House sale survey

AdrianC

youth_leader said:

I was widowed in 2016,  and ready to sell my listed building in 2018.  I knew the house needed renovation and decided to commission my own survey before I put my house on the market, so I could price it accurately. I went on the market in September 2019.  My buyer's surveyor was in the house for six and half hours and found far more '3's than mine had, the buyer convinced my EA the house was a 'great risk'.  My EA weren't listening to me when I put my own survey findings forward, and the buyer continued to chip at the price.  The negotiation was manipulative and ugly,  I withdrew from the sale and the EA and went to auction - where unfortunately this person offered the highest bid.  I'd had enough, and settled, I just had to move on.

The difference, of course, is that the buyers would have had no comeback against your surveyor if they'd missed something.

If you were buying, and your survey said "This has these problems", would YOU believe the vendor saying "No, no, it's fine, look, here's a survey from my mate..."

youth_leader

True AdrianC.  In hindsight it was positive I paid for and received the buyer's damp/timber survey as I could prove that the 'beetles', which my EA mentioned far too many times, were dead.  

barbiedoll

Did anyone actually say the house is "structurally unsound", or "massively unsafe"? Needing a new roof or a rewire doesn't make a house unsafe, unless the survey has thrown up issues like an unsupported roof, or exposed wires etc, etc. 

To be honest, it sounds like the buyers were hoping to scare an old lady into giving them a massive discount, just before exchange. Did they offer full asking price? 

FreeBear

babyblade41 said: Any house will not meet the electricity standards unless it was built in the last month 

Chimney pointing is an afternoons work with a man and a ladder (yes I do understand H & S) 
Maybe a tile has slipped on the roof, get the man with the ladder to have a look and replace as necessary

If the property hasn't been rewired in the last ~50 years, then it certainly won't be up to current standard. There probably won't be enough sockets in each room for "modern" living. Doesn't mean the place needs an urgent rewire though.

Old roofs & chimney stacks need a little bit of regular maintenance, even more so if lime mortar was used in the construction - Most chimneys could do with a little bit of repointing, but it doesn't mean that they are at risk of imminent collapse without it. Same for the roof. As long as it doesn't leak and the timbers are in good condition, there is no reason to strip it off & replace.

My roof is nearly 100 years old. No felt underneath the tiles (just reed & lime torching). Whilst it could do with stripping, it should be good for at least another 20 years as long as any slipped tiles are replaced promptly.

Sounds like the prospective buyer may have been an FTB - They can get very twitchy over the slightest of issues and are easily scared off. 45 minutes to do a survey isn't really long enough to go digging in to things and uncovering any real problem, so the report is going to be full of bottom covering statements - Bet the surveyor found loads of damp & recommended a damp & timber survey to boot...

stuart45

2 of the skills required for writing out a survey report are;1 covering for any possible litigation and; 2 padding it out with plenty of technical jargon so the client thinks they are getting some value for their large amount of cash.

Jaybee_16

The survey on the property I'm in now said it needs attention to the roof.  A couple of paragraphs later the report then went on to say the condition is appropriate for the age of the property but the roof will probably need renewing within the next 20 years. 
Now I could have interpreted that as a new roof is needed or as I have that by the time the roof needs replacing I'll likely be in a pine box so not bothered.
It's interpretation of what's written.

stuart45

That's the problem with some surveys, they can be tricky to interpret properly. I've read quite a few over the years when people require work done. Certain types of repairs seem to become more popular. Repointing in the 80's seems to be called for on a lot of properties, but when I looked at the brickwork I couldn't see any real problems. 
Getting wall ties checked by a specialist is often on the report, especially in coastal areas.

Thrugelmir

stuart45 said:

 Repointing in the 80's seems to be called for on a lot of properties, but when I looked at the brickwork I couldn't see any real problems. 

A significant amount of the UK's housing stock is around a 100 years old now.  Budgeting for some unexpected maintenance work makes life far easier. 

stuart45

Thrugelmir said:

stuart45 said:

 Repointing in the 80's seems to be called for on a lot of properties, but when I looked at the brickwork I couldn't see any real problems. 

A significant amount of the UK's housing stock is around a 100 years old now.  Budgeting for some unexpected maintenance work makes life far easier. 

A lot of them were on properties of 20 years old or less. Nowadays surveyors seems to understand a bit more about whether a wall needs repointing or not. A wall that needs a Hilti gun to hammer out the joints is not in need of a repoint.

Karenhoward23

barbiedoll said:

Did anyone actually say the house is "structurally unsound", or "massively unsafe"? Needing a new roof or a rewire doesn't make a house unsafe, unless the survey has thrown up issues like an unsupported roof, or exposed wires etc, etc. 

To be honest, it sounds like the buyers were hoping to scare an old lady into giving them a massive discount, just before exchange. Did they offer full asking price? 

The house was on for “offers over” and they offered £5k over on day 1 of it going on sale. A week later they pulled out. She accepted another offer but unfortunately the buyers chain fell through. The original couple that offered then came back and offered £15k under which was rejected and finally she agreed to sell to them £5k under. It was all well on its way going through when they pulled out before contracts exchanged. 

They told our estate agent the house was structurally unsafe and they challenged him for the detail. They also asked if they could see the report which he refused unless we wanted to buy it off him. He did confirm the back page said the house was valued correctly which indicated to me it couldn’t have had major issues like he was suggesting. He wanted to put 2 extensions on so reading between the lines he would have to rewire the house and no doubt replace the roof as part of that so I think he was trying to scare her.
estste agent said not to do our own survey their is nothing structurally wrong and he’s a game player 

It’s very sad someone feels the need to scare an elderly person for financial gain