Work was done to the front of the house I made an offer for

Aince1985

Hi,

I put in an offer for a house and at no point was I told that the house had anything that could affect its foundation or major works were done

So I started the mortgage application via the bank and paid my own surveyor - sadly it has/had structural movement and mortgage not possible without structural report.

The owner had some works done to the front of the house at the cost of £10k. I forget what the works were, however she had a structural engineer come and look at the property and had the front of the house supported. No windows or anything had been changed and I couldn’t see anything at the front of the house that had been repaired.

Could it be that I should have been told about this work done? I don’t know what the structural movement is/was as I didn’t get the engineers report done.

Oh by the way, the owner also owns an estate agent in Manchester

Feeling a bit annoyed and naive.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Ethically and morally, maybe the vendor should have told you about it beforehand. But unfortunately under the buying process we have it's up to the buyer to dig out anything like this out.

I would either try get the vendor to foot the costs for any further investigations (unlikely to happen) or just move on and keep viewing.

Did this come out in the bank valuation survey or a homebuyers/full-survey that you commissioned?

eddddy

The law (Consumer Protection Regulations) says that the EA must tell you any material information that the EA knew or should have known.

Subsidence would almost certainly count as 'material information'.

There are arguments about whether EAs should explicitly ask sellers about things like subsidence, if the seller doesn't mention it.



So if the seller/EA knew about the subsidence, and the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, a complaint might result in getting your lost fees back.

But if the seller genuinely didn't know about the subsidence, you have no basis for a complaint.

Aince1985

eddddy wrote: »

The law (Consumer Protection Regulations) says that the EA must tell you any material information that the EA knew or should have known.

Subsidence would almost certainly count as 'material information'.

There are arguments about whether EAs should explicitly ask sellers about things like subsidence, if the seller doesn't mention it.



So if the seller/EA knew about the subsidence, and the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, a complaint might result in getting your lost fees back.

But if the seller genuinely didn't know about the subsidence, you have no basis for a complaint.

The seller 100% knew about the work done to the front of the house, she paid for it? If for example she hadn’t had work done, and was selling the house she could claim ignorance. She’s however given me the details of her structural engineer and I spoke to him.

However I don’t know if it’s substance or whatever.

FreeBear

Aince1985 wrote: »

The seller 100% knew about the work done to the front of the house, she paid for it

You need to find out exactly what was done. If it was a "notifiable work", then there should be paperwork from Building Control to say that the work met the required standard. Underpinning would be one such type of work that requires approval - https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/54/underpinning/2

Aince1985

FreeBear wrote: »

You need to find out exactly what was done. If it was a "notifiable work", then there should be paperwork from Building Control to say that the work met the required standard. Underpinning would be one such type of work that requires approval - https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/54/underpinning/2

No work that requires notification!

ReadingTim

Nothing to feel annoyed or naive about - this is exactly why you get surveys done: to make sure the place is in the condition the vendor claims it is, 'cos people selling things don't always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

So, you're a few hundred quid out of pocket - imagine if you'd bought the place and the front of it collapsed. How many hundreds of thousands of quid would you be out of pocket?

Aince1985

ReadingTim wrote: »

Nothing to feel annoyed or naive about - this is exactly why you get surveys done: to make sure the place is in the condition the vendor claims it is, 'cos people selling things don't always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

So, you're a few hundred quid out of pocket - imagine if you'd bought the place and the front of it collapsed. How many hundreds of thousands of quid would you be out of pocket?

£650 out of pocket and when I’ve bought my new house the surveyor did a shocking job.