Survey help please...renegotiate or walk away?

AvaloniaF

Just had the Homebuyers report back on a Victorian terrace I'm in the process of buying.
To put things into context, I am recently separated and living temporarily with a friend and have money in the bank from the recent sale of the marital home. I am struggling to afford anything in the area that I can also squeeze my 3 children into and this is the only house that has come close in months of watching the market.

There were many items with the red traffic light, some quite minor, but some quite scary. The scarier ones were....

- needs a new roof ( has the original roof from 1884, some sunlight can be seen and the timbers inside are showing some high damp readings)

- the clay drainage pipes underground but viewed through the inspection chamber are cracked.

- The outhouse has obvious asbestos and the advice from the surveyor was not to use it at all ( it has a tiny garden and this is the only ace for bikes etc.. to go)

- Lead pipework supplying water to the house

- Unable to access cold water tank for inspection....could well be surrounded by asbestos

- Possible rising damp and possible woodworm, requiring furthur report by experts

It all seems so overwhelming. The obvious thing to do is to walk away as it seems so much to take on by myself, but there is no plan B other than staying in unsuitable temporary accommadation and hope something comes up. If I do this I will miss the stamp duty offer and miss out of my very good mortgage offer that I am porting from my old house.

Will someone with more house- buying experience tell me what to do next please

moneysavinghero

Would you be able to afford to get any of the work done? If not walk away.

Don't get fixated on saving a few thousand with the Stamp Duty holiday. If you end up with a house that you cant afford to repair then you have not really saved anything (and the price paid will have risen to reflect the SD saving anyway).

princeofpounds

Don't let the stamp duty offer determine your timescale. It's like the tail wagging the dog. A few k is neither here nor there compared to making the right decision, believe me. 

Nor have mortgage deals utterly changed in the last few months - they got a touch more expensive very recently perhaps, but bear in mind that was off historically ultra-low rates last spring/summer. In terms of monthly payment it is not a huge deal.

The problems you highlight with the property are serious; this is more than the normal back-covering you see in many surveys. Many of these issues are entirely fixable, but we are talking four and five-figure sums. No doubt that is why the property appears cheap.

Roofs can last for a long time, but if you can see daylight and there is proper damp in the timbers (not just beneath any specific leaks) that's when re-roofing is likely due. You will not want to put this off, at the very least getting the tiling fixed, as it will degrade every day it is exposed.

Cracked drainage pipes are often a minor problem, but can develop into major ones, particularly if the cracks are anywhere near the house itself. It's a common cause of localised subsidence in buildings, as the supporting soil is eroded. You will not want to wait to fix that, and you'll probably find if some of the clay pipes are near end-of-life that there are other problems in the network too.

Lead pipework - not something I'd be keen on with children.

Asbestos - not ideal. It's not dangerous if left intact, so doesn't need to be fixed right away but I'd be wary about using an old asbestos shed where it may be weathered and scuffed. I would also be very suspicious if the cold water tank could not be accessed or inspected - any indication why?

Woodworm - sounds scarier than it usually is. If active and/or the timbers are damp, it can be a problem. If inactive and the timbers are dry, it's not really a problem at all. Many old houses have some woodworm holes in their timber.

Rising damp - it's a topic of ongoing discussion on the board. It's often diagnosed when it doesn't really exist - damp meter readings usually work fine on bare wood but are highly unreliable on any other material (it's a matter of calibration). Often what is called rising damp is something else, especially-so if the property has a damp-proof course (1880s... may or may not do, that's around when they started to become mainstream).

Personally I'd leave this property as a potential money-pit. 

Perhaps we can suggest how to tackle your issues - what kind of house do you need? how old are the kids and are they boys/girls? what area are you looking in? what compromises can you make? what's your budget? (Don't feel you have to answer any personal questions, but if it's not too private then posters often have good ideas about places to look and properties to look at).

AdrianC

The fact that this is the cheapest house of its size in months should have been a warning, shouldn't it...?

The house is 135 years old. Plenty of time for things to go wrong, or for things to be bodged by previous owners, or simply for the ways of doing things to have changed...

Roof - yes, probably does need work if you can see daylight and timbers are wet.

Cracked drains - yes, need doing. Plenty of disturbance.

Outhouse - just asbestos cement sheet? If so, that's not scary as long as you don't chew it.

Lead water pipes - not an issue. They're almost certainly well coated internally, and not leaching lead.

Cold tank - is it still in use? Never drink water from a tank anyway.

"Rising damp"... - Very unlikely. Penetrating damp from outside, yes. Via the roof, perhaps...?

Woodworm - possible, not likely these days, as they don't like the warmth we humans are now used to, and central heating dries timbers too much... So long as the timbers aren't cold and wet from a leaking roof...

So the question is how much that work will cost, relative to the costs of SDLT and mortgage timings.

lookstraightahead

You sound as if you really don't need all these things going wrong. Can't you rent for a while?

Mickey666

Sounds like a house for a keen DIYer or someone with deep pockets.

NameUnavailable

I would get a roofer to give you a better idea of what's required and the costs involved (repair and replacement) and look into the drainage pipe issues. Then try to negotiate a reduction to take some of the costs into account.

The asbestos shed is probably OK unless you want to have it removed, then it will need to be done by a specialist firm.

The vendors will have the same issues with another buyer. Just as long as you can afford the mortgage and keep money aside for the remedial works.

Mickey666

NameUnavailable said:

The asbestos shed is probably OK unless you want to have it removed, then it will need to be done by a specialist firm. 

Not necessarily.  Asbestos cement materials such as cladding and roofing sheets are not licenced materials and can be removed by anyone, double-bagged and disposed of in many council waste site at no cost.  Due care and attention is required, but no licence.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/cement.htm

Crashy_Time

Run away...fast.

Davesnave

If you're struggling to find something appropriate in the area, maybe the area is the thing that needs to change, but we don't know where you are or what alternatives would be workable for you.

While my county has some of the highest house prices in the country, my part of it  has much more affordable properties thanks to the relative inconvenience of being far from major centres. It's place with good schools and a low crime rate, so things which many people hold as important don't need to be sacrificed to live here, whatever the 'deprivation index' says.

AlexMac

Of all the concerns, only one is immediate and critical, so this is still a viable purchase as you obviously like the period house?

1. "needs a new roof... original from 1884...sunlight can be seen,,,timbers damp..." 
That really is essential to replace, but will only cost several grand, so ideally get a roofer to estimate (even guesstimate) and knock some of that cost off the offer price inless it's been factored in to the asking price.  We sold a Victorian house with a leaky roof once and did just that rather than replace it ourselves.  As long as the house is watertight you can tackle everything else in your own time.

All the other stuff is typical of a house that age;
-- "the clay drainage pipes underground but viewed through the inspection chamber are cracked". 
OK, but unless they are leaking to the point that there is obvious consequent subsidence, they probably still work, in that the waste is draining away?  And if the underground pipes are shared with other houses locally, as is often the case in Victorian terraces, it will be the water board's problem.

- "The outhouse has obvious asbestos and the advice from the surveyor was not to use it at all " 
Some asbestos is dangerous, especially if flaking, or if you choose to drill into it or sand it.  Other asbestos - especially in roofing - is safe if stable.  Google it    Eventually get it removed.  When you can afford it

-"Lead pipework supplying water to the house" 
De nada. Our purchaser (of the dodgy roofed Victorian house) tried this on as a negotiation issue when we sold.  I asked THames Water, the local Board.  They said that although lead pipes were traditional and common in Victorian supply, they will by now be so limescaled up  after 100 plus years (especially in a hard water area) that there is absolutely zero chance of lead leaching into the drinking water.  Pointless, pseudo-gobbledegook 4r3e covering by the surveyor

- "Unable to access cold water tank for inspection....could well be surrounded by asbestos"  Really? More pointless speculative 4r3e covering by the surveyor,  COULD equally well be home to a family of piranhas.  There might not even be a cold water tank if you have a modern Combi boiler (or there won't be a need for one if the ancient tank-fed boiler packs up and you replace it as I've had to do at a cost orf £1.3k - 3£k in every house I've ever owned within a few years of purchase.  You may be luckier.  I assume you'll ask when the boiler was installed ? Or get your solicitor to.  I've usually been asked for the installation certificate when selling.

- "Possible rising damp and possible woodworm, requiring furthur report by experts".  Really? Does it look or smell damp?  Is there mould or discolouration? Especially in the corners of ground floor or semibasement rroms? If there's damp in the roof timbers, so what?;  you're going to replace the roof covering, and assuming you appoint a half-competent builder, they will ensure the roof timbers are sound and you can ask their opinion of the other timbers in the house,  More pointless speculative 4r3e covering by the surveyor.  Every Victorian house is likely to have a bit of damp.  Heating and ventilation usually solves it.  Read all the many previous similar responses on this forum, avoid timber and damp salesmen who will recommend injection and replastering or spraying with noxious chemicals and read the advice from SPAD (google it)

"It all seems so overwhelming".
Yeah, it seems that way at 1st.  It won't be though. My first house was a Victorian wreck, needing a new roof and lots of tlc.  I got professionals in for the roof, plumbing, boiler and c/h but we earned how to do everything else - lifting, relaying and sanding and varnishing floors (this was the 1970s!), fitting kitchen units, pulling down old lath and plaster ceilings, re-boarding these prior to a plasterer coming in to skim em  and decorating throughout.  And I was a useless white collar worker before  turning my hand to such stuff;  and we didn't even have the interweb r u-tube to tell us how! 

Go for it; you'll be underwhelmed in the end

Miles better than an overpriced new build or a flat with silly service charges and no control