AIBU if I disclose to the Estate Agents what is living in the house's roof?

[PropertyQuestions]

A house in our road has gone up for sale after the resident very sadly passed. I've seen bats going in and out of the roof at dusk for at least the last 6 years.

The resident knew about them (I used to chat to them and pointed them out) but they had dementia and lived alone so I doubt the people selling are aware of their presence.

WIBU if I let the estate agents selling this house know that there are bats in the roof so they can let prospective buyers know / so they can check a bat survey has been done?

The property is in a bad state so would generally be the type that would need to be gutted from the ground up to bring it up to modern standards, something that is hard to do if bats are present as they are protected. I worry for the bats coming to harm as well as for anyone buying the house with plans to renovate without knowing about them.

YABU - stay out of it
YANBU - let estate agents know

I wouldn’t do anything.

this is far more capitalist than bat concern but it’s giving me the horrors imaging not being able to sell my house and the neighbours being the ones who fucked it up for me

How would you feel to buy this and not find out till after? No? Thought not.

Bats are a protected species and therefore I would be advising the local bat people about them. It is illegal to destroy them.

Report to the bat people

House buying is literally the most significant example of buyer beware we have. You don’t make decisions based on how you feel to be the recipient.

id be pissed off if I was the recipient , but also relieved if I was the seller. Both exist

If you have a pond it's wonderful to sit quietly at dusk and watch them swooping around catching insects.

Contact the council/authorities/the bat people.
You owe it to the bats.

The surveyor might not even open the loft hatch.

Firstly, the surveyor WILL open the loft hatch. (My family members have been surveyors for decades.) This is an essential part of a normal house survey. However, not every house has a loft hatch. Mine doesn’t.

Secondly, the bats are not always living in the loft. Mine live under hanging tiles on the end wall. There’s hundreds of them under there. And dozens under the timber cladding on the garage too.

Anyone thinking the ‘bat people’ will have any power over a surveyor opening a loft hatch is deluded.

There is a helpline to call https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-helpline

Call Natural resources in Wales!

It doesn't take a specialist surveyor to see signs of bats (there'll be literal piles of poo!) At this time of year, if you popped your head into the loft you'd probably see the actual bats sleeping.

If someone buys a rundown property without any survey, or without even looking in the loft, then that's their lookout.

Ps people can live very happily alongside bats! There are approved methods of working on properties with bats (you can partition off a section of the loft if you want to use it as living space, or you can provide bat boxes away from the property, or you can just live your life with bats in your roof)

Don't tell estate agent. They won't be interested - even if they should be.
Do tell a bat charity as PP have suggested.
Do tell the new neighbours. Make it a positive conversation. Maybe borrow a bat detector and show them how to identify the bats as they fly in and out. The more batty people we can persuade to join #teambat the better.

That sounds like the perfect way to have bats, you get all the good bat stuff but none of the poo in your house.

i agree absolutely

they live in old trees round me and its lovely to see them in my garden. They are very casual and will fly past me inches away.

Definitely report it, bats are amazing creatures and need protecting

Beeswax? Are you 8?

7 and 3/4

I can't believe that people are saying to do nothing! the owner has died so is not there to disclose this. Yes, hopefully it would be picked up in a survey (if there is one!) but bats wouldn't be active when the surveyor is there so what if it isn't! Bats are protected as you say and can only be moved by licensed bat handlers, so that's potentially an unexpected and expensive exercise for any new owner.
I would both mention it to the estate agents and to the surveyor if you see them.

I bet it's not.

Given it needs so much renovation would the person buying it have a survey

It sounds like it would be cash buyers only and the person buying would factor in the cost for everything.

I would tell the estate agent and also any organisation that helps bat colonies

I grew up in a beautiful old house with bats in the roof! We loved them! I had no idea this was a problem.

This.

Protecting bats is everyone’s circus, or should be.