Flat interested has cracks in render. Who pays?

fart

DrRadar wrote: »

Thats pretty hard nose negotiating though. Its definitely a sellers market right now (I'm looking in the wimbledon area). They seem to initially be reluctant to knock anything off, but that was only proposed to them yesterday.

I might let them think and go back again saying how much the work will cost when I get my building survey results.

I do like the place and think if this problem isn't on going then after the one off repair the place will be great and I would have definitely added value to it.

Another point is if I do go down the route of paying myself, what about the ground floor flat. Do I ask them for a contribution?

Well you seem to have your heart set on this place, but it's a lot of money to pay out considering it's an existing problem. It's not a sellers market when you've got such a huge problem with your property - they're going to have a very hard time selling the place in its existing state.

DrRadar

I agree fart that the seller will have a hard time with this problem. Unless an idiot turns up and puts in an offer without properly assessing the property.

I will take my time and wait until Monday for the full structural survey report and then go back and ask for this cost to be taken off my offer and see where we go from there.

The place is a 3 bed 1000sqft 2 floor flat. For the price most places are 2 beds in the area hence being so keen for it I guess.

bigadaj

fart wrote: »

Yeh it's a subsidence crack repair job. The work is spot on, standard practice.

HOWEVER, and this is very important, you HAVE to ensure that movement has ceased before having any work carried out.

This will involve putting what are sometimes called 'nipples' in the wall - hacking off the render either side of the crack, installing the nipples and then measuring the distance between them over a prolonged period of time, usually about 6 months. Only when it's certain that the movement has ceased should a crack repair be carried out.

If this hasn't been done, no insurance company will pay for it and only a fool would have work undertaken without it. If the movement hasn't stopped they can then look at discovering the problem and seeing if it's fixable (underpinning, removing large trees etc) before fixing the actual cracks on the building. If the movement hasn't stopped the work you'll be paying for will be pointless as it could well move even further and cause more hassle which will be more expensive to put right.

I'd run in the other direction if i were you.

If the above work has been carried out, then it's down to you to amend your offer accordingly or to get in touch with insurance to see if there's anything can be done after you've bought the property.

(**I used to be a builders labourer and have carried out maybe 15-20 crack repairs.)

Not a bad answer but it isn't normally referred to as nipples, demec gauge is the technical term.

fart

bigadaj wrote: »

Not a bad answer but it isn't normally referred to as nipples, demec gauge is the technical term.

Tradesmen call them nipples often At least in Essex they do anyway.

DrRadar

The latest from the building surveyor is that he believes that the cracks are caused by "Thermal Movement". Any ideas what that is?

Good news that he believes it isn't subsidence. I get the full report on Monday.

I think I should negotiate to get the repairs taken off the agreed price and see how well that goes.

fart

'Thermal' movement is natural expansion and contraction when exposed to polarised temperatures.

For instance the flat i'm in now has wooden worktops, and the missus put a plant propagator (they can get hot) on one and a massive split appeared in it, she moved it and the split went away.

This is because heat causes things to expand and cold causes contraction.

This will be what's happened with the house.

DrRadar

Ah ok. To thermal movement is less of an issue than many other causes of cracks and getting the wall re-rendered should fix it.

fart

DrRadar wrote: »

Ah ok. To thermal movement is less of an issue than many other causes of cracks and getting the wall re-rendered should fix it.

No it won't, you'll still have to get it helifixed.

Just rendering it will only hide the crack, and then next year when it gets hot again the render will re-crack.

propertyman

If the render is painted, the the vendor may well repair the crack with a flexible material and give it a quick paint job to get it sold in the Autumn.

You could do likewise, or even just weather proof it as above, not paint it until you come to sell in x years.

Whether you buy or not depends entirely how much the property is worth to you with an immediate £7k bill compared to other available properties in the area.

[Deleted User]

I'm in pretty much the same situation as you (except no mention of helefix bars form the guy who gave me the quote - perhaps it's a smaller crack?). The quote I got was around the same, for a building of a similar description (not in the same area though, don't worry!).

My mortgage provider has put a retention on the mortgage saying that I have to get the place re-rendered within six months for them to release the full amount. My vendor has also refused to budge on price.

It is possible to get the first and second floors re-rendered and not the ground floor - I asked about that in case the ground floor leaseholder wasn't keen. But you probably would need their permission before putting up scaffolding as that would affect them.

One option I have been considering is trying to get a Green Deal loan to add external wall insulation, which would involve removing the existing render and re-rendering afterwards. As I understand it, it's possible this could pay for the whole thing, but would depend on the assessor's decision.