Help with Survey report

Sey1992

Hi all,

We are first time buyers and we are buying a house for £94,000, we had a homebuyer survey carried out and the report found the following bad points:

The property has two chimney stacks. The rear stack is shared with the adjoining property. The main central stack is surmounted by two pots. The rear stack is no longer in use and has been capped. The junction between the stacks and the roof coverings are sealed with lead flashings.
A number of items were noted :-
 The brickwork is weathered in places and vegetation growth is visible within the mortar joints. Repointing is required.
 The lead flashings are weathered and have lifted in places leaving gaps for water to penetrate at the junction of the stack and roof covering. Repair or renewal is required.
This is a potential risk to the building, see Section J1.
Condition Rating 3. Repairs/improvements are needed and we refer you to the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'. You should ask a contractor to inspect and quote for the work needed. Because of height/orientation, access will be difficult and specialist access equipment will be needed which may be costly.
Chimney stacks, fillets and flashings are very exposed and should be regularly inspected and maintained in good condition.
When the remedial work is done it would be prudent to check the condition of all hidden parts to ensure no other disrepair has taken place. As the work will mean some disturbance to the building, further disrepair may well be discovered which could increase costs. Until the work is carried out, regular checks should be made internally for any possible water leakage.
As the rear stack is redundant, you should consider removing it to below the roof covering. Any remaining flues should be properly ventilated to reduce the risk of condensation and damp internally.

The walls are of solid brick construction. There are several air vents to ventilate the air space beneath the ground floor. Internally, the external walls have been plastered. The walls contain an injected chemical damp-proof course.
A number of items were noted :-
 When tested with the moisture meter there were areas of damp noted to sections of the ground floor internal walls, notably in the rear dining room area. The damp was not excessive and was not evident throughout the ground floor but it is an indication that the injected damp proof course may not be fully effective.
 The rear wall brickwork is weathered and the mortar joints are recessed in places and require repointing.
These defects are a potential risk to the building, see Section J1.
Condition Rating 3. Repairs/improvements

The roof space was entered through a hatch in the bathroom ceiling. The roof is formed with rafters and purlins. The roof space is insulated with fibreglass quilt.
The roof is poorly ventilated.
Condition Rating 2. Repairs/improvements are needed and we refer you to the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'.
The roof structure is in satisfactory order but some timbers have sagged and distorted slightly in places which is not unusual for the age of the property. The roof insulation is adequate.
Roof timbers should be regularly inspected and maintained in good condition.
Although we could find no serious distortion or defect with the roof structure, the new coverings may well have increased the loads and stresses on some of the roof timbers. The whole roof structure should be checked periodically for any signs that timbers.

The property has mainly solid masonry internal walls. These have been plastered, paper lined and painted. There is wall tiling in the bathroom. An internal wall in the kitchen area has been removed but we cannot confirm if loads have been properly redistributed as the work is now concealed.
As stated previously in Section E4, Main Walls, areas of damp were noted to sections of the ground floor internal walls.
Condition Rating 3. Repairs/improvements are needed and we refer you to the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'.

Fire/Security precautions and alarms.
The property does not a sufficient number of mains powered smoke/fire alarms.
This is serious as it provides inadequate or no warning in the event of a fire. This is a risk to the building, see Section J1 and to persons, see Section J3.
Condition Rating 3. Repairs/improvements are needed and we refer you to the page in this report entitled 'What to do now'.

What do we do, we are debating pulling ou of the sale due to all the findings, it also mentions In my opinion the current reinstatement cost of the property is £ 140,000, does anyone know what this means?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long thread.

alan0356

The re-instatement costs of £140,000 relate to what you should insure the building for in the event of fire/ damage etc and reflect the cost of repairing / replacing the building if required.

A home buyers survey is always going to find works required - you do not state the age of the property but I would presume it to be an older terrace built around 1900 or so .

All properties will have suffered from wear and tear - the surveyor is pointing out areas of concern which he has to to cover himself - I would find a decent builder and highlight the bits of the report that require works and ask builder for estimate - then you at least know what the cost of repairs are.

If the costs are reasonable I would approach the estate agent / vendor with report and estimates and look to re-negotiate the purchase price or the vendor may offer to have work done between exchange and completion therefore leaving purchase price as agreed.

If there is a mortgage lender involved and they have had sight of the report the lender will request estimates before agreeing the mortgage amount - the lender then keep a retention until works completed.

I assume you will have paid a few hundred pounds for the report so would look to get the estimates - otherwise you will end up paying out thousands of pounds for homebuyers reports and not end up buying a property.

I am a mortgage broker and this reply is for information only.