Buying 1930s house no sarking survey fears

Mimika

Hi All,

I’ve seen other posts regarding this but they were relatively old so wanted to gauge whether opinions have changed.

We’ve just had the survey returned for the house we’re buying. It has thrown up some worries for us regarding the roof saying it has no secondary barrier (sarking) and some tiles are broken or slipped and moss needs cleaning off. Also the insulation is not adequate enough.

Should we be worried? We are thinking maybe requesting them to repair the broken tiles and potentially asking for a reduction in price for us to do the insulation, add flooring and look at improving the flat roof on the extension . The survey recommends repairing the roof before contracts are signed.

Is this bad enough we should pullout if buying a house we love if they won’t reduce price and/or repair the roof?

The survey also stated we were paying top end asking price already.

First time buyer so this is all new and scary to me! Thanks in advance.

Mimika

Owain_Moneysaver

All sounds normal for a 1930s house.

But you don't want to pay top price for it. I wouldn't bother trying to negotiate repairs before contracts exchanged as the repairs may not be to your satisfaction. Just reduce the price you offer accordingly so you can get any work done later.

The insulation in a 1930s house is unlikely ever to be adequate by modern standards.

neilmcl

As above, it's quite normal for an original roof from a 1930's house. Not much to worry about, I'd doubt there's any water ingress but worth checking. Always worth negotiating but don't expect the price of a new roof.