Help! Movement!

loula16

I'm trying to buy my first house - this is the second house that I have put an offer in for (the first house turned out to be very damp). The survey has revealed that there has been recent movement likely to be caused by a leaking drain.
The vendor is a builder and has offered to mend the drain - done by a friend of his - (the drain couldn't be inspected by the surveyor as there was no inspection tank however the vendor is now putting one in and tells me the drain has been inspected but there is no report to show this).
I know that the house needs to be monitored for the next 12 months with tell-tales; each monthly check will cost £75. There is no guarantee that mending the drains will rectify the problem.
I'm very strapped for cash and have now spent £900 in survey fees on two properties and am loathed to pull out of this one. However, I also don't want to be buying something that will be hard to sell on (or insure). I'm not madly in love with this house but do need to find a home for myself and my daughter.

Any advice gratefully received!

PasturesNew

£900 is nothing compared to what the costs could be if there turned out to be a problem.

House prices are falling. Pull out now and you'll have probably made back that much in the next 1-2 months from the price drop on the next property you're looking at.

There's no "rush" to buy like there's been for the last 10 years.

CHARDONNAY_3

The fact that you mention you are strapped for cash and also that you don't love the property would indicate that you should not be going ahead. If you think you may be buying into a property you can't sell on/insure - trust your gut instinct and walk away.

If property prices continue to fall, even at a very slow rate, you will recoup the survey money lost in the reduced price of a house you buy in the future.

Would renting not be a better option, at least short term?

loula16

Thank you for your replies.
I'm currently renting but sharing the house with my landlord (he'd decided to live in another country, it didn't work out and he came back to the UK). I am on the Open Market Home Buy Scheme (Govt. lends 17.5% of the asking price) but this is being phased out in September for another scheme that is nowhere near so good. So, I kind of feel that now is the only opportunity I will ever have of owning my own home. I've been looking since October 2007 and thankfully prices have certainly come down but now there's fewer properties on the market hence my dilemma.

simcla

I dont think you should buy this house as this is not a problem that is definitely solvable for a fixed cost. Movement in the past that has been stable for years is far less serious than recent movement. By drain tank do you mean manhole chamber? There are only 2 ways to inspect a drain, one is to physically dig down on the drain (which would be required to replace the damaged section(s)) and the other is to use a drain inspection camera, but to do this you first need a manhole chamber, and a drain inspection camera only shows the inside of the pipe, not any soil that has been washed away outside the pipe by leakage. If they have not dug down on the drain then no inspection could have been carried out. The monthly checks will cost you £900 over a year, and any future repairs could be very costly. I work for a building maintenance company and I would not buy this property apart from at a serious discount. Sorry to say but the damp property probably would have been easier to sort

Doozergirl

If your vendor is a builder then he really should know if there was trouble.

It's not so much the fact that there might be a problem as there is a possibility that your vendor may have tried to cover it that bothers me. If that isn't right, then what else might be wrong?

You can be in a new house in four weeks. Personally I would certainly move on, you will have trouble finding insurance if the house is being monitored for movement and really, it's the sort of thing that should be covered by insurance, you shouldn't have to pay for monitoring.

I'd want a quality product or something that wasn't pretending to be something it wasn't.

poppysarah

Ack. Take the loss of surveys rather than a bigger hugely expensive loss when the house collapses further down the line.

Go and drive past in two years time and see whether it was the right thing to do.

frostyfeet

Hi Loula
I know exactly how you are feeling as I'm in the same situation as you. In the midst of buying a house which is now showing up some worrying problems, and under the Homebuyers scheme. I have totted up (roughly) what it might cost to sort out these problems and asked for the sellers to cover the cost - by means of an allowance.This isnt quite the same as asking for a reduction in the asking price as if you did that, there is an impact on the mortgage offer and the amount the government will lend you on the equity scheme. I am fully prepared to pull out if they reject my proposition (still waiting to hear).

Our problem is that if we dont buy now we may never have the opportunity to buy again unless houses drop by at least 20%...so its a risk if you do and a risk if you dont. I still might pull out anyway....I change my mind on a daily basis at present but at least I currently have the luxury of some thinking time!

Snooze

frostyfeet wrote: »

Our problem is that if we dont buy now we may never have the opportunity to buy again unless houses drop by at least 20%...

:huh:

And how do you work that out? Your comment makes no sense at all in the current climate.

Rob

Snooze

PasturesNew wrote: »

£900 is nothing compared to what the costs could be if there turned out to be a problem.

House prices are falling. Pull out now and you'll have probably made back that much in the next 1-2 months from the price drop on the next property you're looking at.

There's no "rush" to buy like there's been for the last 10 years.

Agreed. Buying houses with movement issues is a huge risk. Your £900 spent so far is pocket change compared to what it might cost you further down the line if/when you discover that the drainage wasn't the cause.

Unless you fully understand the issues (eg. you're a builder/surveyor type person) and know exactly what you're buying into, run away as fast as your legs will carry you!

Rob

loula16

Goodness, thank you all so much! I think it safe to say that that is a unanimous response.

I feel that I"m rather good at selling myself short - settling for something that's not quite up to parr. The house has its pluses: new kitchen, new bathroom, new roof but it does have the tiniest of gardens and bisected too - let alone the sinking. Maybe I jumped into this particular house buy too soon having said that, agents are terribly good at pushing it seems!