Building Survey issues - what would you do?

fiish

I've just had the Building Survey (L3 survey) report back on the house I've had an offer accepted on, and it's highlighted some issues as category 3 requiring immediate attention. The house is a late Victorian/early Edwardian semi in London.

Summarized list of issues:

1. No gas safety or electrical documentation - recommend specialist inspection
2. Two chimney stacks (not on the party wall) leaning slightly towards the property - rebuild recommended - estimated £5k
3. No pulldown ladder in loft hatch - estimated £750
4. Only 100mm insulation in roof - estimated £1250 to add to 270mm
5. Missing/broken roof slates on ground floor addition's roof - estimated £450
6. Couple of ground floor chimney breasts have been removed leaving first floor chimney breasts possibly unsupported - no estimate given
7. Front door sticking at base - planing recommended - estimated £150

My thoughts on it currently:

• (1) is on every sample report for every survey I've had a quote for, so I expected this, probably not an immediate issue. Solicitor has already made enquiries about gas boiler servicing and electrics.
• Need to talk to the surveyor about how big a deal (2) and (6) are, aside from those items this survey looks OK
• (6) was not mentioned on the TA6, so I suspect the alteration pre-dates the vendors' ownership (house last sold in 2007)
• EPC rating assumed no insulation in roof, so 100mm is already better than expected, I wouldn't renegotiate for (4) as I priced that into the offer
• Wouldn't renegotiate for (3) either as already 'saw' at viewing (couldn't get into loft due to lack of pulldown ladder)

I expected a house this age to have some issues, but I don't have enough experience to know if this issues list reflects poor/average/good condition for such a house. The house was listed as 'immaculately presented' and priced as good/excellent condition, so I'd consider trying to renegotiate,  if the survey found major/expensive structural issues.

While I'm already raising queries through solicitors and arranging a call with the surveyor, I'd appreciate any advice, views, or shared experience on these items - what do you think?

CSI_Yorkshire

As you correctly identify, items 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7 are all pointless.

Check if 2 & 6 are !!!!!!-covering or actual things.  If the chimney breast removal was decades ago, I don't think it will suddenly cause a problem now (unless you saw cracks in the wall, movement in the floor above etc. which it seems you didn't - but I'm not qualified for anything more than "I think").  Are we talking slightly wonky stacks here, that might have been like that almost forever, or are we talking late-stage Jenga?

propertyrental

fiish said:

I've just had the Building Survey (L3 survey) report back on the house I've had an offer accepted on, and it's highlighted some issues as category 3 requiring immediate attention. The house is a late Victorian/early Edwardian semi in London.

Summarized list of issues:

1. No gas safety or electrical documentation - recommend specialist inspection entirely optional. surveyors are not gas engineers or sparkies
2. Two chimney stacks (not on the party wall) leaning slightly towards the property - rebuild recommended - estimated £5k get quotes from reputable roofers/builders
3. No pulldown ladder in loft hatch - estimated £750 ha ha! Well - do you want one? I've lived here 25 years and never had one. How often do you plan to go up?
4. Only 100mm insulation in roof - estimated £1250 to add to 270mm entirely optional, but sensible. How big is the attic? Wickes sell 200mm rolls for £33. 3 or 4 rolls?
5. Missing/broken roof slates on ground floor addition's roof - estimated £450 if this is 1st story roof no scaffolding needed. odd job man on ladder. half a day. £100-£200?
6. Couple of ground floor chimney breasts have been removed leaving first floor chimney breasts possibly unsupported - no estimate given removed how long ago? Ask the surveyor and/or seller. If decades, I wouldn't worry. If recent, you'll want to find out if chimneys were supported  and how.
7. Front door sticking at base - planing recommended - estimated £150 DIY? £0  Or that odd job man again. 1 hour?

My thoughts on it currently:

• (1) is on every sample report for every survey I've had a quote for, so I expected this, probably not an immediate issue. Solicitor has already made enquiries about gas boiler servicing and electrics.
• Need to talk to the surveyor about how big a deal (2) and (6) are, aside from those items this survey looks OK
• (6) was not mentioned on the TA6, so I suspect the alteration pre-dates the vendors' ownership (house last sold in 2007)
• EPC rating assumed no insulation in roof, so 100mm is already better than expected, I wouldn't renegotiate for (4) as I priced that into the offer
• Wouldn't renegotiate for (3) either as already 'saw' at viewing (couldn't get into loft due to lack of pulldown ladder)

I expected a house this age to have some issues, but I don't have enough experience to know if this issues list reflects poor/average/good condition for such a house. The house was listed as 'immaculately presented' and priced as good/excellent condition, so I'd consider trying to renegotiate,  if the survey found major/expensive structural issues.

While I'm already raising queries through solicitors and arranging a call with the surveyor, I'd appreciate any advice, views, or shared experience on these items - what do you think?

See above in bold

Section62

CSI_Yorkshire said:

As you correctly identify, items 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7 are all pointless.

Check if 2 & 6 are !!!!!!-covering or actual things.  If the chimney breast removal was decades ago, I don't think it will suddenly cause a problem now (unless you saw cracks in the wall, movement in the floor above etc. which it seems you didn't - but I'm not qualified for anything more than "I think").  Are we talking slightly wonky stacks here, that might have been like that almost forever, or are we talking late-stage Jenga?

7 is a sign of possible structural movement, so I woudn't dismiss it quite yet.

Coupled with 2, and the uncertainty regarding 6, I'd want to get a structural engineer's opinion on what is going on.

Unfortunately getting clarity on 6 will probably mean floorboards coming up - which the vendor may not agree to in their 'immaculately presented' home.  So I'd already be leaning towards pulling out rather than incur further costs on a property with a possible serious issue.

OP - do you know which side of the front door was sticking the most.  I.e. the hinge side or the lock side?

CSI_Yorkshire

Section62 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

As you correctly identify, items 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7 are all pointless.

Check if 2 & 6 are !!!!!!-covering or actual things.  If the chimney breast removal was decades ago, I don't think it will suddenly cause a problem now (unless you saw cracks in the wall, movement in the floor above etc. which it seems you didn't - but I'm not qualified for anything more than "I think").  Are we talking slightly wonky stacks here, that might have been like that almost forever, or are we talking late-stage Jenga?

7 is a sign of possible structural movement, so I woudn't dismiss it quite yet.

Coupled with 2, and the uncertainty regarding 6, I'd want to get a structural engineer's opinion on what is going on.

Unfortunately getting clarity on 6 will probably mean floorboards coming up - which the vendor may not agree to in their 'immaculately presented' home.  So I'd already be leaning towards pulling out rather than incur further costs on a property with a possible serious issue.

OP - do you know which side of the front door was sticking the most.  I.e. the hinge side or the lock side?

I'd be pretty annoyed with a surveyor who thought there might be structural movement but just said "plane the door".  Not usually known for dismissing things if they can get a "suggest further investigation" into the report.

fiish

Thank you for the replies so far!

On (7), the surveyor's words were:

The front door to the demised property is a timber door with a night latch and deadlocking system. There are no obvious defects to the ironmongery or alignment. The door opens, closes and latches satisfactorily with no significant defects noted. It should be noted that the door appears to be sticking at the base and would benefit from being planed in order to enable ease of use. A considerable amount of force is required to open and close the door and this should be taken into consideration.

Seemed to me a very wordy way of saying it'd be nice to repair this but there aren't any problems, but I could be wrong which is the reason for making the post to begin with

CSI_Yorkshire said:

As you correctly identify, items 1, 3, 4, 5 & 7 are all pointless.

Check if 2 & 6 are !!!!!!-covering or actual things.  If the chimney breast removal was decades ago, I don't think it will suddenly cause a problem now (unless you saw cracks in the wall, movement in the floor above etc. which it seems you didn't - but I'm not qualified for anything more than "I think"). 

Have raised this through the solicitors since building control approval should have been done. Neither the surveyor nor I saw any cracks. Surveyor mentioned signs of deflection in ceiling, but in the section of the report on ceilings mentioned seeing no evidence of cracking or deflection, so will need to clarify this with him.

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Are we talking slightly wonky stacks here, that might have been like that almost forever, or are we talking late-stage Jenga?

If by 'late stage Jenga' you mean 'very apparent in listing or viewing even to an untrained eye', then no. I struggled to spot the lean from the listing photos, and also from the survey photos, I think the surveyor wasn't understating when he wrote 'leaning slightly'.

fiish

Finally got hold of the surveyor so could clear things up.

(2) - leaning chimney stacks - surveyor said to monitor for change, also had a roofer go up to take a look. Neither said it was something needing fixing right away. Roofer thought the brickwork and pointing looked solid, and dropped some comment about leaning chimney stacks all over London.

(6) - missing chimney breast - seller has come back in writing saying the chimney breast is still in place, concealed behind kitchen units. Obviously, no building control exists if there was no alteration. Not very happy that the surveyor decided to write a long and scary paragraph, that led to enquiries that wasted everyone's time, it could have been avoided by looking in some kitchen cupboards.

CSI_Yorkshire

Sounds like good news though, despite the extra hassle.