Homebuyer report - issues highlighted

ukcitizan13

Hello all,

After a long long search, I found a house (around 1930 build) for me and agreed the price which was little higher then what I would like to pay for that but as me and my wife like this so we agreed.
Today my surveyor did the homebuyer survey and he has highlighted few major issues with the property over phone with me , final detailed report coming over the weekend.

Could you please advise , how serious these seems and how much they should cost to get corrected.
I am rethinking that will this property be right decision for me or not.

1) house has Rising damp problem which owner tried to hide from me .
From internet search this looks like an serious problem, solutions seems to be injecting some chemical if so then will this be right house to stay with kid ?
and how long that will be effective like should I be getting that done after every 2 or 3 or 5 years.
high-level how much this cost ?

2) 3 cracks on front bay window which get filled couple of years back but needs to be redone property - how serious it could be and high-level how much this should cost.

3) Some tiles of roof are broken.

4) this house and neighbour's house wall distance is not properly filled so needs redoing.

Once final report arrive, I am thinking to discuss these issues with owner and if agreed , will proceed with proper builder to check and advise but I am trying to find out , is this worth doing the effort or not ?
how much all this should cost ... for calculation and planning sake.

Thanks in advance for reading this long post and your replies.

Owain_Moneysaver

1) I'd be surprised if it really has rising damp. It's more likely to have penetrating damp if the external ground level has been allowed to rise through gardening, paving etc.

Does the surveyor recommend specialist treatment or report?

2) Are the cracks both inside and outside? Does the surveyor make any mention of structural movement?

3) Broken tiles are easily fixed but you/ your surveyor needs to check inside the attic space for any decay

4) This is meaningless. What does the surveyor actually say?

G_M

ukcitizan13 wrote: »

Hello all,

After a long long search, I found a house (around 1930 build) for me and agreed the price which was little higher then what I would like to pay for that but as me and my wife like this so we agreed.
Today my surveyor did the homebuyer survey and he has highlighted few major issues with the property over phone with me , final detailed report coming over the weekend.

Could you please advise , how serious these seems and how much they should cost to get corrected.
I am rethinking that will this property be right decision for me or not.

1) house has Rising damp problem which owner tried to hide from me .
From internet search this looks like an serious problem, solutions seems to be injecting some chemical if so then will this be right house to stay with kid ?
and how long that will be effective like should I be getting that done after every 2 or 3 or 5 years.
high-level how much this cost ?
IF true, thisis potentially expensive. £2000+? But read this here!
Once a damp proof course is put in it should last for (pretty well) ever.

2) 3 cracks on front bay window which get filled couple of years back but needs to be redone property - how serious it could be and high-level how much this should cost.
If the cracks keep re-opening, this suggests ongoing movement. Could be serious. Ask the surveyor and/or get a structural engineer's report.

3) Some tiles of roof are broken. £5 - £100. Trivial.

4) this house and neighbour's house wall distance is not properly filled so needs redoing. I don't understand. What needs filling? Thespace between the houses? Or are these semi-detached with a party wall?

Once final report arrive, I am thinking to discuss these issues with owner
discuss again with surveyor first.
and if agreed , will proceed with proper builder to check and advise but I am trying to find out , is this worth doing the effort or not ?
how much all this should cost ... for calculation and planning sake.

Thanks in advance for reading this long post and your replies.

Could be a few hundred pounds, or £5-10 thousand.

ukcitizan13

Thanks for the reply Owain Moneysaver.

Surveyor will give the final report over the weekend/Friday end but I had first discussion over the phone.

1) He said, he has checked, front bedroom, Longe and door area , found dampness as rising damps. owner did the damp treatment long back but seems expired now.
I did ask about damping on first viewing but owner refused to know anything in that house, they were trying to hide the issue.

2) he mentioned 3 cracks which needs redoing, detailed should follow in report, I hope.


4) he was mentioning some work to be done on outside wall which should be done on priority.

I am little worried about this house due to damp and other issues. I think I should wait for the final report but thinking will be worth taking the hassle or should I move on to new house search.

G_M

Sorry:forgot the link. I've added it above now. Also here:

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising_damp.html

suebfg

I used to have a property with damp issues and would never buy one again! It is a vey difficult problem to deal with and is not a nice house to bring up kids in unless you can deal with the problem. I would walk away and find yourself a nice warm property to live in.

ukcitizan13

Thanks Everyone.

One most important point surfaced is, Kitchen is build in temporary constructed conservatory.
I like the house because of spacious longed and kitchen but when I asked about kitchen construction as it does not look like permanent roof they said this is how it is from last 30 years they are using and never had a issue but surveyor believe considering kitchen is not full standard concrete build, mortgage will be problem and sooner/later this will need to be done which will cost big money.

I don't think owner would like to do any construction/rebuilt work as they may want to sell with some reduction in price but rebuilding kitchen and then damp etc... , will be lot to spend rather then negotiate and can put me into big loss or trouble. As first time buyer I am more worried getting into any mess....