Homebuyers report - condition rating 2 - should I be worried?

justaftermarch

Hi All. My first post on here, I've been having a search for the answer but I can't find anything reasonably helpful so hoping someone more experienced may be able to help. I've just had my homebuyers report back and it has highlighted a significant amount of condition rating 2 problems and one condition 3 rating problem (internal joinery on the internal doors as there is glass in them). I know that there's no specifics as to what the condition rating 2 issues are (happy to list them if necessary but there's quite a few) but my questions are:

1) what does condition rating 2 actually mean in real life, I appreciate there is a definition in the report but could someone dumb it down between a 'must fix' issue or a 'can probably get away with ignoring' issue

2) links in with the first, and again I know there's no specific details but would condition 2 ratings be worth pulling out over/negotiating the price - it's a 1930s build so I would imagine it being sold as seen includes general age/wear and tear issues? Bear in mind the vendor is leaving the country so he is not really in a position to get anything fixed himself.

Context: 

3 bed, 1 bathroom, 1 toilet. Built in 1936.A Asking price - OIEO £180,000. Offered and accepted at £180,000. 30% deposit, desktop valuation. Vendor (or EA) is reluctant to drop the price further (I had implied I may be negotiating on the price as when I received the call from the surveyor he indicated that the roof was in a terrible condition and had me panicking a bit) however he is leaving the country permanently today and wants to complete ASAP so I doubt he'd want me pulling out entirely. I am a FTB, currently live at home and pay rent to parents. Plan is to use this property as a first step onto the housing ladder and I don't expect to be there any more than 5 years.

TIA

Elliott.T123

Really we do need more information to be able to give a proper answer. You also need to factor in is this property already priced to factor in needing some work?

If all the issues are on things as small as internal joinery on the internal doors then personally I would say you have no issues. The doors haven't fallen apart so far and if they do the get a new door for £30 and problem solved.

Also as a generalisation Condition 2's wont need any immediate work and could potentially last many years without work, especially if the house gets looked after generally. You are buying an older house not a new build so there are always going to be areas that aren't in the condition they were when they were built (although listening to some of the horror stories on here probably still better than a lot of new builds!).

Some of the major red flags for me would be subsidence, damp, bodged wiring (genuinely dangerous not just old) and a roof that genuinely needed replacing (not just one a surveyor claims might do at some point maybe)

If you do still have reservations why don't you list the issues and some of the people on here who have experience will be able to reassure you more I am sure.

MaryNB

My report had loads of 3s... I would have been happy with mostly 2s. Mine is a 1900 victorian terrace house, been through many owners. Despite the number of issues, the surveyor said they were expected for a house of this age and type and gave a valuation that matched my asking price. 

Condition rating of 2 just means repair is required but the issue is not urgent or serious. I definitely wouldn't pull out over a condition 2 rating.

Most of the 2s on my report were pretty much along the lines of -  no obvious immediate issue but requires further monitoring. The windows got a 2 because some of the seals had gone and there was condensation between the panes. Not something I'm going to get sorted anytime soon, plenty of other issues to sort. 

If your 1930s house didn't have many 2s or 3s I'd be worrying that the surveyor didn't go to the right house. 

AdrianC

Condition 1 is basically whoop-de-doo. Straight out the box. Bob-on perfect.

Who would expect a 90yo house to be that?

Glazing in doors has to be toughened safety glass... when it's installed now. It didn't used to have to be. So long as your children aren't throwing each other through the glazing, it should be perfectly safe.

justaftermarch

Thanks for your replies so far, here is the summary page from the report.

Two houses are selling at the same time as mine, both in far superior condition to the one I am buying. One has a smaller kitchen, but a conservatory and was listed for OIEO £190,000 and one has a utility room and no downstairs toilet, listed for OIRO £185,000.

ele_91

Looks fine to me. Seems as though you could benefit from getting the gutters cleared (cheap, most window cleaners will do it) and maybe a bit of repointing which is also cheap. The rest is general wear and tear. Remember you are buying a 90 year old house not a new build! There is nothing there I would negotiate on if I was the vendor. 

As an aside this is why people don’t like selling to FTBs!

RelievedSheff

Sounds like a good survey for the age of the property. Nothing to be concerned about really.

Sounds like the gutters need cleaning out and a few repairs to the roof. As to be expected for a 90 year old house.

ele_91

I would think the rest - sealant, decorating, insulating the loft, fixing floorboards could be done in a weekend by a fairly competent DIY-er. You might pay an electrician to look at the wiring or the alarm but surveyors generally aren’t qualified to really comment on these areas and it wouldn’t be worrying me. 

justaftermarch

Thanks all, really appreciate the replies you've put my mind at rest! I was fairly happy with the report, it didn't read like there was anything major that needed doing/nothing I didn't see when I viewed the property, however I thought there would be no harm in double checking - it's a fairly large purchase after all. Plus as I said the surveyor scared me a little when he started saying the roof needs doing which will cost ~£3k so when the roof came back as a 2 rating I thought maybe the 2s indicate something worse.

esmy

AdrianC said:

Condition 1 is basically whoop-de-doo. Straight out the box. Bob-on perfect.

Who would expect a 90yo house to be that?

Glazing in doors has to be toughened safety glass... when it's installed now. It didn't used to have to be. So long as your children aren't throwing each other through the glazing, it should be perfectly safe.

One of mine did exactly that and had to be stitched up under general anaesthetic. It was the only thing in our survey we wished we had done something about. Many other things are still on the 'to do' list 20 years on.... 

AdrianC

esmy said:

AdrianC said:

Condition 1 is basically whoop-de-doo. Straight out the box. Bob-on perfect.

Who would expect a 90yo house to be that?

Glazing in doors has to be toughened safety glass... when it's installed now. It didn't used to have to be. So long as your children aren't throwing each other through the glazing, it should be perfectly safe.

One of mine did exactly that and had to be stitched up under general anaesthetic. It was the only thing in our survey we wished we had done something about. Many other things are still on the 'to do' list 20 years on.... 

When I was a tiny kid in the 70s, I kicked my parents fully-glazed back door in because I wanted to go in the house for a pee...

Amazing that I didn't get injured, really.

'course, now, everybody would be horrified at the security implications of a fully-glazed external door!