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

greatcrested

That's really not that frightening (other than to a FTB!), or expensive. Items fall into several categories eg

*  for general information - useful for a new owner but not requiring much more than normal maintenance eg gutters

* improvements that new owner might want to consider or ignore eg replace WC roof, replace windows, replace bathrom floor, rebuild boundary wall, replace kitchen, upgrade bathroom (all things the buyer will have noted on viewing)

* more specific structural improvements but still recommendations only - not essential eg render, bellcasts, drains

* standard ar*e covering as he's not a specialist eg electrical report, gas /boiler report

The only essential item is the damp treatment. Without reading the section in the survey regarding damp it's hard to comment, but frequently

* surveyors misdiagnose damp by using inappropriate meters and

* 'specialist' firms recommend inappropriate but costly treatments that they themselves offer.....

So I'd question this unless there is genuine evidence of damp in specified locations (eg smell, mould, peeling paint/wallpaper etc). Is there?

And is there is, I'd look seriously at the cause eg those overfowing gutters for example....

rach_k

I'm by no means a property expert, just a normal home-owner.  To me, the only things that would worry me enough to get them done straight away would be:

- Sort woodworm (if it is actually active and not just old holes) and any rot. 

- Check whether we can fit through the window of bedroom 1 in an emergency.  Some of our windows aren't officially windows you can escape through but we all could if needed!  Not a big deal to replace one window if needed for safety, but if they're all dated any prospective buyer can see that anyway so they may plan to do the whole lot.

- Remove or repair the rear chimney stack, if it's unsafe.  Otherwise, leave it, maybe cap or ventilate it if needed.

All of the stuff about gutters, new roof, render, replacing garden walls, flooring, kitchen and bathroom are standard things buyers will need to do at some point anyway, the equivalent of a mechanic telling you that you will need new tyres or to replace your battery within the next year.  All of the gas/boiler/electricity checks are standard.  Moving the bathroom to the first floor is a stupid thing to say... as if the buyers didn't notice it was downstairs?!  

barbiedoll

Lol...”relocate bathroom to the first floor”. Most of us can’t do this unless we lose a bedroom or build a hugely expensive extension. I can’t believe that a surveyor put that in a report! How ridiculous. 

Falafels

Most of those items are not urgent.

Since moving into my house, I've replaced all the windows, put in a new kitchen, new bathroom, new boiler, new porch including quarry tiled floor, replaced a bouncy chipboard floor with a wooden one, replastered the two largest rooms, had various treatments to the roof including a new EPDM one, chimney repointed and new leading ect yak blah blah....

I certainly didn't do it all at once! If a future buyer gets a similar report, let them know it's a potential wish list for the future, not a must-be-done-now or the house will fall down!

macman

First time seller, by any chance?

se2020

As a first time buyer currently house hunting myself I can say this,
The expensive things - kitchen, bathroom, downstairs toilet, would have been accounted for when I made an offer so I would be ingnoring those on the survey. 

I would like to think I would have noticed the garden wall as well.

My main concern would be the damp and rot and the cracking under the render (which is exactly the thing I would have paid for the survey to spot)
If something is listed as "essential" I would be concerned about being able to get a mortgage with out that being sorted?
The chimney stack would be something I would phone the surver and ask why it needs removing. If the fireplace has been remove and its letting a draft down I'm not bothered. If a wall beneath it has been removed and its liable to fall down in a storm I'm getting a builder to give me a price on sorting it.

If I had liked the house enough to make an offer on it that list would not scare me off. 
I would be booking a 2nd viewing and gojng around having a good look at the toilet roof, presume its leaking but I would not want to fit a fibreglass one anyway so would probably ignore that as well.
I would be opening some cupboards and moving some wardrobes and having a look for signs of damp. 
I am looking for a character property so finding some would not be unexpected to me. What would change things is if it looked to me like the property had had a history of damp and the owners had done a quick cover-up job before selling and hoped I would not find out about it. 

The cracks in the rear wall would not bother me on a 100yr+ old place. On anything newer I would be calling a builder to give me a price on sorting that as well.

Nothing on there would make me pull out of the sale (providing the mortgage company would still lend the full amount)
I might be making a lower offer though depending on how bad/expensive the damp/rot turned out to be. The only thing that I would be particularly concerned about checking would be the chimney and the state of the floor/roof joists.

John_

I bought a house like that once. I then spent every spare evening and weekend sorting out major and minor issues, and then niggles.
Things not noted on the survey included the hot water running twice round the loft before going anywhere, and the Earth wires having been repurposed as live.

As others have said, many of these things are nice to have, but here are some buyers, like me, who prefer to spend more / buy less to get something built and maintained to the very highest standards.

I’d look at dealing with some of the less expensive issues while you re-list it.

FreeBear

AdrianC said:

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

Is there active woodworm?

Depends on what the moisture content of the wood is. Over 18%, and there may be... The only way to be certain is to apply tape to the timber, wait a few months, and check to see if there is any frass and emerging beetles. Finding a few holes during a cursory inspection will only indicate that there has been woodworm at some unspecified point in the past.

If a moisture meter gives a reading of 15% or less, the chances of an infestation is minimal (the little b*ggers don't like dry wood).

saajan_12

Some of those are standard disclaimers - points that aren't necessarily an issue but they don't check so they phrase it as things to check - eg the

NibblyPig said:

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

improved to prevent water overflowing the gutters.

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.

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.

 

Then a bunch of it is upgrades, not necessarily problems that a survey would usually comment on and not work that needs doing to 'fix' as long as the price is reflective of an older house. In particular, :

NibblyPig said:

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

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

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

16. Replace kitchen.

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

Once you strip those out, you're left with a much more manageable list , which still needs explanations to decide whether they belong in either of the earlier sections or if they're genuine problems. So you could quote on the parts of the report pertaining to points 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10,11

Also look closer at your sale price compared to actually sold prices in the area and get feedback from your agent. There may be other issues with the price more generally, unrelated to surveys which is why it isn't selling. 

NibblyPig

AdrianC said:

Stuff

Did it say why?
- Remove chimney stack because the top part is unsupported, basically it's in the loft. It was like that when I moved in and doesn't look to be causing any problems.

- No gutter/roof/leak problems whatsoever. But the guy put loads of stuff in saying things might leak, even though there's no sign or problem for the past 5 years, which is rather annoying. " The roof slopes are fairly shallow and as a result water leakage is likely to occur from time to time and regular maintenance of the roof covering will be required. " except it has never leaked, and it's clean.
- Recommended replacing the roof of the extension which is 1 storey felt flat roof because of water leakage, however the reason there's signs of water leakage is because the gutter got clogged with loads of mud a couple of months ago. I cleaned it all out and the problem stopped but I suppose there are still signs of where it occurred despite my best efforts to fix the plaster and repaint (the wall was plasterboard which is hard to fix)
- Parapet wall render needs waterproofing, I did the front of the house but not the side, there's no visible sign of damp inside but his gadget reckoned it was slightly damp and it matches up so will get that done.
- Render has many cosmetic cracks in it from a slight movement issue 8 years ago when a drain burst nearby. The house was  repaired and a certificate issued to say it was completely fixed, however it made some cosmetic cracks in the rendering outside. I don't know if it's possible to fix them or if the whole render has to be replaced. I don't think the wall itself is cracked, I am not sure how you would even know from looking.
- Windows are fine except the seal has gone in one of them, there's one big pane and above it two small rectangle windows that open, the seal has gone in one. I am going to see if I can get it repaired rather than replace the entire thing.
- The wall is an old brick wall about waist height, it's not in good condition but it's not going to fall over or anything.
- I don't think there is active woodworm, even though his report says there is. The house was treated in 2002 with a 30 year guarantee. I looked in the void spaces and I can't see anything that looks like signs but perhaps I don't know what to look for. Feels like he's just gone on a bit of a crusade and lost some impartiality.
- The floor needs replacing for sure. I don't think it's suffering from rising dampness, the floor is just manky and old, and I had a cleaner for a while, I found out he was mopping it and leaving it to dry which has caused it to warp. It would be nice to be sure but I am not sure how you'd even tell.
- There's nothing wrong with the kitchen except it's just cheap and has cheap cupboards that are a bit of a state, it absolutely should be redone but structurally it's fine - I'd just throw out all the cheap cabinets and crap worktops and put some new ones in.  Seems cheeky to me to say replace the kitchen, even if it's crap, is that really a structural surveyor's remit?
- Again, upgrade bathroom is pretty sweeping, it could do with a new vinyl floor, and the damp investigating.

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

That was literally it. Everything I put was copied & pasted from the summary page without modification.