Refreshed home report now riddled with 3's

depressed_but_determined

We have put in an offer and had it accepted on a 2 bed semi in Glasgow for 145,000. When we originally viewed the house and home report it was valued at 165,000 and the home report had mainly ones but 2's listed for damp under the floor in the living room and hairline cracks on the wall. They also recommended a repair to the garage roof.


We offered a couple of lower offers until we came up to the offers over of 145000 on completion of a damp/survey report in the living room and a coal mining report which we paid for. The damp report recommended the removal and replacement of a number of joists and debris under the floor. The vendor has refused to contribute anything to the required work under the living room floor which will cost 2400 or negotiate the price, we still thought we were getting a good price so decided we would still proceed.


We are currently awaiting a mortgage decision and they have asked for a refreshed report as it's a week out of date.
I received it today and didn't expect to see much had changed but now the damp has spread all the way up the wall to the bedroom above, the cracks are more frequent and the garage is now needing a new roof and is riddled with damp. These have been upgraded to category 3.


Our solicitor has been really good throughout the process and we have gone back to the vendor today asking them to instruct a full damp report for the whole property and to do any remedial work or we are walking away from the sale. We are still willing to contribute he 2400 that we agreed but I think it could end up being a lot more costly to repair.


To be honest, I think I've lost confidence in the house too and would worry what else we might find.


I'm just wondering if anything similar has happened and whether you walked away. Also if this has happened to you as a vendor.


Our timeframe is now tight as we need to be out of our rented accommodation in april and this house was ideal as there was no chain, the vendors live in Oz, which is making negotiations timely and difficult too. I think we might need to admit defeat and move back in parents until we can find somewhere else to buy.


I think the fact the property has been empty has been the cause of most of the decay.


The initial gutted feeling is wearing off a little now, I'm quite glad it was picked up now and not after we moved in.


Any advice welcome

G_M

Negotiate on price.

Do NOT try to get the seller to fix things - he has no incentive to do a proper job and every incentive to get the cheapest job possible done.

steeeb

Same happend to us - exact same problem. We walked away, the same day we told them we found our dream house. We complete tomorrow.

The house was good at the time but not in our "forever" area so the issues just put us off. Not seen any as nice on rightmove though so we were really lucky our dream house came up.

Do note getting the vendor to complete the works could mean a crappy cheap job - also dont contribute money as if eitger of you pull out youll lose it.

If you like the home get a nice reduction and sort the issues yourself, although youll need to fix the underlying causes.

Its most likely a bridged cavity wall somehow and blocked airbricks or something but could be other causes. All tge joists should be treated too really.

depressed_but_determined

Thanks for the advice, I totally agree about the botched work as it's something I was worried about. The strange thing is we actually did see our dream home today but it's for sale with the same agent and we haven't officially withdrawn our offer yet.


Will wait till tomorrow and we get an answer from the vendor before withdrawing.


The solicitor costs incurred are only 50 pounds plus vat at the moment so I think we have been lucky, we haven't signed the mortgage acceptance yet either so hopefully we can just reapply/adjust when we find another property.

steeeb

Unlucky about same agent.

Try renegotiate. If tgey say no book a viewing for other house. Itll let yiu know if its better and also show the agent youre serious

jennifernil

Does not sound good

I would walk away and investigate this other house.r

Thrugelmir

depressed_but_determined wrote: »

the vendors live in Oz, which is making negotiations timely and difficult too.

Communicating by email only delays matters by hours. Given their situation I'd play hardball. As hardly lightly to pop back anytime soon.

System

It's strange that the problems have got so much worse in such a short period of time, suggests that it's a different surveyor doing the refresh, did the valuation of the house change on the reports?
It sounds like this isn't the house for you and the vendor isn't really likely to drop the price further if they're in no rush to sell.
I really hope that your offer is subject to survey!

depressed_but_determined

Yes, we are in Scotland so the original home report is done before the house goes on the market. It it hasn't sold in 3 months it needs a refresh, we were only a week out of date so have been lucky we didn't already go ahead.
It's been empty over 12 weeks so i can only think the winter and lack of heating/fresh air has made the problems worse.
The refresh was carried out by the same surveying company but a different person.
I think I've accepted we need to walk away. I didn't see the point of a refresh after 3 months before but I certainly do now!
How will the estate agent react to us asking to view another of their properties. Will they see us as timewasters or trouble makers. The thing is we are desperate to buy asap so wasting time was never an option.
Cheers

glasgowdan

Be honest...The poorer home report had changed your mind. Just tell them that, and book a viewing for this new one. It's all just business to them

depressed_but_determined

Wee update, they came back to us on Friday saying the sellers are very unhappy with the refreshed report and valuation and have been trying to contact the surveyor. They are adamant that this downgrade could not have happened in 3 months. They will not instruct another damp report and expect us to carry one out and have suggested if we just put the heating on it will go away. They offered to replace the felt in the garage roof but the damage is in the wood underneath.
That's sealed it, we are walking away.
We have a viewing for the other house today, it looks perfect so you just never know if it's meant to be.
Not sure where they expect to go with the surveyor, I'd hope he was just doing his job.