Homebuyer report feedback

TheCyclingProgrammer

Hi, a common occurrence on here I guess, but we have just had our homebuyer report back and it contained a lot more issues than we were inspecting. I'm just trying to figure out which are the most serious and need rectifying or renegotiating on and which are not so serious. We are FTBers so new to all of this.

The report was one we commissioned independently. Our basic mortgage valuation was fine and matched what we offered.

Our report has come back with a valuation £6k below our offer, funnily enough what I originally offered on the property. This is presumably to allow for all repairs and remedial works although is possibly in the high side - I guess it's also allowing for some less urgent stuff.

So, by far the biggest issue on the report was damp. I will quote he report:

A wide mortar joint at the base of the outside walls indicates the level of the damp proof course (DPC). The external ground levels are too high, and there is a risk of the DPC being bridged. Tests with a moisture meter revealed significant dampness at the base of the walls, in particular at the rear left of the living room, front right and left of the living room, front of the hallway, along the outside right flank in the shower room and under the stairs, and in the rear porch. The DPC is being bridged by the high outside ground levels, but may also have broken down and failed. There is also decay in the facing brick and external render, which will allow penetrating dampness. You need to obtain quotations from a competent contractor for the treatment of damp and associated decay now. I recommend that a french drain (shallow trench filled with shingle) is provided around the perimeter of the building as part of remedial works. This will limit the risk of further bridging, and will also allow any moisture to escape from the base of the walls. Condition rating 3.
I understand that there has been some past treatment of dampness in 1998, for which there is a guarantee. I have seen no documentation for this, and your legal advisor should check, as this may at least cover some of the cost of necessary works.
Decayed facing brick and mortar pointing will need to be repaired, together with cracked and hollow sections of render.

Notably he doesn't mention the rear right of the living room or under the bay window - his is because these sections have an injected DPC. Some work was done in the late 90s to remedy some damp in the living room in those areas. That work had a 30 year guarantee although the current owners may not have transferred it into their name, which will, according to the company that did the work, mean a chargeable re inspection is needed before we can transfer it to us.

Related to the above, damp was also noted in the rear porch and some dampness to floorboards visible in the living room. He also recommended the subfloor be inspected and air bricks installed to aid ventilation, as well as installing a French drain to help with drainage.

IMO this is something we should look to negotiate our purchase price on, based on the outcome of a damp survey and obtaining quotes. Would you agree? I've been in touch with the company that did the original work and hope to get them over ASAP. The person I spoke to said it might just need monitoring although there's a risk of this costing us money further down the line while we have the opportunity to negotiate now. Any thoughts on this? I plan to have a second company survey it too.

Other issues of note (condition 3):

- Upstairs front windows provide inadequate means of escape and should be replaced.

They are top opening only, but so are the ones where we currently live. It's not something I've ever thought about to be honest. Is this really necessary? I believe the rear windows do have side openers.

- Rear porch is of poor quality and no limtel has caused masonry to sag above door.

So, lintel needs fitting, door frame repairing. Seems like it shouldn't cost too much to fix but seems like something worth negotiating on.

- Gas boiler and Fire haven't been checked or serviced

Was planning to remove the fire anyway. Boiler is a reliable model, about 15 years old. We are considering replacing at some point but will probably arrange a service and gas safety check when we move in. Nothing to worry about here I think.

- Downstairs shower leaks, damp in partition wall between shower and hall.

There is no shower tray. Probably needs a tray installed and retiling. Father in law is a tiler and can advise and assist with this, so shouldn't be a major issue.

Electrics were inspected by electrician, some issues but nothing major. We have quotes for work and it's a few hundred quid of stuff at most.

All the C2s on the report seemed like general maintenance - front and rear doors need some repairing, sanding and repainting, exterior joinery on garage the same, possibly put drainage in front of detached garage doors, some guttering is leaking and might need replacing or repairing, chimney shows some sign of weathering that might need repair, some skirting boards might need replacing due to above damp issues.

So to sum up, I think we should be trying to negotiate based on the extent of the damp proofing and all related remedial works, which might include internal plastering and some new skirting and floorboards. I'm inclined to negotiate a bit of reduction based on sorting out the shower too.

The windows I'm not sure about. How much would two replacement windows on an average sized semi cost (one bay size, one box room size)?

Is the down valuation likely to affect our mortgage offer? I assume the solicitors will need to pass this information on to the lender? If we can get the price reduced we can keep back some of our deposit to cover the works but would still need to borrow the same amount. I think we've got a bit of wriggle room on LTV.

Thanks!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Just on the subject of the windows, I've had one ballpark estimate of £1400 including fitting and VAT. This is of course very rough as I do not have measurements.

The more I think about it, the more I think this isn't anything to worry about. Both back bedrooms have side opening windows that would allow means of escape. Both front rooms have direct access to the hallway and stairs - one is right next to the stairs and the other is right next to the door to one of the back rooms.

With this in mind, and given the overall risk of fire, it seems to me that the means of escape is adequate overall. Is the surveyor just covering himself here?

Mardle

Upstairs front windows provide inadequate means of escape and should be replaced

This may not be a problem at all. Our survey said the same thing. As we are intending doing work on the house I decided to phone the fire service on their non-emergency number to find out just what the requirements were. The lady I spoke to said it wasn't necessary to change them as they 'prefer people not to try jumping out of windows'. Check with your local fire service.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Mardle wrote: »

This may not be a problem at all. Our survey said the same thing. As we are intending doing work on the house I decided to phone the fire service on their non-emergency number to find out just what the requirements were. The lady I spoke to said it wasn't necessary to change them as they 'prefer people not to try jumping out of windows'. Check with your local fire service.

Hah, that's a fair point. Likewise, one of the rear bedrooms has side opening windows but I don't know how much I would fancy climbing on to the glass roofed conservatory below it!

stator

If you're in a burning house jumping out the window might be the least worst option. I would definitely want opening windows in all rooms.

TheCyclingProgrammer

stator wrote: »

If you're in a burning house jumping out the window might be the least worst option. I would definitely want opening windows in all rooms.

I've lived in houses with NO opening top windows (or just top opening) for most of my life. It's never given me major cause for worry before.

Far more important that working smoke alarms are fitted and all normal precautions are taken IMO. And it's not like there is no means of escape from upstairs. One of the front rooms will just be a spare/study too.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Well I've just got off the phone with the surveyor who was very helpful in talking through all of the points in his survey. I feel a bit re-assured.

Its certain we'll need to re-negotiate a bit on the asking price and we may have to look at coming down by a few grand but it really depends on the results of the inspection/survey by the damp proofing specialists.

Fortunately it seems that both the damp-proofing company and estate agent are familiar with each other and have had dealings before. The EA indicated that they are quite reputable so that should hopefully lend some weight to any re-negotiation if we're using their quote as a basis for it.

We've also decided not to worry about the windows for now but consider changing the master bedroom window in the future as budget permits.

That just leaves the dampness in the downstairs shower which might just be due to a leak or dodgy seal - should be easily remedied, and the porch needing a lintel which doesn't seem like more than half a days work for a builder to me.

All in all, if we can get £2-3k off the price I think we'll be happy with that.

DRP

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Well I've just got off the phone with the surveyor who was very helpful in talking through all of the points in his survey. I feel a bit re-assured.

Its certain we'll need to re-negotiate a bit on the asking price and we may have to look at coming down by a few grand but it really depends on the results of the inspection/survey by the damp proofing specialists.

Fortunately it seems that both the damp-proofing company and estate agent are familiar with each other and have had dealings before. The EA indicated that they are quite reputable so that should hopefully lend some weight to any re-negotiation if we're using their quote as a basis for it.

We've also decided not to worry about the windows for now but consider changing the master bedroom window in the future as budget permits.

That just leaves the dampness in the downstairs shower which might just be due to a leak or dodgy seal - should be easily remedied, and the porch needing a lintel which doesn't seem like more than half a days work for a builder to me.

All in all, if we can get £2-3k off the price I think we'll be happy with that.

How familiar!?

TheCyclingProgrammer

DRP wrote: »

How familiar!?

No idea, I just think the company have lots of dealings with estate agents and surveyors in the local area.

When I rang them, they asked who the estate agent was and was told they'd dealt with them before.

When I mentioned them to the EA he confirmed and said they were a good firm with a good long standing reputation and they were good to deal with.

The EA didn't recommend them, I phoned them as they did some work on the property in 1998.

TheCyclingProgrammer

So does anybody have any idea what the company are likely to recommend and what sort of cost we might be looking at? 4 bed 1930s semi with rear extension, at a rough guess I'd estimate the length of the affected perimeter, maybe 20m?

The surveyor recommended a French drain, I suspect the company might recommend some kind of fancy injected DPC which should keep the rising damp at bay but I'm not sure it solves the problem of damage to the mortar and bricks on the outside. I don't really care what they need to do so long as the quote is reasonable and we can renegotiate on the price of the house.

There may also be plastering, joist, floor board replacement but we won't know that until the survey.

I also intend to ask them to look at the damp in the downstairs shower although suspect this might be as simple as a leak or seal problem.

I'm thinking around £2k ballpark, is that far off?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Having done a lot more reading on this subject (including some very useful threads on here), I've just fired off another email to the EA proposing that instead of relying on the survey from the damp proofing company, that we arrange for an independent damp survey with the costs to be split 50/50 between us and the vendor.

Our surveyor seemed fairly confident that this was a penetrating damp issue due to bridging of the DPC yet it seems common practice for these chemical DPC companies to find "rising damp" and quote for chemical DPC and re plastering.

I hope the vendor agrees.