roof issue on survey

tompage1234

Hello, I was wondering if anyone can help me with something that has come up on our private survey.
We are in the process of buying a 1930s semi and had a couple of red flags pop up on roof coverings.
1- No felt under the roof tiles.
2- Dislodging roof tiles.
Would this mean that I will need a new roof? If so, is this something I can say we need the vendors to drop the price of the property? 
I am quite new to this so a bit ignorant to what to do about it? pull out the sale? or ask for a price drop.

Kind regards 
Tom

davidmcn

I wouldn't expect a pristine roof if I was buying a 1930s house. If you need more info about the survey, why not phone your surveyor and have a chat? 

daveyjp

Any sign of other similar properties in the street having new roofs?  That's usually a good sign of whether yours will need doing.  It is aproaching 100 years old.

No felt is standard for the period, you should be able to see damaged tiles, use binoculars for a better look.

If they have just slipped its a quick job to put them back, if they are splitting replacement many be needed in a few years, but if nothing immediate a price drop may not be entertained.

Grabs39

Our old house was 1930s.  It had no lining, a few tiles cracked and twice in the time we lived there a tile slipped and it needed putting back.  Our surveyor told us we needed a new roof.  In the time we lived there we spent £120 (£60 each time for a bloke with a ladder to come and put back the slipped tile).  When we moved 5 years later the buyer never mentioned the roof (though I'm sure their surveyor picked up on it).

As @daveyjp says look at the other houses in the street.

We kept an eye on it but it never leaked.  When buying a '30s house we were well aware that it was not going to be pristine, and it we made our offer accordingly; when things came up in the survey they were fairly expected.

thearchitect

Sarking felt is included to protect against wind-blown rain/snow, and to provide a second layer of protection in the event of a damaged or missing slate/tile.  It is a secondary, rather than primary, line of defence.  Much therefore depends on your attitude to risk.  For what it is worth, my own roof (1880) does not have felt and I do not lose any sleep over it.  When I eventually have to reroof, I will incorporate a breathable underlay at that point.

padlilly115

We are in the exact same situation - 1930s semi-detached, survey came back red on the roof as no felting and a few loose tiles. We already knew about the tiles from our visit and had factored that into our initial offer, and intend to fix that as soon as we can.  However, on the felting, the house never had it in the first place and is seems very common for this age, so we don't think its something we should try and negotiate over (and to be honest, we have got this house for a great price already so don't want to rock the boat!).  Speaking to some local roofers, it seems to be a bonus rather than necessity.  We are trying to get some quotes to see if we want to just redo the roof before we move in (we are currently renting and expect to have a month overlap with renting and owning the house where we want to do decorations/repairs etc), but if its more than we can afford at the moment we will just fix the tiles and monitor.

tompage1234

i understand your points, however there has been a dormer attached later down the line, will that make a difference

tompage1234

Also, I would say, that even though its a 1930s house, when spending 450K+ on something you would expect it not to throw up level 3 faults on a survey by qualified surveyors.

ssparks2003

Some surveyors seem to have a "thing" about old roofs. Our last house was a 350 year old farm house, we got a survey that highlighted that the roof needed replacing immediately, ok not a problem as it was a project house, we lived there 9 years, sold it on and the new owners have lived there for the last 5 years, still with the same roof and no work done on it. I assume that immediately really means in the next 15-20 years maybe. Roofs on the whole do not just fail, they become uneconomical to repair 

tompage1234

Its a big gamble i would say. I think I am going to have a specialist look at the roof and see what he says about it.

greatcrested

If I was the seller, and assuming the roof does not leak and I've never had any problems with it, then if a buyer said "I want to reduce my offer by... £2K (whatever) because a new roof and new felt is needed" I'd

a) say no, and

b) consider you a potentially troublesome FTB likely to raise further irrelevant issues so

c) consider going back onto the market