What questions to ask?

Lokolo

kezzygirl wrote: »

How is it a duplicate thread when i am asking separately about the implications of having a house on a private road? This thread is asking for advice about what questions to ask when viewing a house with a view to buying it

Because its the same topic of you and this house. Just keep it to one thread, don't clog up the forum with different posts when you could just ask all the questions in one thread.

kezzygirl

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Which would explain the recently fitted carpet. Perhaps I am being unnecessarily over cautious or even illogical, but something about the place would make me personally put it on the reject pile.

I know what you mean, I feel unsure too...something doesnt feel right. i will return tomorrow and update regarding the viewing

bobobski

You may want to ask why the previous sale fell through - in fact, I would probably want to know that before the viewing.

kezzygirl

Update

Well, we have viewed the house and it is nice but requires quite a bit of work!!! A few of the ceilings have cracks at the coving , a few of the internal door frames could do with replacing, the oven needs replacing, along with the heating system. It has stood empty for a year abd appears to have been bodged where repairs have been done. The owner owns the 4 properties on the road, the one next door to this one lives her daughter, the owner lives next door to that and an elderly relative lives in the 4th house. The owner is elderly and her husband has dementia, they have been letting the house without the use of a managementcompany.

There is a septic tank raised above ground on the drive?! With an electric switch which the estate agent did not know what it was for. The previous sale fell through as apparently the person was buying with her daughter and the daughter decided to move in with her partner. I asked if surveys etc had been carried out, the estate agent said he assumed so because the sale was progressing. Hmmm. So, we are in discussions as to whether this is for us, there is a lot of work to do, plus we don't want the family dominating the road (as we arrived we couldn't access the drive as they had a car parked there and a car on the road blocking access to the house)

moneyistooshorttomention

I was only thinking earlier today MSE needs a thread of "Things to look out for - that someone should tell you - but might not".

From experience of myself or friends that I know of to date:

- Surveyor might not tell you if there is Japanese Knotweed in the garden (cue 2 of my friends that moved here had that one!)

- Surveyor might not tell you (even in so much as a verbal hint that they had a suspicion and "firm instruction" to call in an electrician for a report) (cue myself - on current house). Don't expect an electrician coming in to price extra work you know you want to point the fact out to you either necessarily (though they also should)

- Solicitor should tell you what proportion of maintenance cost of joint road falls to your house and what the position is decision-making on communal road and be pretty exact on the boundaries (cue myself - though the boundaries, at least, are absolutely crystal clear on original deeds of house).

- Anyone owning a section or whole of an unadopted road may think they are "special" and can do what they quite obviously can't do (eg park where they like - even if it's not allowed). At least there is a remedy to that - ie just get as near as one should be able to where you are supposed to be able to park - and then park right behind them blocking them in).

- Check (as far as you are able to) re what state the floor is in underneath a bath or shower. Don't assume because it's brand new/bang-up-to-date that that means of course it is (that happened to a friend of mine - ie the tradespeople fitting their new bathrooms didnt tell them the floor underneath these heavy large modern shower trays wasnt up to supporting it without work). That, even though one of these "new bathrooms" was on the first floor!

I could probably think of more things that solicitors/surveyors/bathroom fitters should do - but might not have.....:cool:

Basically - take the cynics view that we are paying these specialists to have the knowledge we ourselves havent got. We are householders - so we just decide what house/what colour scheme/what style of kitchen and bathrooms and these specialists we are paying good money to to protect us should protect us. Yeh right....some might do their jobs properly and then, on the other hand, we might inadvertently get one of the ones that doesnt....

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kezzygirl

Thanks for your post. I couldn't see any Japanese knotweed, I did look out for it. When a survey is completed, how much can I expect to pay? Would I need to pay at the point of it being completed? Like I say, there are a few hairline cracks on a couple of internal walls and one down an external wall behind the radiator....

lincroft1710

kezzygirl wrote: »

The owner owns the 4 properties on the road, the one next door to this one lives her daughter, the owner lives next door to that and an elderly relative lives in the 4th house. The owner is elderly and her husband has dementia, we don't want the family dominating the road (as we arrived we couldn't access the drive as they had a car parked there and a car on the road blocking access to the house)

3 good reasons for not buying the house

moneyistooshorttomention

From memory - I think I paid the surveyor at the time they did the survey.

With recent problems-surveyor-shoulda-told-me-about - I've been reading back my survey to check exactly what he said to me. From that - I can see that I did ask him some specific questions and he answered those for me (one to do with the house/one to do with the area).

In hindsight - I'd have tried harder to get a surveyor - but a very typical thing in this area is finding it much more difficult than usual to find tradespeople as required and I took one of the couple recommended by the EA selling the house:o. Thinking back - I'd have asked a different EA for their recommendations if I was still as stuck (for all tradespeople) as I was at the time.

So - you ask this surveyor the specific questions re:

- cause/remedy of those cracks (if they are only hairline I doubt they are a problem personally)

- whether there is any JK in the garden (it's blindingly obvious in hindsight that it would probably be there in one of my friends gardens - and yet still the surveyor wasnt looking for it)

- the house should be a suitable age (at 10 years old) that the electrics should be okay - but might as well ask their opinion specifically

- their estimate as to whether those trees you mention are/could ever be a problem to you

Re The Clan occupying the other houses - that does depend, to some extent, on how "firm" you are prepared to be with them if they are being unreasonable in any way. All the more reason to check out the funding/decision-making arrangements re work on the road.

exiled_red

I would be cautious about buying a house with the previous owner and their family living in the adjacent houses and dominating the neighbourhood, particularly if there are unadopted roads and communal issues that you will have to work with them on. They are likely to stick together and out vote you on any changes etc. It seems that they currently own the whole street and feel like they can park where the like, I doubt that will change and you could end up feeling like an outsider.

exiled_red

In regards to questions you want to ask most are specific to the house, anything that looks odd, different to what you are used to or expect ask about. Ask about any damage that you see.


I would do some research about the trees how far the roots are likely to extend, if you can see any in the garden or around the house.