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Another FTB needing opinions on homebuyer report
Peppermintpatty
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hello
We're first time buyers and have had an offer accepted on a 1930's end of terrace property, where the sellers have been living there for fifty years and seem to have taken good care of it.
We need to have a mundic block test done on the property for the mortgage company valuation which will cost us £350 - but we have put this on hold until we can work out if our homebuyers report is as scary as it sounds, so any advice would be very much appreciated!
We received the homebuyers report on Friday and it has shown up a number of potential problems but the three main highlights for us are:
1. ASBESTOS (score 3)- this is in the form of sheeting under horrendous polysterene tiles on the ceiling. One of the first things we would want to do is sort the ceilings so this could be quite a problem,as we can't just leave it in situ. We can get the asbestos sampled to find out what type it is for about £100 and then get a quote for removal from there, but the asbestos engineer did not mince his words and it could be obscenely expensive. In that case we will simply not have the capital to resolve this problem. He thinks it's also been used to construct a cupboard upstairs.
2. ROOF (score 2) - We should budget for future removal, life of 80-90 years and this seems to have been in place for an age. Cement torching is deteriorating and requires repair. Roof covering looks to contain asbestos - this could be expensive. (Garage roof now beyond repair)
3. DAMP (Score 3) - Dampness at ground level - suspected due to lack of an effective damp proof course. Penetrating dampness is also affecting the main external walls at first floor level, suspected to be due to dampness within redundant chimney flues
So to us this all sounds pretty scary - Is it?
also, should we hold off the (expense of the) mundic block test until we know exactly what we're looking at work and cost wise, or go ahead with it anyway? It's adding up very very quickly!
The EA is not being helpful, though they're not acting for us so i suppose that is to be expected.
Any input is more than welcome!
Thank you in advance
We're first time buyers and have had an offer accepted on a 1930's end of terrace property, where the sellers have been living there for fifty years and seem to have taken good care of it.
We need to have a mundic block test done on the property for the mortgage company valuation which will cost us £350 - but we have put this on hold until we can work out if our homebuyers report is as scary as it sounds, so any advice would be very much appreciated!
We received the homebuyers report on Friday and it has shown up a number of potential problems but the three main highlights for us are:
1. ASBESTOS (score 3)- this is in the form of sheeting under horrendous polysterene tiles on the ceiling. One of the first things we would want to do is sort the ceilings so this could be quite a problem,as we can't just leave it in situ. We can get the asbestos sampled to find out what type it is for about £100 and then get a quote for removal from there, but the asbestos engineer did not mince his words and it could be obscenely expensive. In that case we will simply not have the capital to resolve this problem. He thinks it's also been used to construct a cupboard upstairs.
2. ROOF (score 2) - We should budget for future removal, life of 80-90 years and this seems to have been in place for an age. Cement torching is deteriorating and requires repair. Roof covering looks to contain asbestos - this could be expensive. (Garage roof now beyond repair)
3. DAMP (Score 3) - Dampness at ground level - suspected due to lack of an effective damp proof course. Penetrating dampness is also affecting the main external walls at first floor level, suspected to be due to dampness within redundant chimney flues
So to us this all sounds pretty scary - Is it?
also, should we hold off the (expense of the) mundic block test until we know exactly what we're looking at work and cost wise, or go ahead with it anyway? It's adding up very very quickly!
The EA is not being helpful, though they're not acting for us so i suppose that is to be expected.
Any input is more than welcome!
Thank you in advance
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Comments
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Be interesting to see what other costs you are going to find. If the ceilings are coming down its going to make a right mess so you may as well re-wire the house at the same time because that is also an intrusive job. You won't be living in the house when all this happens, is that okay? How old is the boiler because that is another big ticket single item.
Sounds like a lot of work involved, are you really good at DIY, if not it is going to cost.
Ignoring the cost of the survey what other properties have you seen that might be more suitable?0 -
Peppermintpatty wrote: »1. ASBESTOS (score 3)- this is in the form of sheeting under horrendous polysterene tiles on the ceiling. One of the first things we would want to do is sort the ceilings so this could be quite a problem,as we can't just leave it in situ.
We can get the asbestos sampled to find out what type it is for about £100 and then get a quote for removal from there, but the asbestos engineer did not mince his words and it could be obscenely expensive.
In that case we will simply not have the capital to resolve this problem. He thinks it's also been used to construct a cupboard upstairs.
Isn't that enough to walk away from the property?
As Pete says, it would be sensible to rewire if the ceilings will have to come down so that's another expense to budget for.0 -
Yes, after sitting down and looking through it all it does make me wonder what else is going to uncovered. We're pretty handy and my husband is a plasterer, but there are limits! as you both pointed out rewiring and boiler replacement need to factor in somewhere
We're very disappointed! We expected some things to come up on the survey, but didn't anticipate anything this big and costly. Nothing else we've seen compares and i really love the house and the location and the idea of what it could be, but i do realise now that it's got to be head over heart decision0 -
I'd walk away Thu. It's disappointing but not as bad as buying it anyway and not having any money because you have lots of expensive problems to fix.
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