Lots of Category 3s on Homebuyers Report

Yellow78

Hi all,

I've been reading through old threads on this forum all afternoon, but I've decided it's prob just best to ask for some specific advice. I'm a first time buyer, and both us and the seller are in a rush to complete (our landlord is selling our current property and we need to leave, and they are stuck in a chain).

Okay so first things first - the house was originally listed for £190k. We had an offer accepted for £175k which was our absolute limit. Only thing we noticed when originally looking around was the lack of a back door in the property and we were prepared to fix that. To our unqualified minds, the rest of the house looked liveable. Now we've had a homebuyers survey done, and it's come back with a lot of category 3s including:

Repointing is required below the chimney and the roadside gable elevation. There is a steeped crack about the landing window possibly due to a lack of lintel which needs urgently installing. Tudor beams are showing signs of rot and decay.

Windows - These are old and need bringing up to standard (I'm confused about this as the seller claims they were installed in 2016 and has sent us the certificate to prove it).

No Back door - this is a fire hazard and may be against building regulations. A second means of entry/escape needs to be installed. (we were prepared for this)

Electrics - wiring and fittings were a cause for concern

Gas - hot water tank is dated and needs replacing.

We also have a ton of category 2s for things like asbestos in the garage, internal joinery needing updating, uneven floors, ceilings need to be overhauled, and signs of rot in the roof timbers. I guess I should be glad it's not shown signs of damp right?

After all of the above, the surveyor believed the price of £175k was fair so I don't think we'd be able to negotiate with the seller to lower the price any more. Does anyone have any estimate on how much this is all likely to cost us (Nottingham area)? I'm really not sure whether to back out or just go ahead and am literally clueless. Husband isn't bad at DIY so he could do anything that can be done without a professional himself I would assume.

If we do back out we'd be stuck renting again due to needing to leave our current property fast, which we'd both rather avoid unless it meant making a massive mistake. Thanks in advance!

ashe

A lot of things in the report are !!!8216;for info!!!8217; - I doubt he did an asbestos test and electrics are never tested. Open a line of dialogue with the seller but you!!!8217;ll probably not get a reduction as it!!!8217;s agreed with the valuation but you can arrange for tradesmen to size up work needed if any

davidmcn

How has it ended up with no back door?

Yellow78

davidmcn wrote: »

How has it ended up with no back door?

Apparently the sellers blocked it up to make the kitchen bigger... It was the first thing my husband said after looking around it - we need to put one in. That's a cost we're prepared for but it would take us a while to save up the money to do everything else the HB report is suggesting.

Lauralou79

It doesn't sound like you may be as ready to buy or you are the limits to your spending power to be honest. If you have to save up to do anything basic to the house within weeks/months of moving it's not great for you . Even if it was a great survey things still can go wrong once you move in. Eg immersion tank breaking/leaks etc

Some of the above may not be as bad as they sound,and typical covering by a surveyor. Eg did you look at the electrics,did switches/sockets look quite old? Did you notice the pointing was it in a bad state? ( I didn't notice and ours is awful, an expensive job to be done later this year) some things you may be able to wait a year or so,but there does sound like some things may need looking at quite soon eg the crack/lintel issue.

Can you view the house again and look at some of the things mentioned while you look round? Maybe take a builder with you? As for reductions what did the surveyor value? What was the mortgage valuation?

Can you save more whilst renting so you have a little money to fall back on when you buy? I was sooo happy to have my now depleting savings to be able to have various jobs done over the year. Can you look at lower priced properties if this is max your limits?

Yellow78

Lauralou79 wrote: »

It doesn't sound like you may be as ready to buy or you are the limits to your spending power to be honest. If you have to save up to do anything basic to the house within weeks/months of moving it's not great for you . Even if it was a great survey things still can go wrong once you move in. Eg immersion tank breaking/leaks etc

Some of the above may not be as bad as they sound,and typical covering by a surveyor. Eg did you look at the electrics,did switches/sockets look quite old? Did you notice the pointing was it in a bad state? ( I didn't notice and ours is awful, an expensive job to be done later this year) some things you may be able to wait a year or so,but there does sound like some things may need looking at quite soon eg the crack/lintel issue.

Can you view the house again and look at some of the things mentioned while you look round? Maybe take a builder with you? As for reductions what did the surveyor value? What was the mortgage valuation?

Can you save more whilst renting so you have a little money to fall back on when you buy? I was sooo happy to have my now depleting savings to be able to have various jobs done over the year. Can you look at lower priced properties if this is max your limits?

Thank you for your detailed answer.

We do have around £10k that we can use for repairs, but being a first time buyer I'm not overly confident on how much everything is going to cost and I don't want to spread myself too thin. At the same time, I'm self employed and the mortgage we've been given is about the best I can get at the moment for the type of property we need as I don't have a stable cashflow (and probably never will have with the job I have). On top of this, my landlord is selling the property I'm in now, and rental prices are around the same price as my mortgage - so owning would be preferred even if that means I need to budget for repairs etc. It's taken us over a year to find a suitable property so as long as it's not going to financially cripple me with everything listed on the HB report, I'm not going to back away.

When we looked around the house, the electrics looked fine to me - I'm no expert, though. I also have a gas safe certificate that's 18 months old and the property was apparently rewired (except for the kitchen) in 2016. The property looked well looked after, and the only thing that was glaringly obvious was the lack of a back door which we knew about. I have no idea what pointing is so don't even know what I'd be looking at. The homebuyer's report is also confusing as it's claiming the windows are old and substandard, but the seller only had them installed two years ago.

I've emailed the solicitor dealing with the property and asked if the seller has a guarantee for the windows - if they have, I'm hoping that might cover the cost and could be something that gets sorted before we move. The back door is something we've budgeted for so that's not a massive problem. I guess I'm just freaking out about all these costs I hadn't even considered.

The surveyor and the mortgage valuer both valued the house at £175k so it does seem to be a fair price. The seller also has a young family so I don't want to screw them over by becoming a difficult buyer. At the same time, though, if they are able to sort out the windows/lintel because it's under warranty, that would be the ideal scenario.

Edited to add: I've just discovered replacing a lintel should cost around £50-£100, so I now feel like a !!!! moaning about it. The repointing of the whole house is going to cost around £3000. Gas and electric (based on the comments here - and the certificates I've been given from the seller) all appear fine so I'm going to ignore the notes in the HB report. Same with the windows - though I will check if the guarantee passes to us or if the owner can fix beforehand. And breathe - I was panicking when I first got the HB report but I don't think it's (hopefully) as bad as it first appeared.

Lauralou79

Ahhh it's good you have a savings back up! It's amazing how much money you end up spending when you buy (all worth it!) we bought our house a year ago so it's still very fresh in my mind how scary the survey is!

Can you contact the surveyor and query some of the points they have made?

It sounds like you are on the ball tho. You have to go with your gut and if it's been a year in the making maybe it's time to take a leap.

Yellow78

Lauralou79 wrote: »

Ahhh it's good you have a savings back up! It's amazing how much money you end up spending when you buy (all worth it!) we bought our house a year ago so it's still very fresh in my mind how scary the survey is!

Can you contact the surveyor and query some of the points they have made?

It sounds like you are on the ball tho. You have to go with your gut and if it's been a year in the making maybe it's time to take a leap.

Thank you - by the looks of it we're just being totally crazy, nervous first time buyers. I will give the surveyor a call in the morning but aside from the lintel and the backdoor, I think the other things can be done at a slower pace.

Really appreciate your help!

datlex

I had a few level 3s on mine. The surveyor is used though was very helpful. He rang me before to explain things and after I had the report to clarify things. Wasn't expensive either, £360 for a combined level 2 and mortgage valuation! He said they put things as level 3 that you need to give attention to asap, so things like making sure the boiler is in good working order.

martindow

I find that a quick phone call to the surveyor can be very useful. They will not put anything in writing that has the potential to come back to bite them, but are much more open when you chat to them.