Roof leak in newly purchased house

Leakyroof

Upon receiving keys to my new house I was greeted with a large puddle on my bay window sill. I immediately reported this to my solicitor.
Upon further investigation in the loft I found a large hole in roof. The home report classes house as perfectly fine with no work of any kind required. any advice would be greatly appreciated as my solicitor, previous owner and company who carried out home report are accepting no responsibility and no offer to pay for repairs.

kiddy_guy

No full survey ? I suspect you may struggle here...

maninthestreet

Caveat Emptor...

Is it a flat roof??

AdrianC

What sort of "home report" did you get? What did it say - exactly - about the roof and about any caveats and disclaimers?

One very obvious scenario pops to mind - you say the hole is visible in the loft? Would it be visible if the loft was full of boxes and the previous owner's stuff...?

Thrugelmir

Leakyroof wrote: »

Upon further investigation in the loft I found a large hole in roof.

Tile missing or slipped?

kinger101

Leakyroof wrote: »

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Change your name be deed poll to Watertightroof. That might fix it.

You've not really explained what the hole is, but it might be a simple fix. Just call a roofer and get it sorted. Even if you had a full survey, it's probably not worth the hassle of taking action against them.

Running_Horse

The longer you leave the hole in your roof and window sill, the greater the damage will be to the inside of your house. What did the survey on the biggest purchase you will ever make in your life say about your roof and window sill?

AnotherJoe

Running_Horse wrote: »

The longer you leave the hole in your roof and window sill, the greater the damage will be to the inside of your house. What did the survey on the biggest purchase you will ever make in your life say about your roof and window sill?

Odds are such a survey would say "I was unable to gain access to the roof due to the stored items in the loft" or some other similar get out of jail free words.

Leakyroof

The survey said slight dampness was detected in plasterboard ceiling in living room and thy was it. It said timber and roof space was all ok and no defects found. I have had a roofer out who advises the roof had been rotting for months if not years and I due to cracked slates. The guy who done home report actually came back to the house to check. But his response was that this damage has happened recently and there is no way he could have spotted it. Surely if there was dampness and the previous owner had alleged to have had a repair done, you would investigate to see evidence of the repair? The damp in roof is clearly visible by looking in loft space - you don't actually have to go inside

KRB2725

What is above the living room ceiling? If it was noted that there was dampness then it had to be coming from someone.

I would expect both the surveyor and yourself to question why you would have a damp ceiling.

Leakyroof

The water is coming in the roof and working its way all the way down to above the living room window. I am trying to argue the clear mistake/incompetence by the home report to have missed something so obvious