If you were buying a leashold flat in a converted house...

[twelveyeargap]

And you found out just before exchange that the sewer pipes beneath the house were cracked and leaking and that they ran through the underpinning and the whole lot had to be replaced by the freeholder; would you wait til the work was done before exchanging contracts?

Reason I ask is not because I'm buying. I'm actually renting the flat that's being sold and as I can't complete on my new house until the end of Dec; I'm desperate to stay longer.

Am supposed to be out by end Nov latest, but really don't want to have to rent short term and move me and my family TWICE in under two months...

Just looking for opinions. Hoping, hoping that this delays the landlord's sale until after Christmas as it would really, really help me.

Even if I have to put up with the smell of poo for a bit... Any thoughts?

i would wait till work to be done and i would suspect tha the mortgage wouldnt be able to go through because of this work..basically it would be unmortgageable surely!!! and also a heath risk though to you....!

you don't want to live somewhere like that till its fixed IMO .. particularly not with small children

and no I wouldn't buy a property with such severe and expensive issues .. because the leasholder has to pay for the repairs not the freeholder ... freeholder will just bill all leaseholders

Oh, buyer is a cash buyer (and anxious to move quickly) so no mortgage issue, but no, I don't suppose they'd want to go ahead - no matter how much they're in a rush. Fingers crossed anyway!