Survey didnt find obvious fault-now bought what can I do?

Sam_James

I bought a house which has a garage, we noticed water dripping in the front of the garage where the door is. It turns out the supporting beam above the garage door is totally rotten where water has run in . This rot can be seen from just looking at the beam. There was no mention of this in our survey and will now cost us to put right. Is there any action I can take against the surveyors as to why they didn't pick this up. We could have negotiated this issue when we bought the house if we had known.
Thanks
Sam

RelievedSheff

Did you notice it before you bought the house?

You are unlikely to get any come back from the surveyor. You would be better off spending your time and money fixing the problem.

It is your house now and there will be many more things to fix along the way. Get used too it!

Robin9

In July you posted a question about surveys and the banks valuation?

Did you subsequently get a full survey or not bother ?

Sam_James

why shouldn't I get any come back we paid £430 for them to flag something they should have very easily seen. I understand smaller bits and pieces might crop up but this is the supporting front beam to the garage and its easy to see its rotted, I didn't see it as I wasn't looking for it when we viewed the house.

Sam_James

In July you posted a question about surveys and the banks valuation?

Did you subsequently get a full survey or not bother ?
..........


Thanks,
Yes we went ahead and arranged a homebuyers survey with a local company, I was hoping its these very kind of issues this is for.

amnblog

Return to the surveyors and put your concerns in writing.

They need to redress this if they missed it.

We had a similar situation with a Client and the surveyors covered the cost of repairs via their insurance.

Thrugelmir

Was the surveyor given access to the garage?

Sam_James

Yes they had access they viewed and commented......


The property is provided with an attached single garage which incorporates brick
external wall construction under a roof which appears to have been covered with
layers of bituminous or equivalent roofing felt laid over a timber decking.
The felted flat roof coverings are showing general signs of wear and tear and repair
expenditure should be anticipated in the short/medium term.
Similarly some of the brickwork noted to the front wall of the garage is showing
evidence of spalling and minor re-pointing will be required in the short/medium
term.
However the garage appears to be in reasonable condition for its age and design.

benson1980

I had similar reporting on a garage, when we got a homebuyers for our previous house. Said it was in reasonable condition.

When we moved in, there was a leak which cost around £500 in total to rectify. There were clear signs of wet rot which they should have spotted. I complained to the surveyor, and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, they refunded my survey money.

The company I used tried to argue a number of things initially, such as it was just an outbuilding (one that added significant value to the house)/we still paid a fair price etc. I just kept going. They did do a generally bad job, and this was one of a number of things that they missed. If it was the only thing, I would have let it slide, perhaps...

Thrugelmir

Sam_James wrote: »

Yes they had access they viewed and commented......


The property is provided with an attached single garage which incorporates brick
external wall construction under a roof which appears to have been covered with
layers of bituminous or equivalent roofing felt laid over a timber decking.
The felted flat roof coverings are showing general signs of wear and tear and repair
expenditure should be anticipated in the short/medium term.
Similarly some of the brickwork noted to the front wall of the garage is showing
evidence of spalling and minor re-pointing will be required in the short/medium
term.
However the garage appears to be in reasonable condition for its age and design.

Nothing to suggest an internal inspection was made. Purely externally visually.

Did you gain access when viewing/inspecting the property?

Sam_James

Nothing to suggest an internal inspection was made. Purely externally visually.

Did you gain access when viewing/inspecting the property?

Yes they had easy access to the garage interior on the day of the survey, the door does not lock to the garage from the house. As you open the door you can see light through the top of the garage door ( a straight line would be normal I guess) but the light shows distorted gappy shape where part of the beam has rotted away, seems obvious but I wasnt looking for it, I think a surveyor should have seen this and again even at a glance regardless of light shining through rotting and deterioration can easily be seen.