Level 3 survey on a newly refurbished house came back with £27.5k worth of urgent repairs

RHemmings

daveyjp said:

A relative recently looked at a holiday flat which had been 'fully refurbished'.  This included removing a chimney from a 150 year old property and slating the hole over.  They helpfully left the chimney breasts in place and tried to pass off the huge areas of damp as 'drying plaster' - on  refurb job which was finished months ago.

Google street view history is a great resource for assessing what has and hasn't been done to a property.

Given all the flippers on TV 'refurbishing' homes for fractions of what a full job would cost, it's not surprising if corners are cut and things are not done properly by people who aren't professional builders. 

deannagone

I remember an auction property that appeared on House Under the Hammer, the presenters of the show(who themselves were exerienced house flippers) went on and on about how good the house seemed after flipping it. Of course they didn't do a full survey, it was just a tv programme with smug builder and developer showing in the background. I can still remember their smug grins when the presenter asked them how they'd fixed it so cheaply.  "My builder knows what he's doing" was the reply.. 

 A few months later, an article appeared in the paper, it appeared the big problem that caused the house to appear at auction (it needed underpinning) hadn't been done at all plus other things. The people that sold it had just made it look good. The new owners were taking them to court, but no idea if they were successful.  

If this property has some things the surveyor has caught that should have been fixed when the house was fully refurbed, I'm certain there will be other things the surveyor hasn't seen.

NameUnavailable

As others have said this wasn't refurbished, it was tarted up for a maximum profit. You might end up having to redo a lot of that work in putting some of the defects right, so if you're doing that just buy a property that needs work in the first place and pay a lot less.

Bimboccio87

Evening everybody,

Thought i d give you an update as token of appreciation for all those who have taken the time out of their day to comment on this post.
After a lenghty call with the surveyor  we established that although very common for properties of that era/age to have such issues, from a buyers point of view it was more than reasonable not to expect ( given it had been “extensively refurbished “ ) to find so many issues with it.
He further mentioned that unfortunately it is very common practice these days and that he comes across properties like these almost on a daily basis, where people try to squeeze every cent of profit and cut corners as a result.
Contrary to all beliefs, all issues identified as needing urgent attention needed to br done asap ( and l  it’s not just a matter of a recommendation) as the consequences of ignoring would have shown quite soon after
moving in!
Needless to say, today we pulled out of the purchase.
We made an offer on the basis of it needing no works and just the effort of doing it up to our taste, and ultimately wouldn’t have been happy even with a reduction as some of you suggested, if we were keen on a project there are several properties at a much cheaper price for that!
one word of advice for those who are in the process of purchasing and are debating whether a survey is really needed…we ve just escaped what was going to be the worst and more costly decision of out life ( to date)!
pay for a level 3 and you will not regeret it

Grizebeck

What a good investment that has chosen to be for be. Not money down the drain as you can see. Money saved
Now offer to sell the survey to the vendor. Although I think they won't buy it of you in these circumstances !

artyboy

Grizebeck said:

What a good investment that has chosen to be for be. Not money down the drain as you can see. Money saved
Now offer to sell the survey to the vendor. Although I think they won't buy it of you in these circumstances !

As a public service, you could always make it available to the EA. Just so that they are able to inform future prospective buyers about the issues. I'm sure they will thank you for it.

In fact if you let the vendor know you'll be doing this, you might even get a box of Milk Tray...

(Or at least some shadowy figure paying you an unexpected visit  )