Removal of loading bearing wall

robatwork

The lesson is to never believe your vendor (or their builders). Now it's down to who you believe and how much expense you want to go to, assuming they let you remove plaster. Most would say walk away but we're not in your shoes.

Aliss08

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, I’m hoping the vendor will agree. 

FreeBear

Unlikely the vendor will agree to intrusive inspections. If they do, they'd expect you to cover the cost of making good the damage - How much more do you want to spend if there is a chance you won't buy ?

Assuming you really want this house, I'd suggest reducing the offer price with the view of ripping down the ceiling and having the supporting beam done properly (with S.E. calcs and BC sign off).

Aliss08

Thanks for the replies.  In many ways it is the perfect house for us and we have been looking for 5 months.  Also our buyers have been patiently waiting since May for us to find somewhere and we are now ready to exchange but waiting for my purchase to catch up.  I do feel for the vendor because she probably wasn’t expecting this either and was obviously guided by the builder at the time.  I’ve sent a copy of the report to my solicitor and we’ll see what he suggests.  

GDB2222

In the very first post on this thread, you wrote:
"The builder noticed some movement both internally and externally"

Now, you can be pretty sure the building work was not done properly, as the builder misled the client by saying the wall was not structural and did not involve BC.

So, you know there's movement, and you know the probable cause. 

I would want to reduce my offer by the cost of putting this right, plus the cost of temporary accommodation whilst the work is done and the place is made good. I can't imagine why you would proceed on the basis of your original offer. 

Aliss08

What I don’t understand is why the original builder didn’t do things properly in the first place.  Surely his reputation would have been at stake if any major issues had occurred.  

FreeBear

Aliss08 said: What I don’t understand is why the original builder didn’t do things properly in the first place.  Surely his reputation would have been at stake if any major issues had occurred. 

Cowboy builders don't care about long term reputation. They'll trade under a company name with assets owned by another entity. Once enough CCJs have been collected, the go bust and set up a new company and/or move to another area.

ThisIsWeird

Aliss08 said:

What I don’t understand is why the original builder didn’t do things properly in the first place.  Surely his reputation would have been at stake if any major issues had occurred.  

With respect, that surely just doesn't matter?
It could even be that this builder did do an ok job, and that there is adequate support in there - he just didn't want the hassle of getting BC involved. But no-one will know until it's exposed and checked, and that's all that matters.
If the vendor is reluctant to have it investigated, and also not willing to budge adequately on the cost, it might be worth dropping into any discussion that this is now a 'known' issue, so the EA 'should' declare it to any new interested parties; this can no longer be kept under wraps*.
It is surely in the vendor's interest to have it examined properly, and then act on the outcome; 'Hurrah! It's all fine!', or 'Oops, time for me to negotiate'. Cos that will be the case with whoever they end up going with.

*If they have an honourable EA. And have filled in the SIP honestly.

Aliss08

No it doesn’t but I’m just trying to understand it.  

I haven’t heard anything today so will chase tomorrow and hopefully the vendor agrees to having it examined properly.  Thanks for the advice, I will keep it all in mind.  I’m actually selling my house through the same EA and have been impressed with their professionalism so far but my sale hasn’t thrown up any issues.   The vendor has already had a previous sale fall through but we were told it wasn’t anything to do with the survey they had but on a third visit they decided that the house was just too small for their growing family.  Who knows if that was the truth or not.  

robatwork

Aliss08 said:

No it doesn’t but I’m just trying to understand it.  

I haven’t heard anything today so will chase tomorrow and hopefully the vendor agrees to having it examined properly.  Thanks for the advice, I will keep it all in mind.  I’m actually selling my house through the same EA and have been impressed with their professionalism so far but my sale hasn’t thrown up any issues.   The vendor has already had a previous sale fall through but we were told it wasn’t anything to do with the survey they had but on a third visit they decided that the house was just too small for their growing family.  Who knows if that was the truth or not.  

I appreciate this is super-cynical, but I surmise I've bought/sold a lot more houses than you have. 

Assume that almost everything you hear from an EA are lies, mistruths and half-truths. I always have the opinion everything the EA says in conversation is garbage, and if it's written it's 50/50 to be real. Pound to a penny the previous sale fell through after a survey. The house didn't shrink after they made an offer. 

Even the property information forms can't be relied on. People either get confused filling them in or deliberately lie knowing there's very little chance of someone actually suing on that basis. Hearsay about "previous builder" covers !!!!!! very nicely. 

Only believe the professionals (EA excluded) you employ/pay. Keep us informed.