Pull out of house sale due to survey?

[maneandfeathers]

Has this happened to anyone else?

Finally found one we sort of agreed on, although I prefer it to DH who is very unenthusiastic about anything we have seen as he wants a house 100k over budget and compares everything to that.

Mortgage valuation has thrown up a major issue in that the roof needs replacing.

DH wants to pull out and just buy a new build instead, I’m undecided. Am I mad to even consider it? Vendors won’t drop any lower than we are now so we are currently at a stalemate.
The house already requires a lot of work and this has doubled it, I don’t even know how much a roof costs!

We need to decide today whether to proceed or not.

Something else will come up won’t it

I'd drop out.

And tell your DH he is being unreasonable comparing houses well out of your budget to those that are within it. You need to stop look at those.

Happened to us, Major issue with roof plus some dodgy cracks.surveyor recommended a further in depth survey to see what was making the cracks appear. We just got our friend who runs his own building company to come round. He pointed out the extension was not matched up and pulling the structure constantly, found out there was subsidence in that area as well so just pulled out. The further in depth survey was going to be thousands. The house was sold and did have a new roof the next year, I personally wouldn’t have wanted the hassle of a new roof.

I have sold a lot of houses. Roofs don’t last forever, so if it’s an older house that hasn’t been recently renovated the roof will usually flag.

The vendors don’t have to drop the price, the house is probably already priced to reflect the need for updating.

Speak to the surveyor, see how much work is required and how urgent it is. I have seen ridiculous quotes at this stage of the process, one surveyor quoted thousands of pounds to replace faulty (brand new) windows because he couldn’t figure out how to open them.

Another stated the chimney needed to be redone because it wouldn’t accommodate a wood burning stove, and convinced the buyers to demand the price be dropped by £10k🙄.

Keep your head, if it needs a whole new roof in the next five years, think about whether you can afford it and decide. But no roof will be perfect on an older house.

Thanks all.

The property has been dropped in price by 30k however has been on the market a long time so I suspect was overpriced in the first place. The price we are paying is probably in line with most houses in the area but there isn’t much to compare it to as a house hasn’t sold in this part of the village for 15 years and the last one to sell was a bungalow not a semi. It probably needs 15k cosmetic work which we did budget for.

The roof has been flagged as it is coated in insulating foam and apparently needs a replacement. It has had a specific roof survey saying as much. The owner is not willing to drop as she does not agree the roof needs replaced hence we are stuck between walking and just accepting it.

We are waiting on a mortgage valuation which will tell us whether it’s mortgageable or not, if not then that’s it decided anyway. It’s taken 6 months to find something we liked in the first place

The vendor doesn't agree with the roof needing replacement after a specific roof survey? Walk. There is ALWAYS another house.

Do you mean foam as in insulating foam, on the inside? The roof isn't actually leaking or letting in water?

Yes chic, exactly that however the mortgage company do not like the foam due to the fire hazard/chemical content/being unable to see the beams and structure and finally the fact the tiles are glued together with foam so are impossible to move or replace without taking all of them off

Time to pull out. If you aren't looking for a house that needs so much work and you don't have vast amounts of capital ready to pay someone else to do the work and you don't have the personal experience to have noticed for yourself that a roof needs replacing, best to quit now and save yourselves a lot of heartache!

Have just read your latest post. Does the roof survey actually say the roof needs replacing or does it say the roof could be replaced with xxxx which would be better. There is a huge difference.
We once had a roof survey done by a buyer which said it would be better if the tiled roof were replaced with traditional slates and that would cost xxx. The inexperienced buyer thought this meant the roof needed replacement and asked for that amount off. We told them to jog on. The roof was functioning and performing as intended. If they chose to replace in the future with another roof, which one day they would as the roof would require maintenance etc, that would be their decision as the new owners and nothing to do with us. Eventually they did buy the house for the agreed price. I'm sure ire the roof is still fine. Maybe they will restore the slates in 50 years when the current tiles have finally given up.

@silly we also once had an extortionate quote to replace a brand new roof because the surveyor did not like the material (was a flat roof, surveyor was very old fashioned). We contacted the roofing company and they hadn’t even visited the house.

The surveyor couldn’t explain what was wrong with the roof.

First time buyers announced they refused to buy a sub standard house, when the material was actually superior the the quoted replacement. We put the house back on the market. Next surveyor didn’t flag any issues with the roof.

I've pulled out of a sale based on a survey. It was heart breaking as we were desperate to move. Dh had started job in the area and was commuting a long way every day, I was pregnant with no.3, and, worst of all, it was at that time when house prices were going up by the day and we were at the top of our financial limit already. But the house had a major problem - it was on top of a collapsed drain which served the whole street and every year it blocked and it fell to that homeowner to get it cleared. Nightmare scenario.

We found something else a few weeks later in a different village. Not as nice as the first house, but we were there 5 years and, in fairness to this house, we never had a moment's problem with it in those 5 years.

I would walk away if I were you. Oh, and if you want to know what a new roof costs, we had part of our roof done about 10 years ago. It cost £11,000 then, if that gives you any idea of cost.

Thanks all, we have decided to pull out.

Seller is not happy but neither is the mortgage company so we are backed into a corner.

Really hope something comes up soon as our buyers won’t wait