Homebuyer Surveyor had no loft access. Do we still go ahead?

vintage_netty

According to the report the vendors have lots of things in their loft... so much that they were unable to look at the quality of the roof, walls or flooring in there.

I dont know if I feel comfortable paying for a house where there has been no assessment of such a large part to the property.

missmoose

I wouldn't buy it.
The reasoning is utter rubbish, surely there isn't so much sh** up there that they are un able to move things around so that the surveyor could get a look?!
I'd be suspicious and assume they are hiding something, but then again I'm suspicious of everything and everyone.
Edit: When we viewed the house we're currently buying the seller said that there isn't any room in the loft for storage because the amount of insulation in there, our surveyor still managed to get in there to have a look. Different thing I know but it's not that wildly different of a comparison.

alumende27

vintage_netty wrote: »

I dont know if I feel comfortable paying for a house where there has been no assessment of such a large part to the property.

How old is the house? Are there any noticeable issues with the roof (slipped tiles, bowing in the middle, etc).

If you are uncomfortable about, speak to the surveyor in the first instance. He'll have more knowledge of the property and have a better opinion than anyone here.

For what it's worth, I've owned a house that had no access to the roof void and it was 180 years old when I sold it. Never had any issues.

always_sunny

so that's your answer. The Homebuyer survey is to give you peace of mind to report on potential issues so you can make an informed decision (proceed or not, ask for repair, lower price, etc).

You could talk to the seller and ask them to have it inspected clear of items or you pull out.
They can accommodate or pull out too.

It's all about communicating with the other party, the forum can advise you what other might do in your situation... I would call the seller.

The RICS HomeBuyer Report is only going to give you a limited view, if you need more certainty get a good tradie/builder and ask them for opinion.

csgohan4

I would be worried if they left that junk after completion as well, leaving you to pick up the hassle and costs.

always_sunny

csgohan4 wrote: »

I would be worried if they left that junk after completion as well, leaving you to pick up the hassle and costs.

I thought you could put that in the contract/exchange as a condition?

davidmcn

Pretty normal for lofts to be used for storage...in the same way that the floors are hidden by carpets, damp patches might be carefully hidden by furniture, etc. You can try asking the sellers to shift stuff out of the way and then send the surveyor back if you like?

usernameisvalid

Homebuyers is the most basic of reports

It will usually read,meet an electrical report,meet a plumbers report, couldn't access roof space blah blah


Indeed there's many a story on these forums where the home buyers report has missed pretty major problems. In my case he noticed the rotten kitchen window, but hadn't noticed the patio outside the kitchen had been built above the damp proof course so not only was the window frame rotten, but the kitchen floor was under water and the whole back wall of the house was soaking

( wasn't a problem in our case as the back of the house was removed for the extension )

Hoploz

I would not read anything into this at all. It's unlikely the seller has deliberately put things up there in the way to cover up a problem.

It's almost certainly simply a combination of there being a bit of junk up there and a surveyor who hasn't bothered investigating too much as it isn't a full building survey and there were no red flags from what he could see both outside and around the hatch.

If you are really concerned then you could ask the seller to bring their stuff down and send another surveyor in, but tbh if I was the seller I'd be pretty irritated by this.

When I sold my last house the loft had a lot of archived paperwork in boxes as well as the usual Christmas decorations and bits and bobs, and to remove it all would have been a lot of hard work, not to mention the extra work of putting it all back (due to lack of space elsewhere to put it) then getting it out when moving day came. When we did move we could not believe how much had accumulated ... The boxes just kept on coming down and would have taken up a whole room in the house.

n217970

The surveryor that did the buyers report on the house I was selling told me if I hadn't had the loft ladders he would not have bothered looking - it was raining and he couldnt be bothered to go to his car for the steps...

He was useless, the buyers sent me a copy of the report afterwards trying to get money off but everything he found I proved wasn't an issue. Including, and I am not kidding, the gutters not being perfectly level.....

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Surely they should still be able to open the loft door, stand at the top of the ladder and inspect the beams/roof with a torch? My loft isn't boarded, so this is what my surveyor did.