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Stressed! House-buying And Survey Is Very Bad!

Kallasia

Kallasia

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So we're buying a house for the first time ever. The piggies are getting their own bedroom.
This has been months in the making now, with so much paperwork and the estate agents and solicitors taking ages...

But today we got the buildings survey/report back.

Now, it's an older property and there was some plastering issues. Basically, we knew it was going to cost 2-4k in renovation before moving in.
After solicitors fees, deposit etc we have 2.5k ish. So some rooms would have to be done after move in.

The buildings report was like a horror story.
All the "minor" things the estate agent said were fine are actually big deals, with the external gable wall needing immediate attention due to risk of collapse and the plastering problem being caused by penetrating and rising damp, not a neighbour's bathroom as we were initially told!

The surveyors have put the cost of works at around 25k plus VAT for things requiring immediate attention.

OH MY GOD! That's ten times the amount we were expecting! Plus VAT, however much that is!

What do we do?
Renegotiate? Carry on, move in and keep our fingers crossed it doesn't fall down around us?
We really don't want to pull out as we love the property and the size, location etc is perfect for our needs!
 
With that result, if you love the house and are prepared, in theory to do the work, I'd try to re-negotiate the price as a first step.
 
Oh dear what a pickle! I would personally walk away but as you love it so much BEFORE YOU MOVE IN OR SIGN ANY PAPERWORK my suggestions are:-
  • Find out precisely how much it is to sort out the gable end and rising damp - an 'around' figure is no good - it'll probably be more!
  • Can you afford to get the work done?
  • Think long and hard whether you want to live in it before the work gets done or after. (I would definitely choose before!)
  • Do you want to live in the house while the work is going on - loads of builders dust isn't good for piggy lungs - or yours for that matter. Even if you keep doors shut it still gets everywhere and hangs around for at least a year and is horrible to clean even with a damp cloth believe me I know!
  • Renegotiate the price if you still want to live there - try knocking off the figure the works will cost. You never know you may get lucky! Especially with what has come to light in the survey the current owners will be lucky to sell it at all!
That said it is your decision.. I would never tell anyone what to do but I am happy to advise.
 
I know it is hard, but my advice would be walk away now.
If the estimate is 25K, then the final total will be even higher.
If this is your first home you do not want to spend the next 10 years fixing it up just to make it livable.
Unless they are prepared to immediately drop the price by over 30K you would be better off finding somewhere else.
If the problems are that bad this is not your dream home - it's a disaster.
 
I know it's really hard when you have had your heart set on the house but I would walk away. The place is a nightmare, to even consider taking that much building work on you would need a huge reduction in the price and once work commences what else are they going to find wrong. This isn't a home this is a building site, I wouldn't consider buying it for more than the cost of a building plot.
 
As has already been said it is hard to walk away but as @piggieminder has said (and I neglected to mention in my first post) is that something else will be found wrong it is never just the obvious. It sounds like a money pit.

Oh in my first post I made a mistake :oops:

Betsy said:
Think long and hard whether you want to live in it before the work gets done or after. (I would definitely choose before!)
Click to expand...
I meant to say "I would definitely *NOT* choose before"
Sorry for any confusion there.
 
As the others have said, this is a disaster and probably hiding even more problems.

No matter how much you love it I firmly believe you will find something perfect and far better if you keep looking. This is not the one for you, as hard as it is I would say walk away with the faith you'll find your perfect home if you just look a little longer.
 
We've got an appointment to see a financial advisor tonight who will see if it would be feasible to get a home improvements loan secured against the house. If not, we simply can't afford the works that need doing.
We'll offer a seriously reduced price to the vendor and he'll have to take it or leave it.
 
I presume you have spoken to your mortgage provider? This is the sort of issues that will influence their decision to lend the money so I suggest if you haven't that you do.
 
Sad lass as when one sets heart on a property especially your 1st and then money. problems. and other issues seem to be against you it's horrible feeling. moving or buying is a very stressful thing shouldn't be as it's what you want but this country has more people against than helping. . So Dam Negative. If the Surveyors were private then you gettin what you asked them to do and I'm sorry but thats their job. if the Surveyors are linked to the money lenders then they fall into worse case and it means nothin to them. IF it helps and It might. When I tried to buy my 1st house we did everything by the book. I got rewarded with the mortgage guy saying "unless you win the lottery you not havin that house". That hurt but we found another home. I still got the house but the wifes left. :bye::bye::bye:
 
Mrs Sport_Billy said:
I presume you have spoken to your mortgage provider? This is the sort of issues that will influence their decision to lend the money so I suggest if you haven't that you do.
Click to expand...

We need to speak to our advisor about that - the mortgage lender has already approved the loan after doing a valuation so we need to know whether we're under obligation to show them the buildings survey or not :/
 
David Pet Lover said:
Sad lass as when one sets heart on a property especially your 1st and then money. problems. and other issues seem to be against you it's horrible feeling. moving or buying is a very stressful thing shouldn't be as it's what you want but this country has more people against than helping. . So Dam Negative. If the Surveyors were private then you gettin what you asked them to do and I'm sorry but thats their job. if the Surveyors are linked to the money lenders then they fall into worse case and it means nothin to them. IF it helps and It might. When I tried to buy my 1st house we did everything by the book. I got rewarded with the mortgage guy saying "unless you win the lottery you not havin that house". That hurt but we found another home. I still got the house but the wifes left. :bye::bye::bye:
Click to expand...

It is an incredibly stressful time - I just hope we can muddle through some how
 
Kallasia said:
We need to speak to our advisor about that - the mortgage lender has already approved the loan after doing a valuation so we need to know whether we're under obligation to show them the buildings survey or not :/
Click to expand...
I would show the lender the survey whether or not you're under obligation to do so. They might make your decision for you - and they know a lot more about the subject than you do. If you thought you were buying a 'move in now', and you're now looking at a 'practically needs rebuilt' - is it even still your dream house, or are you still in love with your original 'move in now'? If so - it's NOT that house any more. If you moved in, and it was all too much - would you be able to re-sell it? You need to think very hard before moving forward, because either way, once your decision is made, it's made for better....or worse.
 
That's a good point @Reenie has made. You may never be able to resell in its current condition if you go ahead with the sale and regret it afterwards. You would be left with a house that will fall down around you, no money to move on and no money to do it up. Moving to your new home is a very exciting thing make sure you make the correct decision. The old saying 'marry in haste, repent at leisure' springs to mind!
 
I currently live in a house suffering from Damp. With the age of the property it is a common thing. Is the house you are buying an old terrace house by any chance?
We have had it damp proofed inside from the rising damp and the problem has come back numerous times even after a full damp proof course and the builders coming back to do subsequent works. It is a problem with some houses in the area. It didn't cost us a great deal to get done though so it is an option.
On the other hand a gable wall needing replacing due to imminent collapse is definitely not a good thing. It is something that would require immediate attention other wise will compromise the structural integrity of the whole house. Plus it is an expensive job to fix.
If I was you I would be re-negotiating as well to see what happens.
I do understand that after all the hassle and fees already it is hard to pull out. I am having similar stresses over house buying at the moment, it is no easy time. Good luck wjwith everything though.
 
Hank288 said:
I currently live in a house suffering from Damp. With the age of the property it is a common thing. Is the house you are buying an old terrace house by any chance?
We have had it damp proofed inside from the rising damp and the problem has come back numerous times even after a full damp proof course and the builders coming back to do subsequent works. It is a problem with some houses in the area. It didn't cost us a great deal to get done though so it is an option.
On the other hand a gable wall needing replacing due to imminent collapse is definitely not a good thing. It is something that would require immediate attention other wise will compromise the structural integrity of the whole house. Plus it is an expensive job to fix.
If I was you I would be re-negotiating as well to see what happens.
I do understand that after all the hassle and fees already it is hard to pull out. I am having similar stresses over house buying at the moment, it is no easy time. Good luck wjwith everything though.
Click to expand...
Very good advise. Tis a minefield and really should be the happiest purchase. :hb::hb:
 
Hank288 said:
I currently live in a house suffering from Damp. With the age of the property it is a common thing. Is the house you are buying an old terrace house by any chance?
We have had it damp proofed inside from the rising damp and the problem has come back numerous times even after a full damp proof course and the builders coming back to do subsequent works. It is a problem with some houses in the area. It didn't cost us a great deal to get done though so it is an option.
On the other hand a gable wall needing replacing due to imminent collapse is definitely not a good thing. It is something that would require immediate attention other wise will compromise the structural integrity of the whole house. Plus it is an expensive job to fix.
If I was you I would be re-negotiating as well to see what happens.
I do understand that after all the hassle and fees already it is hard to pull out. I am having similar stresses over house buying at the moment, it is no easy time. Good luck wjwith everything though.
Click to expand...

It's a semi-detached.
The main roofing issues where the water is coming in are on the side adjoining the neighbour so we'd need them to get their roof done too to be fully water tight.
The gable wall is the opposite side, but there's only about 3ft before the next house so anything falling could easily hit their house and potentially cause serious injury if someone was stood under it.
 
I think we definitely need to have a long hard think about this. The house is old and we knew it would need a little work but, perhaps naively, we believed the estate agents when they explained it wouldn't be too much work really.

We love the house. It has period features and is a great size. It's also on a quiet street in a great location for our needs.

But can we afford the works?
 
Estate Agents are there to sell a property for the highest price on behalf of the seller, their fee is a percentage of the price they manage to squeeze out of the buyer, it's in their best interest to play down problems. This is why buyers need full surveys, the survey a mortgage lender has done is only to make sure the value of the property covers the loan should a borrower default on the mortgage. It's difficult when you have found your dream home. In the end it comes down to whether you can afford to make the house good and whether you are prepared to live in a building site while it's done. :hug:
 
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