House Survey Results

newbieni

Hi,

I'm I'm the process of buying a house, I offered the asking price which was accepted. The general view was that the property only needed some cosmetic improvements.

The survey results have came in with the following points of concern:

1. Damp in the living room wall, surveyor has recommended insulation.
2. Attic requires insulation 
3. Boiler needs replacing 
4. Electrics need upgraded 
5. Chimney is full of damp and needs immediate repairs 
6. Garage roof is weak and needs strengthening 
7. Outside oil tank is dangerous and needs replacing.
8. Small flat roof at front needs renewing.
9. General roof pointing required and appropriate guttering etc added to the house.

My partner is concerned that the bills will mount up, I would have preferred less issues but I don't think overall it's too bad.

My partner wants to renegotiate the price. I want to take more pragmatic approach. I'm going to go back to the EA and list out some of the key issues and ask if there's any goodwill available from the vendor to take away some of the sting.

Am I being unreasonable?

Thanks in advance 

user1977

What exactly lies behind these "needs"? Why does the boiler "need" replacing, for example? Doesn't it work?

Surveyors are often full of doom and gloom about matters which the sellers are obviously happily living with. You can (probably) take your time in carrying out suggested improvements, nobody's going to force you to do everything immediately.

newbieni

user1977 said:

What exactly lies behind these "needs"? Why does the boiler "need" replacing, for example? Doesn't it work?

Surveyors are often full of doom and gloom about matters which the sellers are obviously happily living with. You can (probably) take your time in carrying out suggested improvements, nobody's going to force you to do everything immediately.

The boiler was flagged as a risk needing immediate replacement.

user1977

newbieni said:

user1977 said:

What exactly lies behind these "needs"? Why does the boiler "need" replacing, for example? Doesn't it work?

Surveyors are often full of doom and gloom about matters which the sellers are obviously happily living with. You can (probably) take your time in carrying out suggested improvements, nobody's going to force you to do everything immediately.

The boiler was flagged as a risk needing immediate replacement.

Still a bit vague! Surveyors aren't generally qualified to pass verdict on such things and tend to recommend you get a specialist to look at it.

dinosaur66

if the things all need repair and replacing then thats quite a few pounds and i am basing this on hypo of being  a 3 bed 60s semi and

off top of my head

damp wall £500 to 1k could be higher as description is vague

attic insulation £800 to 1k

boiler 2.5k

electrics upgrade £3 to 4k

never done the inside of a chimney i am guessing DPM needed so £100 for the DPM and £300 to fit but it is a guess

garage roof weak ? new roof for a standard 6x3 if it is asbestos sheeting to take off and epdm roof put on is 2k

outside oil tank -have one in ireland none here-ireland its about 3k depending on size

small flat roof -flashing and felt and trade £400

roof pointing £500 if straight forward 2k if not

guttering if just 1 at back and front  £300 to £400 take down and replace

and thats before you start on the inside refurb.

LHW99

Depends which bits you could do yourself. Attic insulation isn't expensive if you buy from the DIY store and DIY - as long as there is reasonable access.

Guttering is not that difficult to DIY, and if you get roof repairs done probably wouldn't add much to that if done at the same time.

What's the worry about the electrics? Has a problem been specified? They may not meet modern regulations, but should have done when they were installed. Unless someone has done some dangerous fiddling, or there are (eg) overloaded circuits it shouldn't be urgent, just something to put on the list

Have you looked at the damp course? damp on a wall is often because the ground level is above the DPC (needs lowering) or pointing has been redone badly and bridges it (needs chipping away) - or maybe that poor gutter is sending water down the wall below..

You should be able to speak to the surveyor and get a verbal opinion on what things are actually needed immediately and which can be for the long(er) term.

stuart45

You don't want a tank full of oil to split and leak out. The clean up bill is horrendous.

incus432

some of that sounds minor, some serious. Given you offered the asking price I'd be asking for a reduction based on cost estimates

FreeBear

dinosaur66 said: boiler 2.5k

outside oil tank -have one in ireland none here-ireland its about 3k depending on size

I recall a poster over on the energy board being quoted north of 4K for a replacement oil boiler. My response was to get a quote for a heat pump from someone like Octopus.

youth_leader

I am so glad not to have oil any more. 

Just after my husband died in 2016, having no money and waiting for probate, I hadn't been using my oil.  Went into the garden after my son had helped with the hedges to a big hole in the tank. Oil had obviously leaked out into the ground, and I had an assessor come from my insurance company.  Luckily not enough to have to excavate the platform, but plans were made in case it was necessary.  In the end it would have cost £7k, but was not considered a big enough 'spill' to have to do the work.

We were a railway station on the live East Coast Main line, I believed the tank to have been damaged by a stone from the trains  - Network rail had replaced the old high 'wooden' fence with a strong wire fence.  I rang my boiler engineer in a panic - he told me to block the hole with ordinary wet soap.

We'd never changed the oil tank since buying in 1999, but apparently it was so old it was 'single bunded' and I had to buy a new 'double bunded'.  As it was bigger and heavier I also had to have the concrete supports reinforced.  My new 1500 litre tank, a Titan, the transfer oil from the damaged one to a temporary, then the temporary to the new one and the reinforcement cost £4K.  Then I discovered I should have had the tank 'stabilised' in case of high winds  - I just bought those straps and very badly attached them to the ground.

I do recommend having a 'Signal man' in the kitchen to read the levels.  

Bigphil1474

Some of that is normal surveyor doom and gloom, some is DIY and some is big money. I wouldn't proceed without asking for a reduced price, particularly for 3, 4, 6, and 7 which you wouldn't expect to be aware of when viewing and may not be taken into account on the EAs marketed property value. It is unusual for surveyor to say something needs doing or is dangerous, they usually say may need replacing, get someone to look at it etc. Must be bad. Probably start at asking for £15-£20k off and work from there.