House survey bad - advice please

mini_the_moocher

Hi there,

My level 2 survey came back with a few problems (I know they often do) & it was suggested the house would be unmortgageable in the future. It is a cross wall build. I am a cash buyer, as mine is sold, & don't personally need a mortgage but the future saleability is obviously important.

I phoned the surveyor for clarity, & he said it was his duty to persuade me not to proceed. He also literally said "my advice pack your bags & look elsewhere".

yikes.

Now, this is the SECOND house this has happened with - & I've not heard of it happening before. The previous one, 3 months ago, different surveyor, actually wrote the advice not to proceed in the document.

I can't believe this has happened twice & am in a spin.

Has anyone had/ heard of a surveyor advising do not proceed?

cheers.

bobster2

mini_the_moocher said:

Hi there,

My level 2 survey came back with a few problems (I know they often do) & it was suggested the house would be unmortgageable in the future. It is a cross wall build. I am a cash buyer, as mine is sold, & don't personally need a mortgage but the future saleability is obviously important.

I phoned the surveyor for clarity, & he said it was his duty to persuade me not to proceed. He also literally said "my advice pack your bags & look elsewhere".

yikes.

Now, this is the SECOND house this has happened with - & I've not heard of it happening before. The previous one, 3 months ago, different surveyor, actually wrote the advice not to proceed in the document.

I can't believe this has happened twice & am in a spin.

Has anyone had/ heard of a surveyor advising do not proceed?

cheers.

Well what's the problem in the survey? There's nothing intrinsically wrong with crosswall. Crosswall doesn't automatically mean it falls into the non-standard construction category. Many crosswall houses are perfectly mortgageable.

So is this particular house in a non-standard category? Or does it have something specific wrong with it?

m0bov

Plenty around and perfectly mortgageable 

user1977

mini_the_moocher said:

Has anyone had/ heard of a surveyor advising do not proceed?

Yes, my parents were told that in 1979 about what would be our family home for the following 20 years. Admittedly the first 10 years or so were my dad doing all the DIY necessary....

Jemma01

Untrue that it is un-mortgageable. Houses built between 60s and 70s were like that. High street lenders would mortgage it. HSBC agreed to mortgage a former property I wanted within 3 days.

YoungBlueEyes

I did once have a surveyor tell me not to buy a house. It was nearly all of my money and a few things came up on the survey that I was worried about. So after reading his report I called him and we had a frank conversation and I asked him outright - "if I was your daughter in this situation, would you let me buy it?" and he said no. So I didn't.

If you give us a rough idea of area and budget and needs we can probably come up with some suggestions that mean you wouldn't face this for a third time. 

mini_the_moocher

Update - after a long chat with friend of a friend who is a builder/ house doer-upper, his opinion was

1. Yes, surveyors are over-zealous

2. Play hard ball & offer 20K less (yikes) because they need to sell having already had a couple pull out, have exchanged elsewhere & I'm a cash buyer.

Hoenir

Mortgage lenders are notorious for changing their minds as time passes (negatively). 

edgex

Crosswall is a type of construction, what matters is what the walls/structure are made of. Are they brick or concrete?

They can have the insulation improved, but it's a lot more work than filling a cavity
https://www.structherm.co.uk/non-traditional-profile-crosswalls/