! Did you look at the roof before offering? Does it look in need of replacement? I got around £3k off the price of a house before when the roof needed immediate overhauling/replacing within a couple of years)

The bay thing comes up fairly often on older houses. Might need sorting, might not. Really not sure what I'd do as a seller, possibly drop a £1k for you, but I doubt I'd drop any more without definite proof and costings.

They're saying the windows not meeting Building Regs could mean the mortgage bods won't lend? Hmmm. Must be something 'risky' about it, are they saying anything about the safety of the glass or is it purely about ventilation?!

Will be interested to hear others' opinions on this one. As a buyer, I'd probably be looking at trying to get another £4k-ish off (unless you were already aware the roof was on its last legs when you first offered).

Also depends on how big a % the £9k was, and whether it was a bargain/comparable to others or not! Money off something up for £500k will obviously be different to something up for £100k.

Jx

Topoftheflop

House on at 490 and we got accepted at 480 (10 not 9k)

I knew nothing of the roof and had no idea when we looked around.... I will hear what our solicitor says and then act upon the above i think

Also i spoke to my builder and he said its nothing to worry about IF your thinking of doing a loft conversion with a dormer (which we are) as they redo the roof and its in the cost of the already priced loft conversion so I'm not overly worried but wanted your heed advice :j

wannahouse

£10,000 of a high price like that is chickensfeed!
If your survey has thrown up stuff, and the bank will lend, then definately go back to the negotiations...or ask that they sort these issues out...

JoolzS

From my own experience I wouldn't worry about the roof. We had a similar advisory on our survey and have lived in our property for 20 years without replacing the roof. A couple of teeny leaks over the 20 years has cost about £250 in repairs.

I will admit that the roof is now obviously in bad repair and we have the money put by to have it replaced - when we get around to it

somethingcorporate

Topoftheflop wrote: »

· The replacement windows do not appear to meet Building Regulations standard principally on background ventilation. I couldn’t find a certificate for anything other than one window. This may present a problem if you intend obtaining a mortgage for the property and if the owner cannot produce anything. They can apply for retrospective certification but this is long winded (and may involve further works)

It's not remotely long-winded. We sold our house before getting the council to approve our windows (they were fitted by our non-FENSA registered joiner) so needed to get the approval quickly. One call to the council on Monday morning, they popped round to inspect on the Tuesday afternoon and rang on the Wednesday to tell us we could pick up the certificate the same day. It cost £180.

£10k off a £490k house? you need to negotiate much harder. We bargained £35k off our current house (bought for £248k, just sold for £280k two years on) and negotiated £35k + another £10k stamp duty off the house we are moving to.

Finally, I agree with the above post. When we had our current house surveyed we were told needed new roof - a £300 patch-up has lasted us ever since and the roofers/builders we had quote all confirmed it did not need a complete re-roof despite the surveyor suggesting it did.