Structural defects in Building Survey for house purchase- HELP!

fozfoz

Hi 

We've just got results of the Building Survey the house we're purchasing - an old Edwardian property. Unfortunately it's highlighted lots of defects with the house. We're not sure what it would cost to address these defects or even how long it would take. We're in rental atm so could live here whilst the remedial work is going on 

Main defects listed below, should we try to fix these or are just better off walking away from the sale as it's too costly to fix?

1. Roof coverings and would benefit from being renewed. This was further supported by evidence of water ingress/ damage internally indicating that the remedial works are required to the coverings.

2. Chimneys: Both chimneys were noted to be leaning in towards the centre of the property. Further investigations are required to determine the condition of the chimney stacks below the roof level. All remedial works should also be carried out concurrently with roofing works

3. Walls: Stepped cracking noted to the rear elevation. It is recommended that a Structural Engineer is appointed to assess the structure of the property within this area. Other areas around this area including the ceiling to the living room below, the floor to the second-floor bedroom above and the left-hand side dormer window appear to have also been affected by this issue. Floor is undulating to the second-floor bedroom. It is assumed that this is associated to the same issue.

4. Damp readings recorded to the walls within the dining room and studio room. Damp proofing/remedial works are required to the property.

-taff

Wonky chimneys and a new roof? I'd be looking elsewhere.

AdrianC

I'd definitely not be going ahead without getting a roofer to look at the roof, and a structural engineer to look at the chimney and walls.

The damp is probably just related to the roof (assuming it's actually leaking), and the usual poor maintenance (gutters, plants, high ground levels).

fozfoz

Thanks both. The survey we've had is really thorough (160pages!!), planning on speaking to surveyor for more details on the roof and damp. Then yes agree, will look at getting some specialists to quote on the above issues.

iwb100

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

fozfoz

Mickey666 said:

iwb100 said:

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

Spot on!

You wouldn't believe how many 'faults' there were with my 16th century house yet funnily enough it has been standing for over 450 years with 'sub-standard' foundations and no DPC (and no damp either) - and that's just for starters.

A big factor with these sorts of things is personal attitude.  If you're the sort of person who would worry about a slightly sloping floor or a wonky roof then a 'period property' is probably not for you.

If you can cope with such things then what you really need to know is how much will it cost to bring things up to scratch, factor that into your own financial position and take it into account when making your offer.  Don't worry what the vendor might think of a reduced offer, they don't really matter and you don't have to justify anything to them, only to yourself.

Thanks Mickey666. I'm going to follow up with our surveyors and tbh we do expect to have issues with a house this old and don't want to buy a new build home.  We've got an assigned renovation budget and I want to know if we can do all the improvements within that.

My main worry is that step cracking, just outside the first floor bedroom, the surveyor had said on the phone that he thinks that's all due to a lintel failure in the ground floor french doors just below. There's no signs of subsidence so that's a good start! So guess we need to get structural engineer in to assess how big a job that is. 

iwb100

Mickey666 said:

iwb100 said:

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

Spot on!

You wouldn't believe how many 'faults' there were with my 16th century house yet funnily enough it has been standing for over 450 years with 'sub-standard' foundations and no DPC (and no damp either) - and that's just for starters.

A big factor with these sorts of things is personal attitude.  If you're the sort of person who would worry about a slightly sloping floor or a wonky roof then a 'period property' is probably not for you.

If you can cope with such things then what you really need to know is how much will it cost to bring things up to scratch, factor that into your own financial position and take it into account when making your offer.  Don't worry what the vendor might think of a reduced offer, they don't really matter and you don't have to justify anything to them, only to yourself.

One of the issues with this forum is that the general advice is geared away from buying any house with any survey issue. Yet in reality apart from houses built in the last 20 years or so you are going to see issues...some will be serious and best avoided unless you know what you are doing...others will be manageable. Houses of this period will have issues, one assumes anyone who went to look knew that the survey would almost certainly throw stuff up, even if just potential advisories.

Everyone has a different risk level and of course different depths of pockets...but only very modern houses would ever be sold and bought if everyone pulled out after initial surveys raised the possibility of something...

Doozergirl

iwb100 said:

Mickey666 said:

iwb100 said:

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

Spot on!

You wouldn't believe how many 'faults' there were with my 16th century house yet funnily enough it has been standing for over 450 years with 'sub-standard' foundations and no DPC (and no damp either) - and that's just for starters.

A big factor with these sorts of things is personal attitude.  If you're the sort of person who would worry about a slightly sloping floor or a wonky roof then a 'period property' is probably not for you.

If you can cope with such things then what you really need to know is how much will it cost to bring things up to scratch, factor that into your own financial position and take it into account when making your offer.  Don't worry what the vendor might think of a reduced offer, they don't really matter and you don't have to justify anything to them, only to yourself.

One of the issues with this forum is that the general advice is geared away from buying any house with any survey issue. Yet in reality apart from houses built in the last 20 years or so you are going to see issues...some will be serious and best avoided unless you know what you are doing...others will be manageable. Houses of this period will have issues, one assumes anyone who went to look knew that the survey would almost certainly throw stuff up, even if just potential advisories.

Everyone has a different risk level and of course different depths of pockets...but only very modern houses would ever be sold and bought if everyone pulled out after initial surveys raised the possibility of something...

All of this.   When people pull out of houses and go and go and buy another house of the same era, I think the difference is often the quality of the surveyor and their written report, not the houses. 😬

snowcat75

iwb100 said:

Mickey666 said:

iwb100 said:

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

Spot on!

You wouldn't believe how many 'faults' there were with my 16th century house yet funnily enough it has been standing for over 450 years with 'sub-standard' foundations and no DPC (and no damp either) - and that's just for starters.

A big factor with these sorts of things is personal attitude.  If you're the sort of person who would worry about a slightly sloping floor or a wonky roof then a 'period property' is probably not for you.

If you can cope with such things then what you really need to know is how much will it cost to bring things up to scratch, factor that into your own financial position and take it into account when making your offer.  Don't worry what the vendor might think of a reduced offer, they don't really matter and you don't have to justify anything to them, only to yourself.

One of the issues with this forum is that the general advice is geared away from buying any house with any survey issue. Yet in reality apart from houses built in the last 20 years or so you are going to see issues...some will be serious and best avoided unless you know what you are doing...others will be manageable. Houses of this period will have issues, one assumes anyone who went to look knew that the survey would almost certainly throw stuff up, even if just potential advisories.

Everyone has a different risk level and of course different depths of pockets...but only very modern houses would ever be sold and bought if everyone pulled out after initial surveys raised the possibility of something...

I'm really skeptical about the usefulness of surveys, the "industry" of surveying private dwellings  has done very well  in promoting itself as a must have, somewhat like selling credit scores.

The truth is many surveys will be seriously flawed and subjective, and importantly be written to cover the !!!!!! of the surveyor. At best there a guide but people need to learn to make there own mind up, or dare I say a bit about the buildings and construction of what there planning to buy. 

Old property's need cash spent on them and to keep them requires a fair bit of maintenance so your either need to have deep enough pockets to do so or be a very confident DIYer or learn to be. Even with a perfect survey there would be a host of things that will be ongoing once you live there. 
Im selling an empty 30s bungalow at the moment (although im sick of the EA, the solicitor and the  buyer so the plug is near being pulled) The buyer had a "survey" done this week, surveyor turned up in spanking new BMW M3 and spent the first 5 minutes moaning how far out the place was, and how he was only doing a basic survey so it wouldn't take long......He was 45 minutes!!! there would be next to nothing that could properly be checked in that time..... has done zero to change my opinion on the whole job.  

NameUnavailable

snowcat75 said:

iwb100 said:

Mickey666 said:

iwb100 said:

Get someone who knows about Edwardian and Victorian period properties to have a look - I think there are surveyors who do this sort of thing. And get a roofer to have a look. Until you do that it’s anyone’s guess. And if you are buying a property like this expect there to be issues. What you need to find out is how serious the issues are, exactly what they are and how much they cost. You have none of this information here.

Spot on!

You wouldn't believe how many 'faults' there were with my 16th century house yet funnily enough it has been standing for over 450 years with 'sub-standard' foundations and no DPC (and no damp either) - and that's just for starters.

A big factor with these sorts of things is personal attitude.  If you're the sort of person who would worry about a slightly sloping floor or a wonky roof then a 'period property' is probably not for you.

If you can cope with such things then what you really need to know is how much will it cost to bring things up to scratch, factor that into your own financial position and take it into account when making your offer.  Don't worry what the vendor might think of a reduced offer, they don't really matter and you don't have to justify anything to them, only to yourself.

One of the issues with this forum is that the general advice is geared away from buying any house with any survey issue. Yet in reality apart from houses built in the last 20 years or so you are going to see issues...some will be serious and best avoided unless you know what you are doing...others will be manageable. Houses of this period will have issues, one assumes anyone who went to look knew that the survey would almost certainly throw stuff up, even if just potential advisories.

Everyone has a different risk level and of course different depths of pockets...but only very modern houses would ever be sold and bought if everyone pulled out after initial surveys raised the possibility of something...

I'm really skeptical about the usefulness of surveys, the "industry" of surveying private dwellings  has done very well  in promoting itself as a must have, somewhat like selling credit scores.

The truth is many surveys will be seriously flawed and subjective, and importantly be written to cover the !!!!!! of the surveyor. At best there a guide but people need to learn to make there own mind up, or dare I say a bit about the buildings and construction of what there planning to buy. 

Old property's need cash spent on them and to keep them requires a fair bit of maintenance so your either need to have deep enough pockets to do so or be a very confident DIYer or learn to be. Even with a perfect survey there would be a host of things that will be ongoing once you live there. 
Im selling an empty 30s bungalow at the moment (although im sick of the EA, the solicitor and the  buyer so the plug is near being pulled) The buyer had a "survey" done this week, surveyor turned up in spanking new BMW M3 and spent the first 5 minutes moaning how far out the place was, and how he was only doing a basic survey so it wouldn't take long......He was 45 minutes!!! there would be next to nothing that could properly be checked in that time..... has done zero to change my opinion on the whole job.  

I tend to agree but then again if one has no idea about property matters or what to look for then it is fairly important that they have advice on what is such an important purchase.

I'm thinking that it could be a better idea to get various trades in to check things like damp, electrics, any construction issues etc. rather than a standard survey. An awful lot of the survey reports are simple cut n paste jobs with the usual comments about checking the utilities, damp and timber, etc. in any case.

thearchitect

There are good surveyors and there are bad surveyors, just as there are in every other profession.  Consequently there are good surveys, and there are bad surveys.   To claim that they're all of very limited assistance is simply silly.  Moreover a good surveyor on a decent fee will usually be willing to talk through issues post-survey and provide a client with a steer on the priorities for action.

A simple example is a slate roof, especially in England and Wales where (for some reason) you think that sarking board isn't necessary.   Once a roof hits 100 years it's at the end of its life but depending on quality of fixings, how they are nailed, and how well it is maintained then you might get another thirty years.   The only way to tell is to get up on the roof and start turning/checking/lifting.  Anyone competent undertaking a survey, be they architect or surveyor, therefore flaggs this up as a risk.

Another problem is that lay people just don't really understand construction issues.  Felt flat roofs are a low quality product with a designed lifespan of just 10 to 15 years, yet I lose count of the time I have to explain this to people.  Cheap uPVC windows also have a limited lifespan but people seem to expect them to last 30 years, and so on.

Damp is one area, however, where I think surveyors are lazy - relying simply on a reference to "specialists".