Exchanged contracts, then found out house was contaminated with asbestos

cloo

Yes, I think the thing is to get past the panic and establish what is actually the case.


Unless he needs a mortgage and the asbestos really does make it unmortgagable, I would say complete and pay whatever it costs to remove the asbestos, as that has to be better than losing the deposit and declaring bankruptcy, surely?

SG27

Obviously there is some missing details here. It appears that the op has exchanged on a house wothout getting a survey done. Then after speaking to the neighbour decided to get a survey and found the issues. This cant be a cash purchase as he says all he savings have gone on the legal fees and deposit. So we can assume the mortgage valuation missed it and the OP has a mortgage offer. (No solicitor would allow exchange without it)
Without knowing the value of the house it would seem that the best option would be to go ahead and complete and fix the proplems after. Just live in the house a few years as the current owners are and save up.

However... your solictor is now aware of the potential unmortgagablity of the house and therefore has a duty to inform the lender. So the lender would withdraw the offer making completion impossible anyway. Also I would think the solicitor would have a conflict of interest here so im suprised they are still able to act on your behalf.

There is obviously more to this than we are being told.

haras_nosirrah

If the property is truly unmortgagable and his mortgage offer is withdrawn then he should go back to the surveyor for dropping him in it.

If the lender is still happy to lend on the property then he has no complaint - he had a valuation for the lender to check it was worth the money he is paying and is mortgagable. If the lender agrees it is then he has no come back as he didn't have a survey for his own purposes so it is a case of buyer beware.

csgohan4

wind up surely, you can't exchange without a mortgage offer/ finances, no competent solicitor would advise it,

Survey's should be done before exchange, it could have been probate, how would the new owner know about the asbestos?? Seller may not have lied, too many assumptions by OP.

OP should have done their own due diligence, You don't buy a car unless you check it is road worthy do you?

davidmcn

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

If the property is truly unmortgagable and his mortgage offer is withdrawn then he should go back to the surveyor for dropping him in it.

Not sure what you mean here - according to the OP, his surveyor has advised him to walk away. If you mean the lender's surveyor, they don't have a duty of care to the OP (even if a valuation ought to have picked up on the asbestos).

goodwithsaving

asbestosguy wrote: »

The house is not mortgageable the surveyor siad, no one will lend on it so i cannot borrow the money to buy it no matter what the seller does i cannot go ahead, i will have to look into going bankrupt, the money i had went for the deposit, my tenancy is up at the end of this month so will have to move no matter what, things don't look good.

I'm confused. You've supposedly exchanged contracts on a house which you cannot get the money to purchase.
Your solicitor exchanged without you having a mortgage offer?

haras_nosirrah

And yet people will happily spend 200k on a house but won't spend £200 extra for a homebuyer survey making sure the property is in good condition. I see it all the time.

haras_nosirrah

davidmcn wrote: »

Not sure what you mean here - according to the OP, his surveyor has advised him to walk away. If you mean the lender's surveyor, they don't have a duty of care to the OP (even if a valuation ought to have picked up on the asbestos).

I mean the lenders surveyor. If they have told the lender the property is fine to lend against and it isn't because it does not meet the lenders criteria and they subsequently pull the offer I think the surveyor may be held liable as they told the lender it was adequate security when it wasn't.

The survey held afterwards is completely different and is between the surveyor and the op and really has no bearing on things.

Thrugelmir

csgohan4 wrote: »

wind up surely, you can't exchange without a mortgage offer/ finances, no competent solicitor would advise it,

Auction purchase. When the hammer falls.........

davidmcn

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

I mean the lenders surveyor. If they have told the lender the property is fine to lend against and it isn't because it does not meet the lenders criteria and they subsequently pull the offer I think the surveyor may be held liable as they told the lender it was adequate security when it wasn't.

But the lender's surveyor only has a duty of care to the lender. And if the lender decides not to lend then they won't have suffered a loss.