House I'm about to buy is flooded and "uninhabitable"

[TheAbsentGazelle]

So as those who may recognise my username will know, I've recently separated from my abusive ex DP so we put the house on the market and I've had an offer accepted on a new place. We've found a buyer for our house too now and everything was on track to complete by the middle of January.

I've just had a phone call from my solicitors today saying the house I'm about to buy has experienced "significant flooding" and is currently "uninhabitable". No further details yet due to the Christmas break but I believe it's needing all new electrics, a new central heating system, but work has now started on doing the necessary repairs.

The solicitors say I have 2 options.. carry on with my plan of buying this house although they don't have a date yet when it may be finished.. or pull out now and look for another house.

Am I crazy for continuing with this purchase? What if the flooding has affected other parts of the house - floorboards or walls which doesn't become apparent until later? Am I better to just cut my losses and look for something else? It wasn't exactly my dream home but options are extremely limited on the housing market where I am.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? ☹️

If it's floooded once likely to have happened before and will again making it difficult to sell if you decide to move again

Back out. You’d be a fool to continue with the purchase.

I would pull out,, house insurance will be difficult or very expensive

Back out - you'd be crazy to take this on

Why has it flooded?

Depends on reason for flooding. Burst pipe very different to river bursting its banks.

What has caused the flooding?

Flooded why?

Environmental? If so, surely this would have showed up on searches anyway and you knew you needed specialist insurance etc so the job now is just dealing with the damage

House accident ? So this wouldnt have a long term implications but you need to get it checked over in case of damage that affects the house but also your valuation

Pull out.

It’ll be a nightmare in terms of delays, and you may have trouble insuring it in the future, depending on the cause.

It depends if the flooding was due to a burst pipe or a river/other nearby water/rainfall. If the latter pull out now. If the former then I guess you'd need to have another survey or something once the repairs are finished to check there isn't hidden damage.

As pp said, why has it flooded? Burst pipe then your choice, flooding from weather you may want to walk away.

If it is weather related, has it happened before? We have areas that flood and I would never consider them, insuring is also nearly impossible.

Sorry, yes it was a burst pipe due to the cold snap we had.

If it’s burst pipes you might be able to get some level of refurbishment to your specifications on the insurance. If it’s a river flooding it’s banks bum like the wind.

We were selling a flat when someone broke in to steal the electric shower from the bathroom, breaking the pipe. The purchaser got new kitchen units, new floor, new shower etc, but did have to wait an extra 3-4 weeks while it got sorted.

If flooding is due to weather/location to river, walk away now. Insurance will be expensive, it'll happen again at some point and be even harder as it's your home, selling and getting a mortgage won't be easy in the future.

Depends on how it flooded? Was it internal leak - a one off, or actual flood damage which may occur again? I guess you'll be able to make an informed decision once you get the facts.

What’s caused the flooding?

I’d view flooding from something environment like a river bursting its banks much more negatively than flooding from something like a burst pipe.

But even so, given the uncertainty over how long the repairs will take and whether there’s any long term damage, I’d be inclined to pull out altogether and start looking for somewhere else.

What was the cause of the flooding though? Frozen pipes bursting when the weather thawed or the river at the end of the garden overflowing? This will make a difference if you're worrying about being able to insure it going forward.
In your circumstances though I'd definitely pull out and look for something else.

Sorry, just seen it's a burst pipe. If you decide to proceed, I would only exchange contracts when work is completed and you've had chance to check it's satisfactory, also give vendor say two months to sort as it repairs could get delayed.

Back out.

Like you said, you don't know for sure there isn't secondary damage. It's just not worth the potential headache, unless you have loads of spare cash and free time to spend on dealing with anything that comes up later.

Burst pipes are your least worst option!
Get some realistic dates for the work being completed - on the upside, new central heating system and lots of refurbishment done for you.

A burst pipe wouldn't put me off.

I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole - if it has flooded once I’d be worried about it flooding again, and also how insurance would be affected.

I wouldn't worry about a burst pipe. That does happen to people. Don't exchange until all the work has been completed and to the correct spec too.

Just saw your update, burst pipes sound like the best possible scenario.

If I was in this position, I’d still want to be able to check repairs were satisfactory, maybe another survey after that to check there’s no remaining damage, before committing myself fully to continuing with the purchase.