Homebuilders report came back - Advice re couple minor issues

Chaoscontrol

We are FTB buying a house, and our RICS level 2 report came back today. It's super alarming as there's no green, and 50/50 split orange and red. After reading though, most red is "we didn't check, get an electrical/gas/drains inspection". There's only a couple real issues to consider raising with the seller to fix IMO. 

• Some spalled brickwork (I honestly don't see it, and don't think we should care atm)
• Missing mortar (again don't see it, don't think it's worth)
• Loft (these 3 are the ones I think we should maybe try and sort). Pasting the section from the report for full context. 

The roof space rear bedroom was entered through a hatch in the ceiling.

The roof space is partly boarded over the joists. Where not boarded, there was insulation in areas.

Insulation is provided falls short of current standards. Current Building Regulation standards recommend that a roof void is

insulated in its entirety, with a minimum of 270mm of a fibreglass material or equivalent material. Although not enforced

retrospectively, we do endorse these standards and encourage you to upgrade the level of insulation, where practicable and

possible on occupation. This should include the trap hatch. Eaves should be kept clear to provide a degree of ventilation to the

roof void.

The roof frame is of traditional pitched construction with rafters bearing onto main walls and in turn supported by purlins and

struts which bear onto internal load bearing partitions beneath. Ceiling joists span the structure.

Secondary waterproof underlining consists of a bitumen underfelt material that provides secondary weatherproofing from wind

driven rain and snow. These elements appear to be complete where visible, with no signs of any significant tears, condensation

damage or other defects noted.

There is evidence of rodents/vermin in the roof space. Electrical cabling, insulation and indeed health could be harmed.

Rodents/vermin should be eradicated via a pest control specialist and electrical wiring should be the subject of a safety check.

The wall between this property and the neighbouring dwelling (called the party wall) is partly missing. This will allow fire to pass

from one property to another and is also a security risk. You should organise the repair of the wall and the sealing of any gaps to

the underside of the roof covering. Some mortgage lenders and insurance companies will require that a firewall is constructed.

The owner of the neighbouring property has a number of legal rights over this party wall. You should check with your legal

advisor before you organise any work (section H3). This is a risk to the building and to persons, see Sections I1 & I3.

The party wall has not been fully fire-stopped and sealed within the roof space.

How bad do you think these issues are to fix? 

I have absolutely 0 experience, but to me it looks like the wall is just missing 3 bricks, and guess that should be cheap to fix. 

The insulation, ok, no idea how much of a diff it makes, but if it's not crazy expensive I'd do it and fully insulate it to standard. Might help the bills. Any idea of cost? Pretty standard 2 bed semi detached property. 

And rodents. What can be the cost of a plague extermination? No idea how bad it is. 

Any advice is highly appreciated. Many thanks!

BUFF

If you are at all handy the insulation is easily DIY & should pay for itself within a few years through reduced heating bills. Sounds like it is probably ~100mm v the current 270/300.

Rodents, it doesn't give any indication of how much evidence & current/ likely historic.

The party wall - I imagine that this is in the loft under the roof? There will be millions of terraced/semi-detached houses like that in  the UK. Mine is 1 ...

Chaoscontrol

BUFF said:

If you are at all handy the insulation is easily DIY & should pay for itself within a few years through reduced heating bills. Sounds like it is probably ~100mm v the current 270/300.

Rodents, it doesn't give any indication of how much evidence & current/ likely historic.

The party wall - I imagine that this is in the loft under the roof? There will be millions of terraced/semi-detached houses like that in  the UK. Mine is 1 ...

I think you didn't see the pictures linked for all of them. 

The rodents, you can see the droppings in the picture. Not sure if mice or rats, or how many, but seems recent. 

The party wall seems like super minor fix, but not sure. You can see in the pic too. 

plumb1_2

Holes in the wall, easy fix, a few bricks and sand/cement. Or use fire rated plasterboard and fire rated expanding foam.
Rats/mice, they could be fresh or historical. Put some latex gloves on and give one of the droppings a squeeze. Hard= historical, soft = fresh.

loft insulation quite cheap and another Diy job

twopenny

Has the house been empty for a while or the loft undisturbed? That could explain mice. 
Also i used to get them in the loft of my semi in extreme cold spells. I sprayed the boards with smelly flee spray and they didn't return.

The partial insulation if it was done on the government scheme they are on time schedule and don't lift boards.  Easy to do. You can replace the boards if you wish. It will squish the insulation but it still worked fine for me.

I had a little chuckle reading it as I wonder what they'd put for the houses in my area. 14c and in 16C during a plague doors were made in all party walls so people could move safely from house to house.

For a small area it should be easy enough to put some bricks in sufficient to be a fire break.
Might be worth asking the neighbours about why it's there first.

TELLIT01

The house is obviously an older one or the wall between properties would go all the way to the roof, so it's no surprise that insulation doesn't conform to current standards.  That can easily be addressed before you put anything into the loft, although you should be aware that if you do put the recommended level of insulation you will have to put risers in to support boarding if you do want to store anything.  It could also make access to the loft a lot more difficult.

I would want confirmation from the vendor that the vermin issue had been fully addressed.