RICS survey recommended damp & timber report but mortgage still been approved

Johnjones7656

Got the full building survey done and it's recommended a damp and timber report as it threw up a few issues.
However the valuation was ok and the mortgage has been approved at the price we're paying.
So is it actually worth getting this damp and timber report done?
As will we be able to negotiate the purchase price down if there's any work to be done as the bank has said the valuation is fine?
Thanks

AnotherJoe

Most likely its **** covering, like most surveys, just so you cant sue them.

If you want to, for peace of mind get a specialist in (not a company that treats damp or woodworm who will recommend treatment of course).

In theory you could use any work required to negotiate the price down, if i was the seller and it was value at agreed price with that vague recommendation, I'd tell you to jog on.

Thrugelmir

Johnjones7656 wrote: »

So is it actually worth getting this damp and timber report done?

Would you be happy if after shortly moving in a major unforeseen issue was discovered? Or would you prefer to pay for peace of mind. Choice is yours.

Just as insuring your house against fire. The odds are low, but everyday someones house does go up in flames.

Johnjones7656

Thanks!
It's so hard when you're FTB and you've never dealt with this before let alone throwing an older house into the mix!

Whistler23

Check the report is not a condition of them paying on completion.

We had the a valuation done and they noted a damp and timber survey and electrical survey. They didn't hold the process is, nor a retention. But they wouldn't pay out on completion without having both on file.

AlexMac

Almost every Victorian or turn of the 19th/20th Century house has got a little bit of damp;
-if it don't look damp, don't smell damp,
-if the floorboards don't spring (bounce) when you jump up and down on the ground floor near the walls (a posssible sign of deterioration in the timber joists supporting the floorboards - assuming you have a "suspended" floor as opposed to a solid concrete one,
- if it ain't a semi-basement or if there ain't earth piled up against the walls ,
-if the sub-floor (the air-space underneath the joists and floorboards) is ventilated by air bricks or sometimes, vents in the floor itself ....
-if there ain't obvous signs of leaking gutters or downpipes
-if there ain't damp or mouldy patches in corners or behind cupboards....

then I'm willing to bet it isn't seriously damp.

Whether you spend a few hundred quid on an independent survey for peace of mind, then, consider whether you want to screw a few hundred qui d off the price is your decision; if your buyer is savvy, they won't fall for the results of a free survey by a timber/damp sales company; but they might be desperate...?

It depends on your attitude to risk and your negotiating style.

I've never bothered with a survey in the dozen or so purchases I made... and got away with it. I did just walk round a couple of times with a trusted builder... who never found anything worrying either.

Your call; I'd just go for it if you love the house!

Or you coaul actually talk to the surveyor.... after all, you paid him or her

Johnjones7656

Thanks.
I did speak to the surveyor and he didn't seem that concerned! He did recommend it again though. It sounds as if they just cover their backs though and it could be X,Y and Z or it could be nothing!! So nobody's any the wiser!
Definitely need to check the mortgage offer to see if the reports are a condition though.