My surveyor missed very rotten floor joists. A rant on surveys.

youth_leader

Floors are very difficult, and I really do feel for you.  My vendor should have told me, I would have still bought the bungalow but would have stayed in my rental whilst it was being done. It's been hell on earth crammed into the kitchen/lounge with my cat and dog.  My little late dog started coughing in March,  and I believe he had aspergillosis mould spores in his lungs.

When I sold my 1847 property, my buyer's mortgage lender (I found out later it was Nat West) valued my house at £0 until the buyer had a damp/timber specialist in as evidence of 'damp and beetles.  I was angry as I knew I didn't have live beetles as I'd had my own survey before going on the market, my EA must have mentioned them ten times as though they'd just arrived again.  I had bare victorian sanded/varnished floorboards with easily moved rugs.

My EA rang me just before Christmas and said I'd have to be quick as most companies closed on the 23 December.  They persuaded me to pay the £300 for it as a 'gesture of goodwill', as well as it being useful to me for the next buyer if necessary.  They said it had to be a PCA member, they gave me the number for Peter Cox.  I wasn't told to 'lift floorboards' before his visit on 8 January in the snow, and he didn't have any equipment to lift the victorian boards without damage.

When I received the report I was glad to see he confirmed that I didn't have beetles, but as he hadn't inspected the joists the buyer's lender threw the report out as useless in a heritage building.  The buyer's surveyor had 'estimated' replacing the ground floor boards would be £10K and he used this in his negotiation.  My buyer suggested I accept his £50K lower offer, or replace all the ground floor boards and his mortgage company would 'inspect my work' and lend him the money if satisfactory.  He also suggested I do £17K worth of work to the roof, £10K on damp works.  I was selling because I could not afford the maintenance on the house, and certainly not £50K's worth of repairs his surveyor had quoted that 'might' pass the lender's inspection.   I withdrew from the sale and the EA and went to auction - and sold to the buyer.  I just had to cut my losses and move on, freedom from the worry was priceless.  

FreeBear

lifeofbrian2015 said:

I had a level 3 building survey done on the property I now own. When it was surveyed it had bare floors throughout. After purchasing the house I noticed in the living room the floor was sinking when standing on it in one corner so I took a screwed floorboard up in that corner to find I could crumble the joists in my hand. Of course now I can't put any flooring down until I can afford to have the joists replaced.

Look on the bright side - It gives you an ideal opportunity to get some insulation under the floorboards. Just make sure the ventilation under there is not compromised, and you should end up with a home that is much easier to heat.

NameUnavailable

lifeofbrian2015 said:

The only place in the survey the joists were mentioned was this part:

"The timber floors and stairs have uneven surfaces and minor dipping is noted. The floor boards are uneven and there is springing noted to the joists. The structural timbers and the floorboards should be inspected and where required – serviced, to include packing of the joists."

"The structural timbers and the floorboards should be inspected" So I needed a survey after the survey? Again, why did he not take a screwdriver instead of expecting me to pay someone else? This was the case so many times in the survey, advising me to get various things inspected. What the hell did I pay him for, I could have just got tradesmen in for free quotes and save the survey money.

So you ignored the surveyors advice and are now upset about it? Hmmmm.

You're a very naughty boy!!

diystarter7

FreeBear said:

lifeofbrian2015 said:

I had a level 3 building survey done on the property I now own. When it was surveyed it had bare floors throughout. After purchasing the house I noticed in the living room the floor was sinking when standing on it in one corner so I took a screwed floorboard up in that corner to find I could crumble the joists in my hand. Of course now I can't put any flooring down until I can afford to have the joists replaced.

Look on the bright side - It gives you an ideal opportunity to get some insulation under the floorboards. Just make sure the ventilation under there is not compromised, and you should end up with a home that is much easier to heat.

A good, constructive post.
Ventilation for the longer term is as important as getting it fixed.
Thanks

locationx3

Surveys are never as useful as you think they should be. Surveyors can’t dismantle things to find the real problems in a property, they just know how to interpret the things you can see already.

Every house I have bought has had issues that the survey didn’t pick up. That is to be expected though, it’s just one of the annoying things about property ownership.

@Freebear has a good perspective on it; when you are forced to do a job, try and make other improvements at the same time. 

TheJP

lifeofbrian2015 said:

andy444 said:

A surveyor is not going to remove floorboards or test things like Artex to determine the presence of asbestos.

If you were selling a house with timber joists, would you be happy with a surveyor lifting up the carpet and removing floorboards at several locations in your house?

Like I said in my op, there were bare floors and screwed down floorboards.

If a surveyor started taking up floorboards in my house they would be swiftly escorted out of the house. A survey gives an indication on potential issues, the survey you commission did that. You had an opportunity to get more insight into potential issues and costs but ignored it. As Freebear says, think about other works you can do whilst you are rectifying this issue. At least you'll be more aware for your next purchase.

LHW99

And in most older houses there can be things no-one can find until they've lived there for a while. Our first house had no hinges on the bedroom windows - they fell straight out when first opened and someone had concreted the mains water pipe into one of the door surrounds.

diystarter7

LHW99 said:

And in most older houses there can be things no-one can find until they've lived there for a while. Our first house had no hinges on the bedroom windows - they fell straight out when first opened and someone had concreted the mains water pipe into one of the door surrounds.

That reminds me when someone told me re their friend buying from an auction. Had a new boiler, new rads cheap types but new, new lights, switches/plus the lot - new bathroom, bathw/c pan - when they bought the house and had a closer look and turned the electrics on they noted it was old wiring with just new sockets etc and board, the eltric hob/oven not connect nor the boiler and all pipes were old and they tunred the water on and noted some water in the ceiling but nothing in the taps etc and quickly tunred it off as noting was connected. What the builders had done is put everything up for show - boiler was connected properly but noting else. The friend still made a good profit as prices at the time were shooting upwards

BigBoss

I've had a L3 survey done recently and I can't praise the surveyor enough for his report. He was also kind enough to take further questioning. 

Noneforit999

Everyone has given you the correct answers above, it sounds like your interpretation of a survey is different to what you actually paid for.

You can get as many surveys as you like, buying a house is ultimately caveat emptor. 

As soon as the surveyor noted down the springy floor, you should have started asking questions immediately before agreeing to change contracts, although I suspect you realise that now.

You have no recourse via the surveyor as the terms and conditions will clearly state what the surveyor is expected to do.

It boils down to this:

"The structural timbers and the floorboards should be inspected and where required"

Why did you not do something before exchanging contracts? The surveyor literally told you to have them inspected.