WIBU to tell??

[movinghomeagain]

Hi all

Posting here for traffic - sorry it's long!!

We were in the process of buying a house but had to pull out due to issues with the floor and the sellers being not responding to questions

The floor has a shale infill, this can cause no issues however the tests came back with high sulphites and basically it all need to come out, this involves digging up the whole floor and replacing it with new stuff with no issues, this will cost in excess of £30k plus a new kitchen and downstairs toilet and flooring etc

Anyway we pulled out as it didn't seem liked they would do the work and we couldn't afford to do the work, plus 7+ weeks of not being able to live there while the work was done (the house was vacant so not an issue for them to do it, they could also have paid with the proceeds of the house which they were selling for parents if they agreed this with a builder)

We have now found a new house which has no issues (already had the test done) but the old house has come back onto the market with the same agent we are buying ours with, it's now £45k cheaper than it was before.

Since it's on with a new estate agent we are wondering if they haven't disclosed the problem with the floor and have just said it's fallen through twice and they want to sell quick hence the reason for a low price!

My wibu is would it be unreasonable to ring our estate agent (who we are buying our property with) and let them know about the issue with the floor incase the sellers haven't told them?

The last thing I want is a buyer to think they are getting a bargain as they want to sell quick and end up with a huge bill in a couple of years (there is already signs of damage)

Thanks and well done if you made it to the end

It is a known local issues btw however we weren't local and only knew to test as someone at my husbands new work said it needs to be asked, my worry is someone who doesn't know to ask will end up thinking it's a bargain when really it's a time bomb (as it's not covered by home insurance)

Ooh, that's a difficult one. I'm sure some people will say it's none of your business, but I do think that other potential buyers have a right to know - it's not like it's a quick, cheap job to fix! But I would definitely be too scared to tell wouldn't this get picked up by a survey anyway, though?

Our mortgage provider didn't ask for a test and our solicitor never mentioned it so not sure it would get picked up which is one of the things I'm worried about

Are you sure the new price isn't to reflect the fact that the work needs to be done?

The sellers should disclose the problem but I don’t see an issue with you telling the agent you almost bought that house but had to pull out due to the floor. Maybe they know but if not they’d want to know any issues that would hold up a sale.

The new price may be just to reflect the work that it needs, but the way they were with us and the fact that they switched agents makes me feel it may be more than that

Is the new house you’re buying on with the same agent as the one with the problem floor? If so, then yes I would mention it, as you have a relationship with them and it’s a kind thing to try and warn any other buyer. Although the agent may not pass the information on if they want a quick sale!

I’m also totally fascinated by this problem 😄 what do the ‘high sulphites’ do??

Bazaar - I'm not 100% sure myself but from what I have read they release gas's if they get wet (ground water or burst pipe etc) which blows the concrete and can push walls out. There's already a crack in the concrete slab which shows there has been some problems already!

Yes they have put it back up for sale but with the same agents that the one we are buying is on with

The agents won't care and won't do anything. They're not going to tell people looking around the house about it.

We looked at many houses with my dad who is a builder. We found houses with structural problems and missing building regs. The issues many well have come out in a survey (unlike your issue) and the agents may well have known about the problems from previous offers falling through from surveys, but they wouldn't have told us.

Very odd they wouldn't just do the work and market it for the previous price and make 15 k more.

If it's going to cost £30K to sort this problem out and they have reduced the price by £45K, it sounds as if they've fully taken this problem into account and any buyers would be getting a good deal

How did you find out about it OP? Did you use a solicitor local to the area (given it’s a known local issue)?

A known problem like this should be disclosed at some stage in the conveyancing process and remedial work will be extensive and expensive and your estimates could be optimistic both with regard to time and cost.

That is the end of your involvement when you dropped out of the purchase.

BazaarMum Google Sulphite attack, and you'll see how serious the problem is. To the OP, yes make the agents aware of the problem, but I suspect that they will already know. According to Google it tends to affect old mining regions and houses built between 1945- 70, I'm sure there will be exceptions so another think to keep an eye out for if buying a house........

The minimum it will cost is £30k, it depends how far they have to dig down, we pulled out before they got a quote through as we'd waited 4 weeks already!
It will also need a new kitchen, new flooring throughout the downstairs, new downstairs toilet etc all of this is subjective costing as kitchens can be as expensive/cheap as you want

We found out as my husbands friend lives down the road, we asked them to get a test done and they refused so we did one so I have a full report I can pass to the new agents if they want proof

@Justnotsureanymore round here red ash was a mining by product used by builders between 1940s and 1970s as a cheap way to make floors - if it gets wet it's a disaster!

We had to have a test done before selling my aunt's house.

Extended family have a similar situation although they are the house sellers. The Senior member of the family is unwell (apart from cracking on in years) and his Daughter is trying her best to get Dad sorted. She had no idea either there was an issue in the area until the former purchasers had undertaken enquiries and tests.

If by a slim chance its this family, the agent knows.

@expat101 are they in the north east?

The agents won't care and won't do anything. They're not going to tell people looking around the house about it.

Not true. If the agents know and don't disclose this, they could get sued by the person who buys it unknowing. I'd tell them in writing.

I would tell them, without a second thought. Estate agents are really only interested in their cut.
I wish our fucking agents had told us about the fucking rotten windows we had to replace, they knew all about them, and it would have cost us a lot of money to sue them about it, so frankly we didn’t, well dh didn’t want to, I would have. they were shit, and I bloody blasted them when it all came to light. Tell them op, what they do with the information is another story.

I’m not an expert, but I thought that if the sellers were aware of a problem and didn’t disclose it they could be sued. They have to disclose it to the estate agent. It sounds as though the £45k takes account of the work. A house I was interested in (great area, detached, close to excellent schools) had Japanese knotweed and vendors had a hell of a time selling it when it should have been gone in weeks. In the end they paid for a course of treatment with guarantee and stated it on the particulars.

its roughly how I would describe the location... small world aye.