I feel so anxious about our house

[mimimomma]

A year ago we moved from our comfortable, warm new build into a large 1960's bungalow that had been refurbished. We had a full survey done at the time and it did highlight some work which needed to be done on the roof (dodgy tiles etc) which we have had done. But since we moved I feel like I'm just waiting for something to go wrong. After being in for a couple of weeks I answered the door to balliffs who were after the developer. The garage roof had a big leak last winter. The neighbour told me that the house should have just been demolished and in the last month we've noticed 2 damp patches on the corners of bedroom walls (probably needs more work on the roof) and now a small damp patch on tbe bottom corner of my daughters bedroom.

I feel so anxious about living here. That we've paid a lot of money for a crap house. On the surface it looks lovely, but I feel that we've had the wool pulled over our eyes on it. Have never had to deal with older properties so feel a bit out of our depth. Can you tell me that I'm being silly please?

Older houses do need to be maintained and it is more work than a new build. Roof tiles moving etc is pretty common so you just need to have your roof checked every so often or if you see a problem, like the damp patches appearing, then see to it quickly and don’t let it become a bigger job.

I still love my old house compared to my new build so they can’t be that bad !!

I’m in a similar situation, moved from a lovely 20 year old house, to a 1960’s dormer bungalow.

Despite a survey, our flat roof leaked within 4 days of moving in, the drive floods, the back garden floods, the guttering is sending the water down the walls causing damp 😫 I hate, hate, hate this house BUT we knew it was a doer upper, and we do have big plans, I’m doing a lot of nodding and smiling when everyone tells me “it’ll be worth it in the end”

You have my sympathy.

Sell. Just move out and make it someone else’s problem.

You need to enjoy your home.

I'm sure you chose your house for good reasons, so try not to lose sight of those and work on practical solutions to get the problems fixed. Eventually you'll be able to enjoy the benefits of the house. Don't listen to the neighbour who said it should have been demolished. People talk nonsense, often out of bitterness. I have a friend who's a builder and he always said houses were built to last in the 60s. Don't just rely on one person's opinion.

Surely you had a survey which would have shown up major problems, older properties get to a stage where lots of things wear out at the same time.
Im in a 60s build and my roof now needs attention,guttering etc,

Sorry missed the bit where you said you had a survey!

I’d go through the survey with a fine tooth comb, and if you feel it’s appropriate contact the surveyor. Old houses do need more maintenance and in law there’s the old adage Caveat Emptor (buyer beware)

Crumbs! Our house and those around us were built before the war. Perhaps there should be a mass exodus. My SIL is a builder and says it is new houses you have to be careful about and that older ones are better. There are problems of all kinds which arise in houses. Roofs might well need some attention and you have had a survey. As for worrying about the garage roof, we’ll that is annoying but hardly worrying as it’s a completely different kind of construction anyway. Can’t understand your “kind” neighbour. Why she would want to burden you with such a statement I can only hazard a guess. Now a real worry would be a major subsidence causing large cracks (not minor plaster cracks so don’t go looking as all houses have these). Okay, so the developer got into money troubles. You don’t owe the money. Your house was built probably sixty years ago. If all that has happened is what you describe I would rest easy and enjoy your lovely new home.