Rendering Cracks in property I'm interested in

DrRadar

Hi,

First post, fingers crossed I get some good advice.

I am very interested in a property to buy but it isn't as easy as I hoped. It is a two story flat in a three story house, a separately owned flat is on the ground floor.

The flat is a leasehold with 160 years on the lease. As I understand it each flat is leasehold with a separate 3rd party freehold owner.

The issue is that there is large cracks in the external walls render in a couple of places. I was very interested in the place so I have paid for a building survey to investigate these. I am waiting on the full report back from this but the surveyor said that it wasn't just the render coming off but it should be fixable.

The estate agent then forwarded me a message showing when the current owners asked an surveyor to investigate it. His solution was shown to be £5750+VAT.

Front Exterior - Option 1
We will need to put up scaffolding at the front of the property.
We will need to remove all of the loose render and fill the cracks.
In the bigger exterior cracks we will need to install helefix bars.
We will then apply new render, re-fill and re-paint the front exterior of the building (like for like). NB This excludes the windows and door woodwork.
COST: £5,750.00 + VAT (Please note the work will take 14 working days to complete).
5 year guarantee.

Now I want to re-negotiate as this will be an added cost for me. The options seem to be:

1. They pay. Get the work done before I complete on the flat.
2. I pay but get the cost of work taken off my offer.
3. Insurance pays. The freehold owner claims on the home insurance. The two leasehold owners pay the excess on the insurance.

The estate agent asked if they would pay. He came back to me saying that they won't and don't want to move on the current accepted offer.

He then said the insurance route might cause premiums to increase in the future or make it hard to get insurance. But surely the insurance method is the best for all. Any experience with this?

I am suspicious as to why they haven't got it fixed already. Maybe between the two leasehold owners and the freehold owner they can't agree to get the work done.

Should I be worried about this?

Cheers,

Matt

uk_messer

The sellers may feel the condition of the property has been reflected in the asking price. It's your call on whether you think it's a fair price or not given the problems.

But wait for the surveryor to ensure that it's not worse than it appears. No one can really make a 100% judgement without the rendering being removed first.

DrRadar

The property was on for £450k. We have accepted at £435k pending building survey. I think £435k is a good price for the place, if this issue does not become too big.

The cost of the repairs being approx £5800+VAT is quite significant though. This is also only a 2nd hand quote I have read from an email trail, not a quote I have found myself. The cost may be much higher.

I'm confused why the current owners haven't used home insurance to fix the problem.

Cheers,

Matt

uk_messer

Home Insurance only cover subsidence, they won't pay out for poor maintenance. They will come along and see if there is substantial movement or not. That's a positive for you. Are there major cracks internally? If not then it's likely it's something that has been there for years.

Helefix bars are not that big a deal, they're just long metal rods that are stuffed into the mortar bed. Unless there are serious cracks in the brickwork behind they may not even be needed. The render could be cracking simply because it is too hard and not expanding/contracting in sympathy with the brickwork behind.

DrRadar

Ah so don't think the home insurance would cover this. The building surveyor said it wasn't subsidence which is good news.

There isn't any cracks internally at all, which is good news.

If I can get an agreement where they drop the agreed price by at least half of the quoted costs then I think I will be happy. The end result would be a totally re-rendered outside of the flat that will make a big difference to the look of the place and probably add value.

cyclonebri1

You need to ascertain if the cracks are in the render or movement in the structure, unless that is done any spurious quotes are just that.

Describe the cracks. Linear?, herring bone?, jagged in line with brick courses etc??


http://imgur.com/461jLLI

wow, excelled myself

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

You need to ascertain if the cracks are in the render or movement in the structure, unless that is done any spurious quotes are just that.

I am going out on a limb here, but maybe, just maybe, that is why the OP has commissioned a building survey.

cyclonebri1

Leif wrote: »

I am going out on a limb here, but maybe, just maybe, that is why the OP has commissioned a building survey.

Well yes, I'm just adding my concurring opinion to that;);)

DrRadar

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

You need to ascertain if the cracks are in the render or movement in the structure, unless that is done any spurious quotes are just that.

Describe the cracks. Linear?, herring bone?, jagged in line with brick courses etc??




wow, excelled myself

The image shown in the link was taken by me (I can't post images as new member hence PM'd it to cyclonebri1). The marker across it was put on by a previous surveyor the current vendor got to look at the crack.

The full structural survey report should get back to me by this coming Monday

cyclonebri1

I have to say when someone says 450K for a terraced property I flinch.

But lets take it from there.

Is this a terraced type property?

What scars do the neighbouring properties show?

Have you talked to the neighbours about this?, (you must)



I'm changing tack and saying this, just what would the repairers do for that £5K, a cosmetic smudge is my guess.


'And again, the property is 160 years old, it is allowed a little movement don't you think;);)

DrRadar

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I have to say when someone says 450K for a terraced property I flinch.

But lets take it from there.

Is this a terraced type property?

What scars do the neighbouring properties show?

Have you talked to the neighbours about this?, (you must)



I'm changing tack and saying this, just what would the repairers do for that £5K, a cosmetic smudge is my guess.


'And again, the property is 160 years old, it is allowed a little movement don't you think;);)

It is a maisonette flat in a detached house. The flat is 2 floors. There is a ground floor flat that is own by somebody else.

Yeah I know its expensive but London prices. I've been searching for flats for the last 6months and this is a good option (apart from the obvious issues mentioned).

I could go and speak to the people in the ground floor flat, but I believe they are renting it and not the owners.

The 160 years the the length of the leasehold not the age of the building.