Building survey report - feedback requested

jimjam83

Hi - FTB here. We are in the process of buying a Victorian terrace and, given the age of the property, we instructed a full building survey. 
I would really appreciate some feedback from some of you more experienced folk. Are them items that we should insist on being addressed before we exchange?! I'm surprised with the amount of stuff that's been left behind, this is one think I'll be requesting to be looked after. 

davidmcn

Loved the suggestion that you should erect a warning sign on the stairs about the headroom. I find that you remember to duck after around the second time you've bashed your head.

Otherwise it looks fine. Nothing there is remotely urgent or significant.

jimjam83

davidmcn said:

Loved the suggestion that you should erect a warning sign on the stairs about the headroom. I find that you remember to duck after around the second time you've bashed your head.

Otherwise it looks fine. Nothing there is remotely urgent or significant.

I did laugh out loud at this

Thank you for your feedback!

[Deleted User]

Our report was done by the same company I think looking at it and ours was very very similar. Every time there was a 'need to erect a head height' warning sign, or a bannister, there was a £500 cost put on it! It's an old beamed cottage and tiny cottage stairs so we felt these bits were obvious and not really what we were looking for lol. But in all seriousness there would be nothing to concern me out of that survey.

jimjam83

Thanks both. Glad to see there’s nothing major that would prevent us from proceeding. But would you insist on any repair work being done before exchange?

davidmcn

jimjam83 said:

But would you insist on any repair work being done before exchange?

Why? There's no principle that the vendor is meant to fix everything (or anything) that's wrong with the property. And if there is anything significant needing done, you probably don't want to trust the vendor to get it done. Treat the survey as a "to do" list for future maintenance. Most of it seems to be the bleeding obvious anyway.

[Deleted User]

No not at all @jimjam83 absolutely not. Sometimes if there is something really significant you may renegotiate but that is not the case here. Plus older properties will absolutely take a certain degree of time and financial maintenance. I understand you're a ftb so may be nervous but you will not find a 'perfect' property to move in to, even new builds. It's never the case that a vendor will undertake all minor areas of work before you move in to the property. You have a survey to make sure there's nothing huge or unforeseen and also to make a plan for maintenance / improvement work over the next few years. These surveys really help to prioritise that work.

TheProfessional

We bought a 130 year old Victorian terrace mand the survey flagged all sorts up. We bought and got tradesmen in to look at the specific problems and in the end not much needed doing at all.

The survey said re-roof and reflashing around chimney and when a trusted roofer went up he said bar a loose slate it looked in good condition. 6 years later and still seems fine