Surveyor has come back with some items related to roof and foundation, what to do next?

Irishpearce26

okhajut said:

Now who exactly do I contact to get more clarity on the issues with the roof tiles, fascia board, felt under the tiles? I mean what are they called and how can I get hold of someone reliable?

Google roof specialists in your area would be a good starting point.

okhajut

Thanks. Should I expect them to charge for the visit? How much?

Also, what is this specialist drainage contractor? Is there another name for this and how much do they usually charge?

Irishpearce26

okhajut said:

Thanks. Should I expect them to charge for the visit? How much?

Also, what is this specialist drainage contractor? Is there another name for this and how much do they usually charge?

You'll need to get some quotes from them and determine via the contractor if they charge a fee to carry out a quote. Impossible for any of us to give an idea of how much.

jimbog

go onto the local Facebook page and search the ones recommended by others in the past

okhajut

Does the roof specialist and the drainage contractor need to be part of some special organization for their work to be acceptable for the mortgage purpose? e.g Google search shows that there is something called NADC (National Association of Drainage Contractors). How important are such things when getting people to do specific surveys?

I know that the primary surveyor needs to be a member of RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors). However, I am not sure how important something of this nature is for people like the roof specialist e.t.c.

Sistergold

okhajut said:

Is it reasonable to request the seller to make those checks on the roof and the ground near the drains rather than hire my own roofer and drains specialist?

If seller does the check you might not get the true state of things? You need to do your own due diligence so as to satisfy yourself 

E_D_FTB

Sistergold said:

okhajut said:

Is it reasonable to request the seller to make those checks on the roof and the ground near the drains rather than hire my own roofer and drains specialist?

If seller does the check you might not get the true state of things? You need to do your own due diligence so as to satisfy yourself 

I was going to say something similar - you want to be the one directly communicating with the contractor to get the full information. There's a risk that your seller could hire someone and misrepresent what they say to avoid price negotiations/pre-sale repairs. Also, once an issue has been identified and the seller is aware, I believe they have to disclose it to future buyers even if your sale falls through, so it's not really in their interest to investigate anything that comes out of the survey.

okhajut

So eventually I called in a structural engineer. He wrote a report stating that there is no subsidence. He did mention a few things about the masonry but I am aware of them already.

The roof specialist said that the roof of the extension needs to be fixed, sooner rather than later. It will cost 2000£ to do the repair work.

 

The drain survey has not at all made sense to me as they made a £3000 quote. I believe they want to do some very radical work. The structural engineer said that the fixes should require no more than £500. The fixes are not urgent.

There were two damp surveys done. One by me and another by the current seller shortly before mine (that I came to know of later). The seller's damp specialist said that atleast 2,500£ be set aside for the repair work. The report that I got from a different specialist, said that it will cost around 10,000£.

Now I am getting close to exchange of contract. I did ask the seller to reduce the asking price but he said that the asking price is already reduced to take into consideration any repair work that could be require on this 100 year old house. Any further reduction is out of question. We decided to go ahead and buy the house at the already agreed price. I am exhausted from house search and chasing all the people involved in surveys and house buying, I just want this to end now.

FreeBear

okhajut said: There were two damp surveys done. One by me and another by the current seller shortly before mine (that I came to know of later). The seller's damp specialist said that atleast 2,500£ be set aside for the repair work. The report that I got from a different specialist, said that it will cost around 10,000£.

In the vast majority of cases where there is damp, fixing the root cause is relatively inexpensive. Reducing external ground levels, fixing leaking pipes, gutters, downpipes, and drains - These are the likely suspects. Only the last on the list (underground drain) has the potential to cost real money.

Your £10K quote is probably for chemical injection (DPC), and slapping waterproof render/plaster on the walls to a height of 1.2m. Whilst this will mask the problem for a few years, the damp will reappear unless the root cause is dealt with. But if you fix the problem at source, there is no need for the chemical injections or waterproof plaster/render. The £2.5K quote is probably for the same type of work, but only on a smaller area.

[Deleted User]

I’m buying a property at the moment where I’ve had a survey done. 

Firstly I think it’s worth understanding what it’s been valued at in relation to what you’re purchasing it out. In my case, it was valued at exactly the price we agreed for the sale, so with all of the faults reported, it’s worth that price and so I didn’t approach to seller regarding any of the report content because their house was worth what we were paying in it’s current state. 

In order to know what it would cost to fix, and whether we wanted to proceed, I got my own builder to go and view the property and review the report to help us understand the cost involved. 

So in short, if you’re paying over the odds for it, you could approach the seller to consider some of the damage in the sale price, or request they correct some of the damage based on your sale. If it’s worth what you’re paying, then personally as a seller I would expect my buyer to deal with it.