Mortgage valuation- roof foam

Leonberger

We are currently in the process of buying a 1930s property which is being valued this week however the vendor has now told us that the property has roof foam coating the underside of the roof. There are no guarantees of the product as it was done in the early 1980s. 
We offered £215k which was accepted prior to us knowing about this, the property was marketed at £240k so the vendor can not drop any lower to accommodate the cost of a new roof.
We have been researching and have read that this is often very bad and can mean a new roof is necessary however the survey said the roof is in otherwise good condition. Is it likely the mortgage valuer will pick up on this in the first place and if so is it generally a no to lending?

Thanks! 

davidmcn

Leonberger said:

We offered £215k which was accepted prior to us knowing about this, the property was marketed at £240k so the vendor can not drop any lower to accommodate the cost of a new roof.

I don't follow the logic here. If it's worth less than £215k then surely they'll have to drop lower? Did you get a valuation from your surveyor?
If it makes the property unmortgageable then I'd have expected your surveyor to have pointed that out.

Leonberger

We did not get a valuation from the survey as the vendor already had a buildings report which she has shared with us. This includes a full structural roof survey going into the roof issues in detail. It basically says the roof is in reasonable condition for age bar being coated in roof foam however that the foam will make replacing the roof in the future difficult. 

Vendor states the property is valued with the roof in mind however we did not find out about it until after our offer was accepted and we instructed mortgage valuation. We are approx 3-4 weeks into the sale now this has come up. 

Vendor won’t drop lower than £215k so I sadly for us if the mortgage is not accepted then we will have to walk away. I am not sure what the vendor then plans to do!

csgohan4

I would be weary about not doing your own independent survey. Anything happens you cannot claim off anyone, not even the surveyor as the report is not your property

dimbo61

So you had a " Valuation survey " 
I am willing to bet the Surveyor never went into the loft.
Any signs of damp in the loft or bedroom walls.
What is the general condition of the property and the outside of the roof ?
Why would having foam make it more difficult to replace the roof tiles or slates ? If needed ?

[Deleted User]

dimbo61 said:

Why would having foam make it more difficult to replace the roof tiles or slates ? If needed ?

I think the general thought is that it increases condensation in the roofspace and makes it more likely for rot to set in to the rafters. It also pretty much glues the tiles down to the surface and makes it harder to replace individual tiles without lifting loads of other interconnected tiles