Home Property check - FTB Help please.

sahana

Hello.

We are a FTB looking to buy a 3 bed semi detached house which is approx. 39 years old. We opted for the detailed property check through halifax and have received the report. There are a couple of repairs with category 2,which we are not sure are serious to think about renegotiating with the seller. I spoke with the estate agent who said the repairs are normal wear and tear for a property of this age.
Can someone advise if we need to ask for an estimate for the repairs and renegotiate/is it normal wear & tear it is ok to go ahead with the purchase.

1. Roof including roof space - Defective mortar joints to the verges on the end of the roof should be raked out and repointed.

2. Main walls - Defective mortar joints to the west elevation should be raked out and repointed.

3. Windows,external doors - Several handles to window units are damaged and should be overhauled and repaired.

4. External decorations - External decorations to the joinery are deteriorating and redecoration is required.

5. Garages - There is lack of reflective stone chippings to the flat roof over the garage.

6. Outside areas - The front boundary wall should be repaired or replaced.

7. Floors including subfloors - Loose flooring in the south west bedroom should be overhauled.

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

G_M

sahana wrote: »

Hello.

I spoke with the estate agent who said the repairs are normal wear and tear for a property of this age.
Although my reaction to this is :rotfl: (you asked the EA?:rotfl: :eek: Whose only concern is to get the property sold? Whose responsibility is to the seller? Who is not an expert on buildings/construction? :eek: )!!!

But in this instance I basically agree with him/her!

Can someone advise if we need to ask for an estimate for the repairs and renegotiate/is it normal wear & tear it is ok to go ahead with the purchase.

1. Roof including roof space - Defective mortar joints to the verges on the end of the roof should be raked out and repointed.
Small non-urgent job. Routine maintenance in the summer.

2. Main walls - Defective mortar joints to the west elevation should be raked out and repointed.
Do at same time as 1) above

3. Windows,external doors - Several handles to window units are damaged and should be overhauled and repaired.
So get some new handles...

4. External decorations - External decorations to the joinery are deteriorating and redecoration is required.
Paint the woodwork in the summer. Needs doing every few years. DIY or pay a man

5. Garages - There is lack of reflective stone chippings to the flat roof over the garage.
:rotfl: Wait for some moss to grow to cover the bare patches. Or nip down to B&Q one weekend and pick up a bag of stone chippings.

6. Outside areas - The front boundary wall should be repaired or replaced.
Presumably you'd spotted the wall was in poor condition? Get it repaired sometime. Hardly urgent, it serves no purpose other than cosmetic and to delineate the boundary.....

7. Floors including subfloors - Loose flooring in the south west bedroom should be overhauled.
Buy a hammer and some nails.

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Hope that helps..................................................

Pete9501

Take the floor boards up and see what is underneath before you nail them down. Don't ask how I know this but dealing with the ensuing flood from the radiator pipe directly under the floor board after nailing it down was an interesting half hour :cool:

Davesnave

GM is right. This is normal for the age of the property. Most 40 year old properties have minor things wrong with them. Mine has.

Your seller is unlikely to renegotiate on the basis of what looks like a fairly good survey + the usual amount of backside covering that surveyors do.

benson1980

Re-pointing isnt cheap and this can lead to penetrating damp if it's not done. I'd try and negotiate for the repointing as you'll be looking at least 25 quid per sq metre.

For comparison we have a gable end wall which is around 48sq metres and the verge needed re-mortaring as well. Total outlay was 2 grand.

Personally I'd try and renegotiate the price on these points.

G_M

benson1980 wrote: »

Re-pointing isnt cheap and this can lead to penetrating damp if it's not done. I'd try and negotiate for the repointing as you'll be looking at least 25 quid per sq metre.

For comparison we have a gable end wall which is around 48sq metres and the verge needed re-mortaring as well. Total outlay was 2 grand.

Personally I'd try and renegotiate the price on these points.

????

Depends a lot how bad and how extensive the re-pointing is.

depends if scaffolding is needed.

Depends who you use.

My odd-job man can bring his ladder round and replace a few tiles/repoint the roof ridges for £50 in half a day

A building firm would do the same job spending 2 whole days erecting scafolding before they even started work, and charge £500 - £1K!

When I first moved here, I had the entire 4 bed stone-built house re-pointed by a specialist stone mason. £2500 including cutting out & replacing worn stone.

OP's needs seem negligible in terms of urgency, extent, and potential cost.

sahana

Thank you everyone,all your suggestions and advice are much appreciated. Have got a little bit of idea of what the issues are,really helpful. Thank you.:T

penguingirl

Does the valuation match your offer? We're selling at the moment and our survey is being done on Tuesday. We've discussed it and would be unlikely to negotiate unless the valuation was lower than expected. No house is perfect on a survey- not even brand new ones!

sahana

penguingirl wrote: »

Does the valuation match your offer? We're selling at the moment and our survey is being done on Tuesday. We've discussed it and would be unlikely to negotiate unless the valuation was lower than expected. No house is perfect on a survey- not even brand new ones!

Yes, the valuation matches our offer. We have now received the mortgage offer,really hoping all goes well.

dave88uk

These are all DIY jobs for a non-to-semi skilled DIY person. I repointed the whole of my house with a bag of cement and an index finger.

As G_M pointed out, the rest of just paint and (well he/she said nails) but screws.

For a property this age I'd be delighted with that report, if I were the homeowner I would not negotiate on the price based on that.

benson1980

dave88uk wrote: »

These are all DIY jobs for a non-to-semi skilled DIY person. I repointed the whole of my house with a bag of cement and an index finger.

As G_M pointed out, the rest of just paint and (well he/she said nails) but screws.

For a property this age I'd be delighted with that report, if I were the homeowner I would not negotiate on the price based on that.

Can you give me a step by step guide of how you repoint a house with an index finger. I'm genuinely intrigued.