Building Survey Report - Areas of concern

mazibee

Building Survey Report / Issues

We have received or building survey report and has some serious issues, Its a 42 page report and I am only including some parts which show areas of concern

(a). Electricity

http://prntscr.com/nt6xz2

Hallway, Two Reception Rooms and a Kitchen
CONDITION SUMMARY: The property is connected to mains electricity. The electricity meter and consumer units are in the cupboard under the stairs. The consumer units do not have residual current device protection and this is a safety hazard and will not meet current regulations.
There is no evidence of mains connected smoke and heat detectors in the property and this is a safety hazard as it increases the risk of being trapped in the event of a fire.
It is not possible to fully assess the condition of electrical installation on the basis of a visual inspection only. There are many factors relating to the adequacy of electrical installations which can only be identified by a test which covers matters relating to resistance, impedance, and current, etc. It is therefore essential that the purchasing legal adviser checks to see whether recent test certificates are in place. The IET wiring regulations state that installations should be tested every 10 years or a change of ownership/tenancy. Without such proof, we are unable to comment
fully on the installation’s serviceability and therefore, an Electrical Installation Condition Report should, therefore, be obtained, prior to purchase, from a qualified electrical contractor and all recommendations implemented.
CONDITION RATING: Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £1000
1st Floor: Three Bedrooms and a Bathroom Similar type and condition as described above.

GAS Meter

http://prntscr.com/nt6yan
CONDITION SUMMARY: The property is connected to mains gas. The gas meter is in a cupboard under the stairs.
You should ask your legal adviser to check with the gas supplier for evidence the gas meter is properly located, properly installed and safe. If evidence is not available, you should ask an appropriately qualified person to inspect the gas meter and supply and provide you with a report.
CONDITION RATING: Serious or urgent and should be repaired as soon as possible.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £500
CLARIFICATION NOTE: This estimate includes the safety checks to the central heating system, gas appliances and gas meter installation by a Gas Safe registered contractor.

Sub floor ventilation

http://prntscr.com/nt6ykm

EXTERNAL ELEVATIONS
SUB-VENTILATION DESCRIPTION: There is adequate provision of air bricks to the rear and side elevation walls.
CONDITION SUMMARY: Alterations have been made to the property without the appropriate provision of cross ventilation to properly ventilate the subfloor voids within the property.
The grounds alongside the front elevation wall are high and appear to be either covering the existing air bricks or none is present. Alterations will, therefore, be necessary to add/uncovered air bricks to the front wall to comply with Local Authority Building Regulations. Restricted ventilation can result in noxious gases and/or condensation that can cause dry rot to affect the floor timbers and other components of the building. We would be unable to confirm the full effect of this issue without a subfloor inspection within the building and further investigation is required.
Therefore, we recommend that the timber floors are inspected by a PCA registered timber treatment specialist. This will require removal of floor coverings and floorboards from the ground floor rooms to allow thorough inspection.
CONDITION RATING: Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £1500


Floors
Hallway, Two Reception Rooms and a Kitchen
FLOOR DESCRIPTION: The floors throughout are a combination of solid and suspended timber construction and covered with fitted carpet or vinyl flooring.
CONDITION SUMMARY: The floorboards are creaky and this can be resolved by fixing them securely to the floor joists. This work will require the removal of the floor coverings and any damaged timber replaced. Although the subfloor ventilation is in line with the standards set at the time of construction, it is limited in comparison with modern building methods. It is important to have good subfloor ventilation for suspended timber floors to help prevent the onset of rot and woodworm infestation. Due to the lack of adequate subfloor ventilation, as, it is likely that the ground floor timber floors are affected by rot and/or woodworm. We, therefore, recommend that the subfloor ventilation is improved to modern standards by an experienced building contractor. The timber floors should also be inspected by a PCA registered timber treatment
specialist to see whether or not there is any rot or woodworm that requires treating.
CONDITION RATING: Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £0

1st Floor: Three Bedrooms and a Bathroom
FLOOR DESCRIPTION: The floor is of suspended timber construction.
CONDITION SUMMARY: This part of the property is in a similar condition as in the ground floor, with creaky floorboards.
CONDITION RATING: Defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered to be either serious or urgent. The property must be maintained in the normal way.

Balustrade to the staircase
http://prntscr.com/nt70q9

CONDITION SUMMARY: There is no balustrade to the staircase and this is considered to be a Health and Safety risk. An appropriately qualified joinery contractor should be able to implement alteration works to comply with Local Authority Building Regulations.
CONDITION RATING: Serious or urgent and should be repaired as soon as possible.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £500

Dampness and timber defects
Hallway, Two Reception Rooms and a Kitchen
DAMPNESS DESCRIPTION: All accessible parts were tested with an electronic moisture meter and we found no evidence of dampness internally.
CONDITION SUMMARY: The timber floor structure will require to be inspected to confirm whether the lack of adequate subfloor ventilation has caused any damage.
CONDITION RATING: Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently.
ASSUMED REPAIR COST: £0

Please can someone comment on this report especially the electrics and gas section

Thanks in advance.

daveyjp

Unless a property is brand new it will generally not meet the latest electricity and gas regs.

Not meeting the regs does not automatically mean the installations are unsafe.

mazibee

Please can someone check the photos of the Electricity and the Gas Meters
http://prntscr.com/nt6xz2


http://prntscr.com/nt6yan


and suggest me how what should be the next plan of action.

Slithery

Gas meter looks OK.


I'd budget for a full rewire though.

Finchy2018

Surveyors are not electricians or gas engineers - they ALWAYS recommend you get these tested by professionals. Up to you if you want to do so.

You obviously knew there was no balustrade on the staircase - are you concerned? add one if you wish.

To me it reads like the !!!! covering comments that my surveyors used to put in all their surveys.

mazibee

Shall I go for

1) EICR report for |Electric Condition
2) Which survey to use for checking Gas meter and the Heating condition of the property as the property?
3) Damp and Timber Survey for Timer , Joist condition

Any idea how much these survey reports will cost and any recommendations for selecting the surveyor in the Bucks area

This property is fitted with Worcester boiler in the kitchen, heating tank in the cupboard of one bedroom and I also saw a tank in the loft.


The property I am renting at the moment has only a boiler in the kitchen and there are no tanks in the bedroom and the loft.

Can we remove the tanks from the heating system and any idea how much it will cost?

Thanks in advance.

Slithery

mazibee wrote: »

Shall I go for

1) EICR report for |Electric Condition...

I wouldn't bother. Instead I'd just save the money knowing already that a full rewire was needed.

mazibee

Slithery wrote: »

I wouldn't bother. Instead I'd just save the money knowing already that a full rewire was needed.

How much it will cost approx for a full rewire of a 3 bed semi detatched house?


Any idea about the rest of the things?

[Deleted User]

Once you've moved in, ask your gas supplier for a smart meter. They'll fit a new meter and do all the safety checks for free.

That electricity supply is quite ancient though, I'd be wanting to change that soon as Slithery suggests.

Sounds like you have a vented hot water system. If you want rid of the water tanks you'll need to change the boiler to a combi boiler.

Albala

Useful site for quotations, you could try the section on rewires.
http://quotationcheck.com/visitor-sitemap/
Looks reasonable in general, but of course everything always costs more than you think. After a rewire, for example, if they have to cut channels in the plaster, that's a lot of redecoration.

Some sections have 3 different quotes according to where you are (London area, Midlands, S &SW, or Outer Regions an North) and/or according to whether you use a small local firm or larger national or regional one. There are gaps where they didn't get enough quotes. Seems up to date.

There is a section for rewiring a whole house, about £3,800 to £4,800 for a three-bed. But read the caveats- it will depend a lot on other factors.
Our experience suggests that
a) if the wiring/build of the house is recent enough that most/all of it is in channels/spaces of some sort in the walls so new wiring can be pulled through it's cheaper than if they have to chisel out plaster everywhere

b) if the house is empty it's much cheaper than if it's full of furniture

c) if there is nobody living there (and so they don't have to rig up power and put back floorboards every night) is will cost less

Splatfoot

I wouldn't worry about any of that. As others have said, factor in sorting the electrics. The other bits, if necessary can be done over time. Creaky floorboards? Who hasn't?! We've got blocked up airvents in a couple of rooms, ideally we need them unblocked but we just open the windows. We've only been here 12 years to sort it! We have a porch floor that is slightly over the damp proof course too. Haven't sorted that yet either....