problem with 2 bed flat! HELP

SOPHIA25_2

Hi there.

Im in the process of buying a 2 bed garden flat - converted. I will try and give all details.

ive offered asking price - 199,950 and report has come back saying that there is damp. vendors have offered 1000 pound towards it but on investigating, ive found out that the flat i may be buying has had 3 owners in 3 years! this worries me as the flat is very lovely but not sure if theres a problem with the flat itself or maybe neighbours..? the current owners havent even been there 1 year! it was up for sale once theyd been there 6 months.

Ive tried to look for website to help me out but cannot find anything. The flat is overpriced too for that area (ive researched) but i dont know whther to let it slide or just go for it. I also dont know whther its lovely looking purposely cos theres a problem with the flat. I will also have to renew the lease which is an extra cost. can anyone help or offer advise. im in a real dilemma.

thanks, sophia

gemma.zhang

Hi.. I don't have direct answers to your question.however, if it's neighbour, or sth else around the house you are worried about, why not just knock at a few doors on the same street, and ask about the area, tell them you're interested in buying a property on this street, and ask them for opinion, I've found out most people are chatty and friendly. wouldn't mind telling you a lot :-D..

As for the reason it's been sold so frequently.. what's the reason your current vendor wanting to sell ? .. can ask the agent directly, and they will tell you normally.... it may just be the reason that they want to upsize.. relocate.. and might not be sth to do directly with the flat... have u checked about the sales price in the past three years ?? that might be a good indication whether this flat is overpriced/worthy. We saw a nice flat, and notice it's been sold 6 months at a higher price immediately after it's been bought at an extremely low one.. and figuring must be sort of devloper bought the flat for rennovation project, and wants to get a quick profit out of it.

Good luck with whatever your decision is.

As for a damp, if it's an old property, it will normally have sort of level of damp.... We've got 2k towards the costs against our property we 're buying.. ours' got quite a few other problems as well../

anyway.. good luck.

cattie

Really nobody can advise you whether to buy or not. You need to trust your own instinct about whether it's a sound purchase. You shouldn't base your decision on one of the biggest purchases of your life on what people on a forum think.

One way to find out about possible neighbour trouble is to knock on a few doors & ask other people living in the building & next door.

If the flat is overpriced for the area, why did you offer asking price anyway.

SOPHIA25_2

can i amend something - 3 owners in last 1 year!!!!!!

custardy

well somethings not right there.someone moves every 4 months or so?
something like neighbour issues or something

reformedEffortMaker_2

i would say there is definitely something not right, if there have been 3 owners in the last year. How long did you spend viewing it?...

Perhaps the damp is a lot worse than it appears?....has it started to effect the buildings structure?....also, I nearly bought a garden flat earlier this year, it was multi-agency, and so I had a second viewing with the other agent, and whilst I was there, a couple of mice or small rats (didnt get close enough to tell the difference) were playing in the bath!!. I then started to look in a lot more detail and noticed droppings all over the place!....turned out that as well as the severe damp, the flat had a serious rodent infestation

Also, is there anyway you could find out about security of the flat?....garden flats are slightly more vulnerable to being burgled-especially if they are basement/ground floor as there are two entrance/exits.

As an after thought, have you looked on https://www.ourproperty.co.uk or similar to see how much it has actually been selling for in the last year?

KiKi

Sophia - go with your instinct on this one. 3 different *owners* rather than tenants is more than fishy - it's a virtual aquarium. £1000 towards a potential damp problem is nothing if the problem is big. They are offering *you* money to move in and sort the problem?

Unless you are really wedded to this flat, I'd go with your instincts and make the break now.

wherediditallgo

If they're offering £1000 towards sorting out the damp, to me that means it'll cost a good bit more than that to sort out otherwise they'd have done it themselves. Maybe I'm too cautious, but I wouldn't be going near it - 3 owners in 1 year tells me at least one of them regretted their purchase very soon after buying it, either because of the costs involved or the neighbours or both. Chances are, you'll end up feeling exactly the same way.

SquatNow

For gods sake walk away, you've obviously being fleeced.

Doozergirl

3 owners in one year would be nigh on impossible - especially if the present vendor has been there 6 months I could only imagine a turnaround like that if the property were repossessed a while back, bought by an investor and then turned around for a quick profit. In which case, it is not as bad as it seems. It also happens sometimes that remortgages show as sales in the Land Registry information, which shouldn't happen and will make it appear that there were more owners than there were.

How long after you move into a property, having spent a fortune, do you decide you can't possibly live there any longer? If it's that quick, then it's going to be something obvious.

Why don't you ask the vendor straight out why there have been so many owners?

lovesit

So the vendors are offering you £1,000 towards the cost of the damp works, speaking from experience even if they offered you the whole cost of the works I would still run away.

My surveyor failed to pick up on the fact that the place was riddled with damp, only discovered this once I had bought the place whilst scraping the wall paper off.

As a result I had to live in utter squalor for 2 months whilst walls and ceilings were ripped down, rebuilt, plastered then I had to do three coats of paint (whilst trying to work full-time) on every wall and ceiling. It was a thoroughly ghastly experience living in such a mess!

Depending on how many rooms are affected I'd only recommend contemplating this if you do not have to live there at the time of the works (are you currently rent and can afford to pay double rent and mortgage) or if can you stay with friends & family.

Negotiate a reduction based on actual cost of works plus alternative accomodation arrangements.

Good luck!