Advice on survey report [FTB]

valeguard

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are first-time buyers about to exchange on a Victorian mid-terrace 2-bedroom house in SE England. We commissioned a full building survey due to the age of the property (140 years old) and the report came back this week highlighting a number of issues:

- There are signs of structural movement to the property that are considered more historic than progressive, although there are some signs of defects and cracking noted, which are mostly due to the long term settlement of the structure over the years, although there have been wall and chimney breasts removal.

- Some minor distortion was noted to the front and some of the window heads, reveals, chimneystack and party walls, with some old signs of separation between the main structure and the rear addition, and the replaced rear addition window is now wider than the brick arch indicating a lack of arch support. The rear structure brickwork alterations are in half brick i.e. 150mm including finishes and not 225mm in thickness and is undersized and there could be supporting issues and a lack of thermal quality of the infilled walls and requires further investigation.

- There are close road fronting trees with a substantial and mature (cherry) tree to the front of the house with signs of damage to the highway and local front boundary walls with some uplifting to the pavement in the immediate area.

- Various locations were tested with the moisture meter and high levels of moisture were observed indicating rising dampness to the front bay and the rear addition, but some parts like behind the kitchen units could not be tested due to access. The kitchen floor level is low compared to the outside ground and this design can allow the transfer of ground moisture, and the front bay plinth and the rear render also bridge the DPC.

We aren't experienced buyers so we will be depending on our solicitor to advice us on the next steps. My gut feel is that the issues highlighted definitely require further investigation but walking away from the property just based on this survey would be somewhat premature. Any advice from the more experienced homebuyers/homeowners on this forum would be greatly appreciated! [I can PM pictures of the trees/windows but I'm not allowed to post them in this thread.]

Many thanks in advance.

SmashedAvacado

1. Ask the surveyor what he makes of the property - is it particularly bad, does he have an idea about how much it would cost to fix - ask what he is recommending as a next step
2. what is the condition of the property generally? is it a do-er upper or being sold as ready to move in. If the latter then I would be more concerned.
3. Speak to the seller via the agent about your concerns from the survey - have they had any of these matters looked at ?

Its an old house, I wouldn't be that concerned about the moisture but you would do well to get an understanding of what can be done to keep the house mould and rot free. I would get the surveyor to recommend someone who could take a look around and do a more detailed damp and structural survey

davidmcn

valeguard wrote: »

I can PM pictures of the trees/windows but I'm not allowed to post them in this thread.

You can (once you've loaded the pics to somewhere visible to us, imgur.com or similar), you just need to make it look like it isn't a link - put in some spaces or suchlike.

G_M

Your solicitor is unlikely to be able to comment on the survey. He trained in legal matters not building structures. Speak to the surveyor.


You can post a link to the pictures by adding in a space in the web address.

K80_Black

One piece of invaluable advice I read elsewhere was to meet with the surveyor at the property on the day, when he had finished. He could talk his findings through with us, we could ask questions, so when the report came there were no surprises and no questions. Though this takes the surveyor an extra 10 minutes on the day, it saves the need for follow up calls after, so ours was happy to.

I know this is useless to you now (well, unless you move in the future, or pull out of this sale), but as this is a frequent topic here I'm hoping others who haven't had theirs done yet may read it.

G_M

K80_Black wrote: »

One piece of invaluable advice I read elsewhere was to meet with the surveyor at the property on the day, when he had finished. He could talk his findings through with us, we could ask questions, so when the report came there were no surprises and no questions. Though this takes the surveyor an extra 10 minutes on the day, it saves the need for follow up calls after, so ours was happy to.

I know this is useless to you now (well, unless you move in the future, or pull out of this sale), but as this is a frequent topic here I'm hoping others who haven't had theirs done yet may read it.

A good idea though


* I'd recommend checking this in advance as the surveyor may have another appointment to go on to and not have sufficient time, plus


* if you speak on the phone after receiving the report you'll have a better idea of what questions you need clarifying.

K80_Black

G_M wrote: »

A good idea though


* I'd recommend checking this in advance as the surveyor may have another appointment to go on to and not have sufficient time, plus


* if you speak on the phone after receiving the report you'll have a better idea of what questions you need clarifying.

Yes, obviously check in advance! How else would you know what time they'd be finishing?!

I honestly don't see the difference between a surveyor verbally going through every room from their notes and them writing it down as a formal report - aside from the fact it'll be fresh in their mind and they won't have seen a dozen or more properties since yours.

valeguard

davidmcn wrote: »

You can (once you've loaded the pics to somewhere visible to us, imgur.com or similar), you just need to make it look like it isn't a link - put in some spaces or suchlike.

G_M wrote: »

Your solicitor is unlikely to be able to comment on the survey. He trained in legal matters not building structures. Speak to the surveyor.


You can post a link to the pictures by adding in a space in the web address.

Sorry, you can tell I'm new to the forum! I've added some pictures to imgur DOT com/a/RRojjM3

K80_Black wrote: »

One piece of invaluable advice I read elsewhere was to meet with the surveyor at the property on the day, when he had finished. He could talk his findings through with us, we could ask questions, so when the report came there were no surprises and no questions. Though this takes the surveyor an extra 10 minutes on the day, it saves the need for follow up calls after, so ours was happy to.

I know this is useless to you now (well, unless you move in the future, or pull out of this sale), but as this is a frequent topic here I'm hoping others who haven't had theirs done yet may read it.

I was ill-advised on this front. I did see this suggested on quite a few resources, but my mother-in-law was of the opinion that the surveyor was best left to his/her devices, and we would just be a hindrance to them on the day! We just went with the easy choice I guess, lesson learnt!

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

1. Ask the surveyor what he makes of the property - is it particularly bad, does he have an idea about how much it would cost to fix - ask what he is recommending as a next step
2. what is the condition of the property generally? is it a do-er upper or being sold as ready to move in. If the latter then I would be more concerned.
3. Speak to the seller via the agent about your concerns from the survey - have they had any of these matters looked at ?

Its an old house, I wouldn't be that concerned about the moisture but you would do well to get an understanding of what can be done to keep the house mould and rot free. I would get the surveyor to recommend someone who could take a look around and do a more detailed damp and structural survey

The house is decorated to a good standard and is sold as ready to move in. A family of 4 has been living there for the past 10 or so years.

I have spoken to the surveyor a couple of times on the phone already, he seems to think that:
a) We're paying over the odds for this house, and we should re-negotiate the price based on the survey findings and quotes for future work.
b) We should get quotes from a damp treatment specialist and a builder about rectifying the single skin wall extension (which if I understand correctly doesn't comply with current building regulations and might be a problem with mortgageability at point of resale - however our mortgage offer went through without a hitch!).
c) A rewire and upgrade of the electrical system will be required soon in his opinion, and he gave us a figure of 5-6k for it (which seems a bit excessive to me but again, I'm not the expert).
d) We need to figure out what the Council plan regarding the front tree is. From what I can tell, the council has an online system for reporting structural damage from trees on council land. This of course would need to be substantiated by evidence of damage. No signs of progressive structural movement were highlighted by the survey, but then again (from the way I see it) the only way to know how deep/far the roots extend would be to dig up (or wait for any sign of damage to appear).

I'm a bit lost as to how to approach this, I think I should probably approach the estate agent first to understand if the seller would be willing to agree to a discount based on the survey findings. If they do, I would then get specialist damp/structural advice as suggested by the surveyor. Unless I am missing something?

Thanks to all posters for your replies!

FreeBear

https://imgur.com/a/RRojjM3

A "damp specialist" will be interested in selling you expensive "cures" for problems that don't exist or can be fixed at the source very cheaply. That said, a single thickness brick wall is going to be cold and very prone to condensation. Fixing it involves adding insulation and plastering - The devil is in the detail and how well the job is done. Could cost £1K, or as much as £5K.
Depending on how much of the external walls need insulating, building regs kick in and the work should be signed off by building control.




The window doesn't look too bad - There isn't much brickwork above, so the stresses on the arch won't be as high as a ground floor window. Fitting a steel lintel may cost as little as £1K, but I suspect scaffolding will be required - That will bump up the cost quite a bit.
Fitting a lintel and getting it signed off will make it much easier to sell the property in the future.