Survey results are in. Help please

clutton_2

""distorted and lean significantly"" - this worried me - if the full wall has to be rebuilt is there enough money in the coffers ???

i dont think i'd buy this.

Guapa1

I tried to phone the surveyor, but he's on holiday until Monday, so I phoned my broker and told them I was having second thoughts because of all the problems that were listed in the report. They said to me that on the basic report why the mortgage has been retained it was only about the structural movement and if anything else was that bad they would have mentioned that in the main report too. She said that the report from the surveyor is quite detailed and long and includes pictures.
They have sent it on to the mortgage company who will then send it on to the surveyor who will revalue the house.
I started looking again though, to be on the safe side.

Guapa1

Spoke to the surveyor today and he said the structural engineers' report was very good and that he's sent a positive report back to the mortgage company.
He also said that he would buy the flat and the only thing that is of great important is getting some proper windows that have an exit and I had accounted for that anyway.

Doozergirl

Good. A clean bill of health

Apart from the movement, none of the other stuff sounded bad at all!

Guapa1

So I continued...
Still haven't got the property. Why? The freeholder has not got in contact with my solicitor to let them know what works are being planned for the place. Got a copy of the ground rent for up to Mar 08 and it's 1800 quid!

This came as a big shock because I was told that even it was £550 a year incl buildings insurance.

Looking at the breakdown there has been work done, (vendor said she'd pay for) a claim made for subsidence (which the vendor is claiming complete ignorance of there are 3 flats in the building) and the management charge has gone up from £300 to £750.

I did state that this is not what I budgeted for and I wasn't happy. Even without the claim and rise in management the previous statements are showing that the last time the charges were in the 500s was 2005!

The vendor still swears that that is all she pays and has offered to pay the £1800. I'm still in two minds about what will happen next year though, if he can just raise the management charge like that this year, what can he do next year?

So I passed the flat today and there were massive stickers on it. When I phoned the number I found out the place had been burgled. (Well the vendor said it was attempted burglary, nothing was taken and the person was arrested)

I feel like God Himself is coming down to tell me not to buy this place! Someone on here feel like convincing me otherwise? LOL

Doozergirl

Erm, not really after the burglary!!

The existing flat owners, or you, when you move in, could take the right to manage the property yourselves, allowing you to decide what gets done and when. You will also have far better control over costs than any managing agent and you could either have no service charge on top of insurance if there is no regular maintainance in terms of cleaners, gardeners etc. or use the service charge as a savings account for future work. Infinite benefits to this approach if you chose that route, pretty cheap, it would pay for itself in the first year.

Guapa1

I've never heard of that before. Would that have to be written into the contract?

Nothing can be done thought because of this freeholder, and I don't think he is the kind of person I want to deal with. My solicitor as been trying to contact him since August, and nada.
Every bone is telling me to pull out. I think I'll talk to the vendor tomorrow.

Doozergirl

No it doesn't need to be written in to the contract. It's your legal right. Your freeholder can't do anything about as long as you qualify (most will) and the forms are filled in correctly Divine retribution!

http://www.lease-advice.org/rtmframe.htm

PasturesNew

What's your worst case scenario?
Are you a FTB wearing pink-tinted glasses?
Or a seasoned home owner?
If you found out it'd take you £12,000 to get it nice and cosy (and secure), would you cry?

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you found out it'd take you £12,000 to get it nice and cosy (and secure), would you cry?

You're so refreshing, LOL!