AIBU to pull out of house purchase due to roof issues?

We once bought a house where the previous owners had replaced the roof but the standard of the work was poor and they hadn’t used real slate on the listed building which required this. We knocked £20k off our offer (the work was quoted at £30k) and the vendor did accept that.
I’d speak to the surveyor to find out if the work needs doing now and how serious the problem is. If you look at the other houses in the street you can see if many of them have had had their roof replaced to give you some idea of whether it’s likely to be needed. He might just have included this to cover himself?

Firstly, the survey report is your property so you are not obligated to give the estate agent a copy (unless they pay for it).

When this happened on my purchase I emailed the estate agent listing the main areas needing attention from the survey. I then advised what my reduction was on the price I had previously offered.

Obviously the EA wasn’t happy but I made it clear the revised offer was take it or leave it. The revised offer was accepted straight away by the seller.

Of course once I’d moved in I wished I had offered less 😂

I treated it like a business decision not an emotional purchase. There will always been another house!

@SocksOnTheLoose Given the cost, £10,000 could be a starting point but that’s a big %. I was assuming it might be a higher value. So ask but be prepared to negotiate. Don’t let the vendor not sell to you. Getting estimates will be a faff when you don’t own it. Only you know if its price is realistic for age and condition. I would ask your surveyor for an opinion on costs.

Your surveyor is your friend in this instance. Talk to them about your concerns and ask them to recommend specialist contractors to give detailed quotes. Even ask them outright whether he thinks you should back out.

@Cnidarian There were other red sections and it depends on the value of the house. £10,000 is next to nothing. It’s a negotiating position and depends if vendors have lots of people wanting to buy it and whether they think first time buyers are valuable. It depends on whether the agreed price was fair in light of the report.

It doesn't say you need a new roof, it says it will need repairs over time and you might lose a ridgetile in a storm. We just had that fixed it was £300. If as PP suggested you tried to get £10,000 off for that you would be firmly told where to go by me!

@Devonmaid1844 Did you actually read the report? It doesn’t say it needs replacing. It says it needs some work to address some defects.

I work for a roofing company and we avoid quotes like yours as it is a lot of admin time as we have to get our surveyor out and then do a report with a quote to never actually receive the works so it is a waste of time. We also charge for this survey because they don’t legally own the house. This is probably why you’ve been quoted £400 just to get a roofer out to have a look. (Although £400 is excessive I guess it depends on your area and the company themselves)

This is not the case. A surveyor can be kicked out of the RICS for doing this, it is against their code of ethical conduct.

The survey gives the context by flagging what they see as red, amber or green. They won’t include anything as requiring attention if it doesn’t, because they could also be sued for negligence if someone incurs a cost for addressing something in the survey that doesn’t need attention.

We had a new roof flagged on our house. There was mould growing on some of the beams in the attic as well. Everyone told us the same as on here, it comes up all the time, you'll be fine. We tried to negotiate a reduction and they said no, they'd not had problems and thought the price was fair.

A few months after buying the house we had a reputable local roofer come round, he looked at the roof and the beams. The mould had cleared up and he said he bet they just dried clothes inside and didn't open windows and nothing to do with the roof and the roof was absolutely fine.

10 years into having the house now and just had some dormers fitted and spoke to the roofer about the roof and replacing at the same time and he said it'd be fine for decades to come and not to bother. Of course you might be one of the ones who actually needs a roof replacing, but it really does come up regularly and they last a very long time.

The house we sold needed a new roof (the buyers survey brought it up). Rather than lose the sale we deducted the cost from the asking price. New roof was £4500. We were happy and so was buyer. Get your quote and advise sellers you would need it deducted from the sale price.

Our first house buy, we did a home owners survey - one where they actually get out of the car

1930's mid terrace

He flagged up "hoop iron" totally disregarding the previous survey done 5 years previous stating the hose was not affected and certificate issued

Advised electrical survey and gas survey - that's par the course and should be done

Said the back door and kitchen window needed replacing and wall needed repointing ( no bother the whole back of the house was coming down )

And said the roof needed attention ( the flashing around the chimney needed renewed )

He totally missed the fact that the vendors had put a concrete patio outside the kitchen - ABOVE the damp proof course and the kitchen floor was that wet that the Lino was floating lol

Electric and gas both passed, the flashing was a cheap job and as it was a Reno we weren't concerned about the wet kitchen and dodgy wet rear wall

Buying your first home is scary - its a LOT of money, and like you at the time I was nervous as hell going ahead but ahead we went and all was fine

Second house, one Im in now, didn't get a survey as under 10 years old and still covered with builders warranty

Then we moved here, and everywhere we went we saw stop the lignite signs everywhere. We were right inside a compulsory purchase zone IF permission for mining went ahead!!!! 20 years on, fossil fuels aren't ever getting mined here. I said to my solicitor, why did you never mention it? Oh he said, it was never going to happen so why worry you?

Yeah, its a minefield and scarey

Asbestos in tiles is rife and it's fine as long as they aren't damaged. If they are in good repair - leave alone . Repointing is a common need in older houses - get quotes per meter as some do like to drag it out

If the tiles have asbestos in them, the main thing is to check they are not cracked and broken. They would need to be removed in accordance with protocols but that’s not unusual. A competent roofer will know what to do.

I don’t think it needs a new roof, but I would say the re-pointing needs attention. Given it has been mentioned in a survey, if you subsequently suffer roof damage in a storm, the insurer may not pay out.

the only other potential area of concern would be the comment about asbestos roof tiles. I would suggest having an asbestos survey of the roof and negotiating a price for replacement if the tiles are found to contain asbestos. The risk is very low and if you don’t bother it, it won’t bother you, but replacing it might be better in the long run.

If

Also don't forget surveyors and conveyance can be sued if they don't flag stuff, if discovered afterwards so they can be a little over zealous to cover themselves.
You need to apply context and priority to the survey too.
:)

Remember it could also be that the seller feels the house has been priced to reflect the age of the roof and not be overly inclined to reduce the price. And to be honest I can see that viewpoint.

We had to pay for a chartered surveyor because of room issues, normal. We did pull out because the owner had removed structural beams, and the roof was collapsing, as were the ceilings.
They they did works between the survey and survivors - making the issues worse to try and avoid a negotiation in price and then the owner tried to bribe the surveyor.
He call me and said "this is the most bombastic person I've ever met don't buy this house"
And we pulled out.

But, your situation seems completely different and manageable. Budget for the works and try and get the price toml reflect.

I'm a surveyor and reading the bits i could read there is nothing that would concern me. Sounds like it is an old/original roof that is ready for an overhaul. Not necessarily a new one just some care and you being aware that it is nearer the end of its life than its start. A good thing to do on a street of similar houses is to look at how many on the road have new roofs - as they're all generally built at the same time, if yours is the only one left with the original one chances are you're getting close!

With the other bits, all houses are going to need maintenance, if you're absolutely against doing this then you'd have to look at a new build. Otherwise speak to the surveyor about what he thinks is most important to tackle first and then prioritise things. There are plenty of houses that we have surveyed and they come on the market say 5/6 years later and you can see they still have all the same issues we reported on. He's not said anything is super serious, but you just need to be aware. Also, if you're planning on doing renovations be aware that may be the time to do further work - silly spending out on cosmetic work if there is something underlying that probably needs doing before/at the same time.

Good luck!

Agree that the report isn't saying you need a new roof- its just saying it needs some repair and will need replacing at some point, as all roofs do.

Yes paying to have someone come and quote is quite normal- why would they do it for free? We had to do similar when we bought our house last year, they said they'd take the amount off the invoice if we eventually got the work done with them but it just covers them in the event you don't buy the house/don't do the work/get someone else to do it.

I'd get them round, get a proper quote for the work, and use that as a bargaining chip to negotiate some money off the asking price. That would be the normal way of going about things.

If you do buy it - and I don't see why you wouldn't, really ask round to get a reputable roofer. Talk to anyone you know. It's really worth getting a personal recommendation.

They're charging for the quote because you don't own the property. That will also be why you're struggling to get responses - no real potential for the quote to become a real job.
As a poster said up thread, £10k off to cover a bit of roof repair and lowering the paving at the front. I wouldn't be worried about that report and nothing mentioned is needed urgently.