Faulty roof, damp walls - would you still buy?

Hoenir

Addison89 said:

This is an old cottage so I expected some works to be needed but not to this level - I’ll admit I’m naive.

Chocolate box properties require never ending maintenance.  There's no free lunches. 

Albermarle

AlexMac said:

Addison89 

Has anyone purchased a property in such a state and how did your renovations go?

Yes, almost as bad, and yes, they went amazingly well despite me being a very inexperienced developer

(I bought a Victorian house at auction, and I didn’t even bother with a survey as it was obvious that it needed a new roof, wiring, kitchen, bathroom, plumbing, boiler and central heating. I had just been made redundant, planned to do the relatively unskilled work of  decorating, carpentry etc myself to save dough, but surprisingly got another job. So I had to pay for the lot; on a scale similar to yours given inflation; this was almost 30 years ago)

But even without a survey the scale and cost of the work required was obvious, I had the cash to do it and as I was scrounging off a girlfriend (later wife - my scrounging didn’t put her off) I didn’t have to move in for the 3 months it took, nor did I have the expense of two houses nor need to live in a building site. 

Your challenge sounds, well, more challenging? I did really well when I sold on three years later, but it sounds as though you face a riskier proposition both in terms of hassle and likely value of the finished house? And house prices aren’t rising as fast now as they were in the late 1990’s ( not that you should regard a home as an investment; it’s somewhat to live!)

And while mine wasn’t “riddled with damp and rot” ( once we’d replaced the roof and gutters  the place dried out without major replastering or tanking as the damp was mostly penetrating, not rising) you say yours is? And finally, mine was priced attractively given the state it was in (it had been a long-term rental).  

I’d be tempted to walk?

Another important point is that the cost of building materials and labour has shot up ( gone through the roof even) in the last 3 years, way above general inflation. At the same time house prices have not done a great deal.
So the logic of buying a house that needs a real lot of work has reduced significantly since the Pandemic, unless you can can do the majority yourself. 

ReadySteadyPop

Addison89 said:

[Deleted User] said:

• New roof with structural repairs
• Walls have high level of damp
• Floor had wood-boring beetle (they are not active anymore). 
• Basically damp everywhere and rotting timbers

Will you need new floor coverings, skirting boards, will redecoration suffice or will entire rooms need re-plastering after damp treatment? Kitchen, bathroom, windows, state of electrics, levels of insulation?
How bad is it and what standard of finish do you want?
£50-60k isn't a huge refurbishment budget in 2024...

The problem is we haven’t budgeted for this. Kitchen bathroom needs changing- that was included in our plans. House will need flooring, replastering and damp treatment as high levels of damp was detected at multiple places. And the roof. Oh and two of the windows are single glazed. I guess that £50k was a low estimate 

In that case you need to move on to a different house, if the seller wants to try and play hardball over 50k or so let them sit on the market for years if they wish.