Buyer pulled out, and sent me the survey. So many things wrong it should be condemned.

NibblyPig

Reeling from the shock of this at the moment and looking for advice.
They must have hired the world's most thorough surveyor, 34 pages in depth about how everything in my house needs replacing. Walls, brick, floor, windows, roof, drains, literally EVERYTHING in some way shape or form has been condemned. 
I know these surveys are pretty harsh but I've been here for six years and I had a report when I moved in that listed a couple of minor issues which I had resolved.

I feel like I've bought a big pile of garabage, to repair everything would cost more than the house itself.
I'm in a huge state of despair as I've been trying to sell for over 6 months and finally thought I might be able to move into my dream house that has been patiently waiting for me.

Now I can't imagine anyone would ever buy this house reading that, and that it would cost hundreds of thousands to fix everything in the list.

What should I do?

SaverRate

Details please?

greatcrested

NibblyPig said:

What should I do?

I hate to sound harsh but... why not ask a bunch of strangers to comment on a survey they can't read?

k3lvc

Firstly remove the emotion and then tell us what it really says rather than paraphrasing. 
What sort of survey was it and does it actually use the word 'condemn' or phrases such as 'further more detailed examination is suggested' ?
Age of house/how long have you lived there and what did your survey say when you bought it ?

greatcrested

I think we can safely assume one thing: it was a full survey (eg RICS Building Survey) rather than a Homebuyers or other less detailed one.

NibblyPig

I suppose my question is, what do I do when the list of things to fix is a mile long?
Here's their suggestions at the end:
Essential:
1.  A specialist firm should be instructed to carry out treatment to eliminate any rising and penetrating dampness, woodworm and rot.

Recommended:
1. Remove the rear chimney stack.

2. Regular maintenance of the central gutter will be required and the outlet should be

improved to prevent water overflowing the gutters.

3. Replace WC roof in fibreglass.

4. Renew defective render to front parapet wall.

5. Form rendered bellcasts at the base of the rear walls.

6. Re-render rear elevations within 5 years, at which time stitching of the cracked rear walls

should be carried out under supervision from structural engineers.

7. Replace dated windows and fit an escape window to bedroom 1.

8. Rebuild rear boundary wall.

10. Provide a ventilation pipe to the drains and ideally fit a manhole chamber.

11. Carry out full timber treatment to prevent active woodworm noted within the roof voids.

12. Replace bathroom floor covering following monitoring to ensure it is not affected by

rising dampness. A new floor should be laid as required.

13. An electrical safety certificate should be obtained from a qualified electrician prior to

exchange of contracts.

14. A gas safety certificate should be obtained for the installation.

15. Confirmation of servicing of the boiler by a Gas Safe engineer is required.

16. Replace kitchen.

17. Upgrade bathroom; ideally relocate bathroom to first floor level.

So basically a ton of damp proofing, treatment, a brand new kitchen, a brand new bathroom, brand new flooring, brand new rendering, brand new windows, repairing the rear walls.
That's gonna cost an insane amount of money.

davidmcn

Everything under "recommended" is merely that, not "essential". These are "nice to haves", not things you need to fix or that a buyer needs to do.

anselld

Find a buyer who wont panic at owning an old house.
Survey roughly translated as "Older house needs some essential timber treatment, potential for improvement."

AdrianC

NibblyPig said:

I suppose my question is, what do I do when the list of things to fix is a mile long?
Here's their suggestions at the end:
Essential:
1.  A specialist firm should be instructed to carry out treatment to eliminate any rising and penetrating dampness, woodworm and rot.

They always say that.

Recommended:
1. Remove the rear chimney stack.

Did it say why?

2. Regular maintenance of the central gutter will be required and the outlet should be improved to prevent water overflowing the gutters.

Yes, gutters need cleaning periodically... Is there sign of overflowing?

3. Replace WC roof in fibreglass.

Why?

4. Renew defective render to front parapet wall.

Is it?

5. Form rendered bellcasts at the base of the rear walls.

Always a good idea if you're sorting the render out. Helps prevent drips running down.

6. Re-render rear elevations within 5 years, at which time stitching of the cracked rear walls should be carried out under supervision from structural engineers.

How bad is the render? Is the wall cracked?

7. Replace dated windows and fit an escape window to bedroom 1.

How bad are the windows?

8. Rebuild rear boundary wall.

How bad is the wall?

10. Provide a ventilation pipe to the drains and ideally fit a manhole chamber.

Never a bad thing.

11. Carry out full timber treatment to prevent active woodworm noted within the roof voids.

Is there active woodworm?

12. Replace bathroom floor covering following monitoring to ensure it is not affected by rising dampness. A new floor should be laid as required.

Reads in conjunction with 3 and 17... Ground floor - in an older extension with a manky roof? Single-skin walled?

13. An electrical safety certificate should be obtained from a qualified electrician prior to exchange of contracts.

Generic backside-covering turned up.

14. A gas safety certificate should be obtained for the installation.

Likewise.

15. Confirmation of servicing of the boiler by a Gas Safe engineer is required.

Never a bad thing.

16. Replace kitchen.

How bad is it?

17. Upgrade bathroom; ideally relocate bathroom to first floor level.

How bad is it? Of course, given we've gone from 34 pages to 18 bullet points, there's an awful lot of precising and paraphrasing... Might that be turning it all up a notch...?

Would you quote, say, the entirety of recommendation 16, please?

ElizabethRose

I assume it was first time buyers which is why they ran. Points 13, 14 and 15 come up on every survey as standard as the surveyor isn't qualified in gas or electrics. Things like the kitchen or bathroom and updating the buyer will have factored in prior to offer. 

Calm down, speak to your estate agent and see if there is anyway of getting the buyer back or look to remarket it.

elsien

If your house is sensibly priced to reflect an older kitchen etc then there is absolutely no need to be replacing the kitchen now. Most people will be wanting to do it to their taste anyway. 
Relocate bathroom to first floor?
Why?
That's a preference but if someone has come to view a house knowing that there is a ground floor bathroom from the details, it shouldn't come as any great surprise to them to find the bathroom is on the ground floor! If they want to move it upstairs after they've bought that's down to them and again if your pricing reflects the downstairs bathroom (most houses round my way have the bathroom off the kitchen) then you don't knock thousands off or do it yourself. You point them at similar houses and gently suggest that if it's a dealbreaker for them stop looking at houses knowing the bathrooms are downstairs. 
They put their offer in knowing that the kitchen and bathroom were dated and the loo was on the ground floor. Negotiation is up to you but your house certainly isn't falling apart or fit to be condemned from that report.