Need advice / reassurance after level 2 survey

stuart45

Looking at some of the other points.
Not sure what he means about damp proofing under the floors. Since the mid 60's a DPM has been part of the regs.
Cavity trays if required would be done by removing a few courses of brickwork 3ft at a time, fitting the trays and then replacing the brickwork the length of the flat roof. Main cost is labour.
Always nice to know about your drains.
 Guess you mean the fascia rather than the soffit is rotten. The fascia boards were normally timber back them, the soffit often asbestolux. The undercloak is on top of the verge to support tiles and mortar.

jwil

We paid £240 for our EICR (electric condition report).  It's definitely worth it for peace of mind.  Given the missing certificate from the recent rewire, is it worth asking the vendors to get one?

You could just get battery smoke alarms in the short term, they aren't expensive and last 10 years.  The fire service offer safety checks and fit smoke alarms in some cases, might be worth looking if that's the case in your new area.

savingholmes

Thanks @jwil and @stuart45

From people's comments - it appears that most of his points aren't deal breakers. I was expecting to spend about £10K on doing stuff - like the patio doors, guttering, and few other things so maybe that's my initial spend and I can look at the other things longer term. I was just wanting to make sure I'm not buying a complete money pit.

uralmaid

Hi Saving Holmes.  Having read thousands of valuation and homebuyers reports during my previous life as an estate agent, I would say that quite a few things are just back covering by the surveyor.  Regarding Building Regs etc - if you go onto the local building control part for your area on the council website and type in the address, you may be able to search for what was signed off.  It should bring up anything which was applied for and certificates if they were subsequently signed off.  We did this for our current property and it is interesting to find things you didn't know had been done. It also brings re-assurance that things were done properly.  You don't need to have wired in smoke alarms - that is a requirement for new property.  Battery ones will be fine - we have the FireAngel ones with a built in battery guaranteed for 10 years.  Easily and cheaply available online or from places like b and q. As others have said - Surveyors are not qualified to check electrics and gas installations - so their comments are to safeguard themselves. Any property unless built in the last 12 months would not satisfy regulations as the regs change every 2 years.  It doesn't mean they aren't safe.  It would still be advisable to have an electrician check though - if their are things you saw which concern you.  All the best x

savingholmes

Thanks @uralmaid
 Appreciate you taking the time. 

I will send relevant sections to my solicitor and get her to chase the building regs and electrical sign off. I chased the EA just before Xmas. 

Albermarle

 You don't need to have wired in smoke alarms - that is a requirement for new property. 

You also need them if you add a second storey to your property, with a loft conversion for example.

Albermarle

jwil said:

We paid £240 for our EICR (electric condition report).  It's definitely worth it for peace of mind.  Given the missing certificate from the recent rewire, is it worth asking the vendors to get one?

You could just get battery smoke alarms in the short term, they aren't expensive and last 10 years.  The fire service offer safety checks and fit smoke alarms in some cases, might be worth looking if that's the case in your new area.

It is often said on here that any house more than a few years old, will not have electrics that comply with current regulations. On the other hand it is then said that this does not make the electrics unsafe.
So what does a typical EICR report say.  Something like that 'the installation is safe but needs upgrading at some point' ?
I wonder if it was a house with 40 year old wiring, would they say the same ( assuming it was safe of course)?

savingholmes

Thanks @Albermarle my issue is he's admitted rewiring but not produced any certificates 

jwil

Albermarle said:

jwil said:

We paid £240 for our EICR (electric condition report).  It's definitely worth it for peace of mind.  Given the missing certificate from the recent rewire, is it worth asking the vendors to get one?

You could just get battery smoke alarms in the short term, they aren't expensive and last 10 years.  The fire service offer safety checks and fit smoke alarms in some cases, might be worth looking if that's the case in your new area.

It is often said on here that any house more than a few years old, will not have electrics that comply with current regulations. On the other hand it is then said that this does not make the electrics unsafe.
So what does a typical EICR report say.  Something like that 'the installation is safe but needs upgrading at some point' ?
I wonder if it was a house with 40 year old wiring, would they say the same ( assuming it was safe of course)?

Mine was done on a house that had not been rewired since it was built in the 60s and still had the old wire fuse box.  It did say that it was largely safe but there were signs of degradation of the wiring so it would need rewiring at some point.

More importantly and perhaps relevant to SH - it listed areas where there were potentially dangerous issues.  Nearly all of these were not from the original wiring to the house, but work that had been done since, before we had the house.   Given that SH's survey says that it doesn't look like the rewire has been done well and there aren't any certificates for it, it might highlight any issues and/or give peace of mind. 

savingholmes

I've been ill this week so not followed up with the surveyor yet. I have chased the EA and legal and will see what comes back. He hasn't submitted his property info form yet. Unfortunately drainage which is another area of concern - the search isn't due back on until the fourth week of Jan although they are trying to expedite it.