Structural survey done - issues - what next??

youth_leader

That's shocking! 

As your surveyor said £8K for the roof I'd spend the time waiting for the report to find a roofer, I'm in the NE are still working on storm damage, it might take a while.  They might charge you for the quote.

As a seller I was anxious to see what my buyer's surveyor had found.  You could phone the EA to say you are waiting for the report but have had verbal feedback, and when you have sight of it, you might want to have trades to visit to give you quotes. 

It is the most expensive purchase of your life and worth the further investigation.  Someone on Mumsnet posted something like 'what surprises did you have when you moved into your new house' - some of the stories are dreadful, have a look at the Property forum.

felinefancy

youth_leader said:

That's shocking! 

As your surveyor said £8K for the roof I'd spend the time waiting for the report to find a roofer, I'm in the NE are still working on storm damage, it might take a while.  They might charge you for the quote.

As a seller I was anxious to see what my buyer's surveyor had found.  You could phone the EA to say you are waiting for the report but have had verbal feedback, and when you have sight of it, you might want to have trades to visit to give you quotes. 

It is the most expensive purchase of your life and worth the further investigation.  Someone on Mumsnet posted something like 'what surprises did you have when you moved into your new house' - some of the stories are dreadful, have a look at the Property forum.

Almost, just almost, makes me want to stay renting for the rest of my life if it wasn't such a waste of money!!   Have just emailed EA to ask about trades.. just so we are prepared and can get a couple lined up.  Thank you.

felinefancy

Hello again,

So we've had the survey report back.  Just referring to the estimates for additional surveys and work to be carried out comes to about £20k, not including any work for the damp, quoted at £500 per linear metre.  So I think we have no choice but to pull-out regretfully as any work required is likely to be quite invasive, such as pulling off plaster to inspect walls, floorboards, pulling out kitchen units and replacing them - all due to the damp; and then there's the roof - on inspection there is no roof covering underneath the tiles!  We simply don't have the resources available to take on such a project, and even if seller reduced the price, I'm not sure we want to be burdened with all of these problems to have to fix before exchanged.  We were aware of the damp when we made an offer but the survey revealed it's not just a simple case of having a damp proof course.

Everyone agree?

babyblade41

Damp is solvable , you have to find where the ingress of water is coming from , a lot of the times it is quite a cheap fix.

We pulled down ceilings and re-plastered ... a bit messy yes but we paid 300.00 per room that was wall & ceiling .. a couple of days of mess but not too horrendous 

Depends on the price of the property then that wouldn't put me off and once the damp has been sorted the rest can be done over time especially as warmer weather  is on the way and house can be aired 

ETA not understanding it needs fixing before exchange ... it's something you will do over time after completion 

TheJP

felinefancy said:

Hello again,

So we've had the survey report back.  Just referring to the estimates for additional surveys and work to be carried out comes to about £20k, not including any work for the damp, quoted at £500 per linear metre.  So I think we have no choice but to pull-out regretfully as any work required is likely to be quite invasive, such as pulling off plaster to inspect walls, floorboards, pulling out kitchen units and replacing them - all due to the damp; and then there's the roof - on inspection there is no roof covering underneath the tiles!  We simply don't have the resources available to take on such a project, and even if seller reduced the price, I'm not sure we want to be burdened with all of these problems to have to fix before exchanged.  We were aware of the damp when we made an offer but the survey revealed it's not just a simple case of having a damp proof course.

Everyone agree?

That £20k is an estimate not a realistic quote, 9/10 on this forum the surveyors estimate is 30-50% higher than the actual cost. Have a trade look at the work and cost it for you.

felinefancy

TheJP said:

felinefancy said:

Hello again,

So we've had the survey report back.  Just referring to the estimates for additional surveys and work to be carried out comes to about £20k, not including any work for the damp, quoted at £500 per linear metre.  So I think we have no choice but to pull-out regretfully as any work required is likely to be quite invasive, such as pulling off plaster to inspect walls, floorboards, pulling out kitchen units and replacing them - all due to the damp; and then there's the roof - on inspection there is no roof covering underneath the tiles!  We simply don't have the resources available to take on such a project, and even if seller reduced the price, I'm not sure we want to be burdened with all of these problems to have to fix before exchanged.  We were aware of the damp when we made an offer but the survey revealed it's not just a simple case of having a damp proof course.

Everyone agree?

That £20k is an estimate not a realistic quote, 9/10 on this forum the surveyors estimate is 30-50% higher than the actual cost. Have a trade look at the work and cost it for you.

So should we go back to EA with breakdown and ask to have at least a damp and roof survey done before closing the door on this?  As mentioned, I've simply got no experience with this and don't know who to ask for guidance or what steps to take, and I don't want to suffer expensive mistakes.  My husband is not from UK and has no clue, my father too old and so I'm left to deal with all of this by myself and frankly, it's slightly worrying me as I'm having to deal with everything and no clue.  (Straight forward newer house buying no problem but I've never bought an old house before.)  

felinefancy

Would anyone be willing to look at the report and guide me as to next steps and how to proceed?  A big ask, I know.. and thank you in advance.  

babyblade41

I'm not sure anyone can realistically help you tbh,  You could highlight some areas that concern you which  could be useful to you 

Try and list the problems the surveyor found that you are most worried with exact wording .

Surveyors can use "may" "could do with"  with so many variables and can look very scary 

felinefancy

It's a 1900 terraced house and I don't think much has been maintained over the years.

We offered £118k for the property, and surveyor estimates work at £20k, excluding additional surveys - one of which would be a damp survey and any works required. 

Immediate and main costs:-
Roof to be recovered, £8k (it doesn't have any lining inside the roof - tiles on roof joists only)
New kitchen units, £5k as these will have to be pulled out to deal with damp
Repointing £2.5k
Party fire wall in roof £1k
Ground floor has 100% damp readings in living room, lounge and 41% in kitchen.  Floors were unable to be investigated.  Report recommended:  Damp treatment and tanking to ground floor perimeter walls as described within survey. You should allow approximately £500/ lm of wall for this work. Estimate should be obtained and a separate damp report obtained prior to purchase - this is difficult to estimate - but if £500 per lm - to sort out the damp in one room only, possibly £7k or more?!
New bathroom £3k - we had planned for this anyway
New locks
Additional investigations/surveys for gas/electric/water systems

I've looked again at the report and the main issue is the damp to the walls and possibly floors.  The roof is not a problem per se like damp, but if tiles come off for any reason then obviously water will come into the roof space.  Everything else is pretty much, yes, it needs to be dealt with but sort it out when you can, like a new corrugated roof to the outhouse, a new flat roof covering to the porch, chimney sweeping, installing a kitchen door etc.

My husband wants to pull-out immediately being concerned about other problems a damp investigation might find and doesn't want to lose any more money on another survey if we then decide not to proceed.  I'm either more positive and prepared to review further or I'm just being totally unrealistic.  We have limited resources to carry out the above ourselves so would have to ask vendor to negotiate on price.   

Advice please?  Thank you!

Slithery

Damp meters aren't designed for properties, they only give accurate readings on untreated wood...
https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-fraud-of-rising-damp.html
https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-ping-prong-meter-guilty-of-fraud.html
If you tried to use one in my current bedroom you'd get 100% readings everywhere you tested as the wallpaper is the foil-lined insulated type. There isn't any damp in it at all...

Most damp problems are easy and cheap to fix, but make sure you get a survey from someone independant - not the PCA.