Selling house, roof needs to be replaced

ThisIsWeird

Herzlos said:

If it's only going to take 3 days to do the work and you're going to drop the asking price by the £18k, why not just book to get the roof replaced? Worst case is that the replacement is after photos/viewings but before exchange which would give the buyer a chance to see the work.

IF it really needs doing imminently, and IF the £18k is fair, and IF it'll only take 3 days, then I'd agree with you. A brand new roof will be very appealing to lots of folk, and will likely attract more buyers/better offers.

No-one likes the idea of having to recover the roof on their new purchase; for many layfolk, this is a major, and scary, event.

Albermarle

Also 3 days seems very short !

Macicka

Hoenir said:

Macicka said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Why does it need to be replaced?

It's an old Victorian roof. I had several quotes and the front cannot be repaired apparently - all roofers said the same. There's a tiny leak already, and these get bigger over time. 

Is the leak causing damage to the interior ? 

Not yet. The leak is like a tiny spot on the wall. Doesnt get bigger - yet! Both neighbouring houses have the same roof and they're ok, no leaks. 

Macicka

Bigphil1474 said:

OP, we've just sold our house with an old roof on it. Our house is circa 100 years old, and the roof looks original. The roofer putting a new roof on next doors house said ours needed doing within a year or two as it was near end of life. That was last summer. Roofer might have been honest or touting for work. I don't know.

We didn't advertise that our roof was getting towards end of life, there are no leaks and is waterproof as far as we know, the buyers surveyor didn't raise any issues with the roof, and we completed the property form honestly. Had the buyers surveyor come back and said the roof was knackered and the buyer then asked for a reduction, we would have agreed to some sort of reduction. They didn't, we didn't.

If I were you, I'd get the leak fixed and proceed as it is, with a view to maybe having to reduce when the survey is done. Factor that into the budget for the next house.

Same thing happened to me when I bought it 3 years ago - surveyor should have highlighted as I paid for the most detailed survey. But didn't - just said the roof is 60 yo (wrong) and will need replacing 'at some point'. Weird. But now I've learned my lesson. I'll call a roofer to do an inspection next time if in any doubt. 

Macicka

Smalltownhypocrite said:

propertyrental said:

you are living (happily?) in the property at present and presumably it is not raining inside?

And you've 'done lots of work' so presumably all you nice new decor is not getting ruined by the rain?

So I'm guessing the roof is old, maybe covered in moss etc, and perhaps with some cracked/missing tiles? But otherwise sound?

OK, maybe it will need replacimng in the future but what roof doesn't?

I'm also guessing the roofer you got round was looking for a nice bit of business (£18K).

I may be way off the mark but my advice is to patch any obvious leaks (£2-300?) and then wait for your buyer to bring up a price reduction after survey, which they might or might not do.

And if they do, maybe offer to pay half of whatever their surveyor/roofer suggests.

£18k (not the average £5k for retiling the whole roof) and all roofers (multiple) saying the same sounds like water has rotted the rafters... its not about how much water is 'seen' or 'raining inside' in the house its a structural issue that will damage the house the longer left.

You dont have to SEE a problem to have a major issue. If OP knew there was monoxide but just opens all the windows to ventilate it would you say 'well you survived and they can't see it and might not get a survey that flags it so don't tell them'.

Rafters in perfect condition. It's just the felt and slates that need replacing apparently. And appareny only the front roof, the rear's fine. But roifers dont replace just half of the roof apparently. Arghh. 

markin

Then it sound like it should be easy to repair.