Level 3 survey

kumarana

My Surveyor picked few thing from the house which is concerning me 

The original underfelt remains to the

property, being a form of building

paper. This is heavily affected by ageing,

being ripped and torn in areas, and this

forms very little function. Ideally,

underfelt is provided to prevent

rainwater running up and under the roof

tiles.

Long-term, the underfelt should be replaced however, this would involve the stripping back of

the roof tiles, and the cost of this cannot be justified at present.

At present, the underfelt to the underside

of the roof tiles is partially perished, and this will permit general ventilation of the roof void.

Long-term, as and when the roof coverings are replaced, then a breathable underfelt should

be fitted. If it is your intention to fit underfelt to the underside of the rafters, then it would be

preferable for a breathable underfelt to be used.

These is part of his finding. I am bit concerned about the felt as the price to replace felt is around 10 to 15 grant. Should i ask for house price reduction

Asking price was 450000 and i have offered 440000.Desktop valuation came back as 440000

If any one can give me their opinion

Thanks

Noneforit999

The tiles themselves are the first point of defence for rainwater getting in and presumably the survey didn't say there were signs of water getting in at the moment?

£10k seems steep, is that what the survey suggested as an estimate? I would ring round for some ballpark estimates. 

housebuyer143

I actually don't see many issues with the roof as the survey has put it. The felt is old, as I imagine the roof is? He doesn't think it needs doing or the cost justifies it. It doesn't sound like it's leaking now or that it has been. 
How old is the house? You shouldn't have expected a brand new roof and felt if it's an old property.

Keep_pedalling

It’s probably been like that a long time and with no report of water actually getting in it would not put me off buying. We took nearly 20 years to get round to adding under-felt to our current house which had not let any water in since it was built in 1939 without any in place.

kumarana

1930 built.  Few other maintenance issues as well which I was aware before putting the offer. However no felt was a surprise to me and 10k to
fix it in near future. 

housebuyer143

kumarana said:

1930 built.  Few other maintenance issues as well which I was aware before putting the offer. However no felt was a surprise to me and 10k to
fix it in near future. 

You fix it when it leaks (if it leaks) and the surveyor wrote "in the long term", not near future. Long term could be 15 years away. 
A 1930 house with the original roof was bound to not be up to current roof standards. 

TheJP

Thanks to gravity and physics water cant run up. It can only run down, the tiles will stop any water getting in. £10k is alarming for this type of work, ask a roofer for a quote/advice rather than your surveyor.

propertyrental

TheJP said:

Thanks to gravity and physics water cant run up. It can only run down, the tiles will stop any water getting in. £10k is alarming for this type of work, ask a roofer for a quote/advice rather than your surveyor.

except that roofer has a vested interest so will likley not just quote, but advise replacement!

It does not need replacing until "the long term"

If I was your seller and you tried to negotiate by showing me this report I'd either just say "No", or if I had other interest on the property I'd look to sell to an easier buyer.

Albermarle

I have a 1920's house and until we had the loft converted there was no underfelt at all, you could see all the underside of the tiles. It did not leak at all.

kumarana

thank for the reply

FreeBear

TheJP said:

Thanks to gravity and physics water cant run up. It can only run down, the tiles will stop any water getting in. £10k is alarming for this type of work, ask a roofer for a quote/advice rather than your surveyor.

Up north, a strip & refelt of a roof could be as little as £4K. Head in to London, and the same job may well cost £25K. Not long had my roof done, and had been getting quotes in the £5K to £16K range. By the time the work got done, the quotes were coming in at £7.5K.