Advice needed for new house purchase - problems after purchase

kr1701

Looking for some advice on what to do in this situation. We recently purchased our first home less than 5 months ago and have already had  number of issues. 
We had a full building survey carried out which did highlight some issues with damp but the vendor reassured us that the damp was due to the age of the property and had never caused them any issues. However, we are now having to pay for one side of the house to be re-rendered, chimney pulled down, repairing a hole in the roof not mentioned in the survey with a vent to replace and dry verge system fitted as the previous one wasn't fitted correctly and is letting in water. We accepted that we may need some work doing but not to this extent. 

Since instructing the builder for this work to be carried out we have found that an extension that was built in 2014 by the vendors, and has a building regs certificate signed off, has a long list of problems that mean it should never have been signed off. (photos of trench to investigate the issues attached) 

We are just looking for advice/personal experiences in terms of what can we do from a legal stand point and where the blame lies?

Please help!!! 

AdrianC

You had a survey.
The survey said "damp".
You decided to buy anyway.
The survey turned out to be right.

Congratulations, you've bought a house which turned out to have the damp you were warned about pre-purchase. And now you know where it's coming from.

Was that hole in the roof visible from ground level? What did the survey say - EXACTLY - including any caveats?
What did the survey say about the extension - EXACTLY?

You have no comeback against the builders of the extension or the local authority's BR sign-off.
You might or might not have some comeback against your surveyor's professional indemnity.

kr1701

AdrianC said:

You had a survey.
The survey said "damp".
You decided to buy anyway.
The survey turned out to be right.

Congratulations, you've bought a house which turned out to have the damp you were warned about pre-purchase. And now you know where it's coming from.

Was that hole in the roof visible from ground level? What did the survey say - EXACTLY - including any caveats?
What did the survey say about the extension - EXACTLY?

You have no comeback against the builders of the extension or the local authority's BR sign-off.
You might or might not have some comeback against your surveyor's professional indemnity.

We fully appreciate that and we did accept that we would have to deal with some damp - but not to this extent. Especially when asking the question directly to the vendors and they lied. They said the damp was never an issue for them.

The hole in the roof is visible when you go into the attic and you can see it in there. It's not visible from ground level, but the surveyor went into the roof void. No mention at all of any holes in the roof. There is also no mention of the extension other than it was completed around 2014. 

Why would there be no comeback on builder or local authority? Is that due to the fact we were not the owners at the time? 

Thanks.

davidmcn

kr1701 said:

AdrianC said:

You had a survey.
The survey said "damp".
You decided to buy anyway.
The survey turned out to be right.

Congratulations, you've bought a house which turned out to have the damp you were warned about pre-purchase. And now you know where it's coming from.

Was that hole in the roof visible from ground level? What did the survey say - EXACTLY - including any caveats?
What did the survey say about the extension - EXACTLY?

You have no comeback against the builders of the extension or the local authority's BR sign-off.
You might or might not have some comeback against your surveyor's professional indemnity.

Why would there be no comeback on builder or local authority? Is that due to the fact we were not the owners at the time?

If you mean the vendor's builder, yes, they've got no ongoing responsibility to come back and fix things for future owners, their only contract was with their client at the time. You've got no comeback against the local authority because they do not have any responsibility for defective building work. Them signing off just means they were convinced at the time that it met building regulations, it's not some sort of guarantee allowing you to blame the council for shoddy workmanship.

Unless you received more specific replies to enquiries than the vendors saying it "had never caused them any issues" then I can't see you can pursue them.

silvercar

ground level, but the surveyor went into the roof void. No mention at all of any holes in the roof. There is also no mention of the extension other than it was completed around 2014

Your complaint is with the surveyor, if he failed to mention something he should have spotted.

AskAsk

i find the full survey to be a good indicator of problems but they are not tight proof and often things are missed.  to really assess a property fully you would need to instruct separate companies to inspect and report, like a roofer, a damp proofing company, a structural engineer.  all these people cost a lot of money, in particular, the structural engineer.
you can't rely on the seller telling you they didn't have much problem with damp, you should have had a damp company come round and give you a quote for the damp proofing before you bought the house.  we did this.

the hole in the roof is down to the surveyor.  they don't inspect the roof properly as they don't come with roof ladders so they always state a bland statement in their report that the roof is aged and will need maintenance.  when he went into the loft, the hole may have been hidden.  or it may have developed since he has been there.

your blame is with the surveyor if any blame can be lodged.  but trying to get compensation from them won't be easy.

MalMonroe

The vendor bareface lied to you - "the vendor reassured us that the damp was due to the age of the property and had never caused them any issues". 

Damp is ALWAYS an issue and needs dealing with as soon as it's spotted. The vendor should have sorted that out years ago. That should have been the first indicator to you that this property was going to be a money pit. Especially as the vendor blamed the age of the property. I'd then have been thinking, 'where else is the damp then' and 'you can keep your wet property'. 

Your surveyor did not carry out an adequate survey and needs reporting. They are probably part of some kind of association which needs to be alerted to the fact that this particular company is rubbish. Also local and national press can help with publicising their rubbish service. My daughter once reported a company via the Guardian's help page and was recompensed by said company, who were not thrilled to receive adverse publicity.

Don't you have any building insurance that can cover this work?  I thought all property owners had to have buildings insurance. 

In future, if you ever hear the word 'damp' in connection with any property, run - run for the hills!!  Don't just say, 'okay we'll buy it'. 

davidmcn

MalMonroe said:

Don't you have any building insurance that can cover this work?  I thought all property owners had to have buildings insurance. 

Insurance covers specific risks, sudden disastrous things like fire, flood etc. It doesn't pay out for maintenance issues or to fix a builder's shoddy workmanship, and it certainly won't cover defects which already existed before the OP bought. 

Hannimal

MalMonroe said:

The vendor bareface lied to you - "the vendor reassured us that the damp was due to the age of the property and had never caused them any issues". 

Damp is ALWAYS an issue and needs dealing with as soon as it's spotted. The vendor should have sorted that out years ago. That should have been the first indicator to you that this property was going to be a money pit. Especially as the vendor blamed the age of the property. I'd then have been thinking, 'where else is the damp then' and 'you can keep your wet property'. 

Your surveyor did not carry out an adequate survey and needs reporting. They are probably part of some kind of association which needs to be alerted to the fact that this particular company is rubbish. Also local and national press can help with publicising their rubbish service. My daughter once reported a company via the Guardian's help page and was recompensed by said company, who were not thrilled to receive adverse publicity.

Don't you have any building insurance that can cover this work?  I thought all property owners had to have buildings insurance. 

In future, if you ever hear the word 'damp' in connection with any property, run - run for the hills!!  Don't just say, 'okay we'll buy it'. 

I am now a little worried about this. I am buying a property and there was some damp in 1st floor (top floor) ceiling. Vendors said it was due to poor air circulation and nothing more. I went for a 2nd viewing and it was painted over. I've had the survey done but don't have a report yet

Doozergirl

MalMonroe said:

The vendor bareface lied to you - "the vendor reassured us that the damp was due to the age of the property and had never caused them any issues". 

Damp is ALWAYS an issue and needs dealing with as soon as it's spotted. The vendor should have sorted that out years ago. That should have been the first indicator to you that this property was going to be a money pit. Especially as the vendor blamed the age of the property. I'd then have been thinking, 'where else is the damp then' and 'you can keep your wet property'. 

Your surveyor did not carry out an adequate survey and needs reporting. They are probably part of some kind of association which needs to be alerted to the fact that this particular company is rubbish. Also local and national press can help with publicising their rubbish service. My daughter once reported a company via the Guardian's help page and was recompensed by said company, who were not thrilled to receive adverse publicity.

Don't you have any building insurance that can cover this work?  I thought all property owners had to have buildings insurance. 

In future, if you ever hear the word 'damp' in connection with any property, run - run for the hills!!  Don't just say, 'okay we'll buy it'. 

Sorry, did the OP send you you full building survey to read for you to post this qualified opinion on the surveyor's culpability?  Because I haven't seen it! 

There's literally zero reason to run for the hills when a survey mentions damp.  People need to understand how to look after buildings.  "Damp companies" are snake oil salesmen perpetuating fear about things that are often simple to sort.  No 'damp company' is needed, but especially not when your problem is with the roof.   Every old house has some sort of issue lurking, people need to be a little bit more realistic than to expect a perfect survey result.  

AdrianC

kr1701 said:
Especially when asking the question directly to the vendors and they lied. They said the damp was never an issue for them.

How is that a lie?

It's not been an issue for them. They know it's there, they live with it, never worried about it.

And what was the EXACT wording on the survey, including the relevant caveats? Because that's where the surveyor's culpability may or may not start...