Homebuyer's report shows a serious problem

tooldle

Out of interest is the house slightly elevated from street level? Are you certain that the problem with retaining wall and front stairs is not exterior to the property?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

My FTB survey came back with similarly terrifying sounding predictions of imminent collapse from damp/aspestos apocalypse/cursed gypsy burial ground etc. I got a second survey done specifically to investigate the damp issues. It was worth another £400 for a proper report explaining the type of house construction and why damp readings occur.

I wouldn't expect the estate agent to organise further surveys/quotes for you though. It sounds like there's going to be limited buyers for this type of property so you're in a strong position to negotiate.

em_9187

interesting comments people.... yes, the house is elevated and there are steps leading to the property. tooldle yes the walls is in the garden/yard - we only noticed this yesterday. at first we thought it was inside the house... ftb eh, we're really clueless.


londonlydia thank you for commenting. did you get the wall ties investigated before proceeding with the sale? I would say the retaining wall is probably about a metre and a half to two metres.


we asked the vendor if we could see the property again and we went back tonight and we still love it but I can't help feel panicked that this wall could cost thousands.

shegar

Well you dont have to buy it, there will be others, it may end up a money pit , therefore think before you go any further .......If you do proceed make sure you have plenty of ready money to spend on it, otherwise you will be years trying to turn it round.........

Id walk if it was me , because the owners dont seem to want to reduce the price ...

circuit

We fell in love with a house that had numerous problems highlighted on the Homebuyers Report. While these were not urgent, they added about £11,000 to the cost of the house.

The seller wouldn't budge and the sale fell through for other reasons.

We are about to exchange on another house - smaller, less 'wow' factor. But in the cold light of day, we feel we had a lucky escape on the first one, even if we still love it and wish things had been different. But they weren't. The house came with expensive problems and there was no way round it.

Try to think about money - where would you get the cash from if it really does need doing? If you can't make the numbers add up, it's really not worth the stress.

londonlydia

em_9187 wrote: »

londonlydia thank you for commenting. did you get the wall ties investigated before proceeding with the sale? I would say the retaining wall is probably about a metre and a half to two metres.

.

Hi, yes I did. I got all the work quoted up, and for the wall ties I contacted Helifix themselves and also a separate independent who is a specialist in restoring/ repairing Victorian brickwork.

Mai I recommend a book? Haynes do a Victorian House manual, IMHO it's fantastic. It explains every fault you can get with a house of that age, why it happens, how to fix it, if you should be worried. I found it invaluable to understand my survey, it calmed my nerves, and since it's helped in maintaing the house as well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Victorian-House-Manual-Rock/dp/1844252132

As your wall sounds a similar height to mine, you will probably be better off getting it done by professionals. I found the best quotes (in terms of price and knowing what they were doing!) were from landscapers that had a building arm.

Although....have you checked who is responsible for the boundary? If it collapses whos land will it fall into? We were fully responsible for ours and if it did collapse it would have damaged the garden opposite as it was downhill. It could be your neighbours are responsible?