Survey results

[CaptainWentworth]

Hoping for a bit of advice from those more experienced in house buying than I am!

We are first time buyers part way into purchasing a house that is perfect for us in terms of location, size and price, but that we knew needed some updating. We have a mortgage offer, and a solicitor, but we asked the solicitor not to go any further with searches and whatever else he has to do before we got the results of the survey- wanted to minimise costs in case it turned out to be subsiding or something.

The house is c.1902, and we had expected possibly having to rewire it, and we knew the garage roof had completely had it. We haven't had the full report yet- survey was on Friday- but spoke to surveyor today to get the main points. We are keen to go ahead unless there is a real majorly expensive issue- we have a few thousand for immediate work & then would have to save up for the rest.

The main issues are damp in some walls which needs treating & replastering, possible rot in front room floor- small chance (c. 2%) this could be extensive dry rot which would cost a fortune (£10k!) to rectify- chimneys needing repointing soon, possible wall tie issues (evidence of previous work at back of house) and electrics that look at least 30 years old and need an interim report, costing c. £170. Roof is original but ok, and no signs of subsidence.

How much of this additional surveying/estimating should we get done before going ahead with the purchase? I don't want to be gung ho but you could go on forever investigating stuff if not careful. Surveyor did say it was prob in average condition for this type/ age of house.

from experience i would say the most serious problem is the possible rot. the problem is that without exposing some of the area affected then it is impossible to ascertain the situation - it may well be nothing - but you could find yourselves having to lay out £1000s

Thanks for that book tip MrsMag - we're on the verge of buying one originating from c.1630 and the book looks excellent. Had our building survey done today and waiting (nervously) for the results!

Yes that's what I'm thinking ATM- check out floor at least. Wish it wasn't so close to Christmas- don't think vendors will be keen on being disrupted again!

Sorry, hadn't refreshed! Thank you Mrs Mag- will see if they have that book at the library- have heard a bit about the problems you mention, such as modern plaster/ render not letting houses 'breathe'. We currently have mould issues in our modern rented flat so keen to avoid that kind of thing!

Just need to find a balance between sorting out what needs looking at, and keeping things moving.

Sorry I didn't offer more advice CaptainW - as I say we had our survey done today and I'm on tenterhooks myself!

I think it's very difficult to know where to draw the line re. surveys. I specifically whispered down the phone to our surveyor that I wasn't interested in any scaremongering in his reports - I want to know the reality, not to be bombarded with minute possibilities of worst-case scenarios. You cite a 2% chance of there being dry-rot. I think that's very very low and if you trust his verdict then I'd say him saying 2% is probably just covering himself.

When buying an old house to some degree I think there are always going to be issues to be addressed. When we looked round the house we've offered on, the roof looked to be fairly old. DH remarked upon this, and the agent replied saying that when she'd bought her house, the survey had said the roof needed doing. They had just had the roof done last year - twenty years after buying the place. And of course yes yes, this is the EA speaking, but I think there's a lot to be said for those anecdotes sometimes!

I think it was 2% chance of it being really awful- he said the floor was 'spongy' in part of the front room. Ooh, I don't know... The rest I do think we can deal with gradually- but if the joists are rotting we need to know how bad it is and how much it will cost to fix as if it's left it will just get worse.

I would want a further report on the rot and probably the damp.

Electrics are par for the course an the chimney repointing is also very common and not a lot of hassle really.

Should also add that it shouldn't (I think?) affect our mortgage offer as we just had the basic valuation done to get that by the building society's surveyor- we engaged a different surveyor ourselves to do the building survey once we knew we had the mortgage (as no point doing any of it if mortgage refused- cautious is my middle name!)

Have just spoken to my mum and she posed an interesting question- if we end up revising our offer downwards to reflect any extra work needed, will the building society still lend us the amount originally offered (thus giving spare cash for said work) or will they only lend amount actually paid?

Going to sleep on it then contact solicitor for advice tomorrow- may also call EA to warn vendors me will prob want more investigations...

Thanks for all the input from everyone so far, much appreciated

LondonLottie - if you're buying a house from 1630, definitely buy The Old House Handbook and read it cover to cover, and if you possibly can, go on the SPAB Homeowners weekend course as well. It will save your sanity and plenty of money - honestly the best thing I've done. My one mistake is that I should have dragged DH along too so that he knew what I was talking about.

By the way, you know what everyone says about everything costing twice as much if you have an old house - interestingly enough, it does appear to be a pretty good rule of thumb for estimating costs.

Thanks so much GrendelsMum - have mailed the details to DH, it looks great. The house is in excellent condition at the moment but I am keen to keep it that way!

Captain do you have a cellar or a crawl space beneath the living room floor?

We had a "spongy" corner in our living room floor, due to rottern joist underneath. We were able to investigate the problem by crawling from the cellar into the crawl space (not for claustrophobes) to look at the joists from underneath. Could you do that?

I'd also ask the surveyor why he says only 2% chance of dry rot. What investigations has he done? I can't really understand how he can be so sure... (as lottie says 2% is v low, virtually nothing).

I'd budget for rewiring and possibly a new (chemical) damp proof course.

er rotten not rottern

Well I've had first email contact with our surveyor post him going round yesterday. He has said there's woodworm in the timbers and recommends a more detailed investigation. Am hoping this isn't too bad; DH surprised me by shrugging it off and saying it was very common in old buildings and would probably have been treated. Waiting to find out more...

Was the building survey done by a Chartered Building Surveyor?

If it was, then as you went to the trouble (and expense) of having a separate building survey done then I would expect that surveyor to undertake the detailed investigation for dry rot, rather than having to engage yet another firm.

If not, then the situation is probably as described by several of the contributors above and you may very well have to pay again!

Argh, just wrote a really long reply that vanished- bloody iPhone!

Anyway hope everyone had a good Christmas. We finally got the full survey report on the 23rd so have been studying it with my parents - they I think were a bit put off by the long list of points, but we aren't! Mum got me the Old house Handbook for Christmas which has been very interesting reading- def agree with the non-invasive/ destructive SPAB approach.

To answer the queries people have mentioned- yes the surveyor is RICS registered, but wasn't able to investigate fully at the time of the survey as it would have meant pulling up floorboards. He said he could come back to have a look if we get someone to go under the floor. I don't know if there's a crawl space but none was mentioned - definitely no cellar. My dad actually did his PhD on wet rot fungi so would get him to have a look if it were accessible, but tbh I want a real expert to assess any structural implications.

So my first worry is, are we best getting the surveyor back in (presumably at extra cost) or should we engage a specialist firm? Keen to avoid recommendations for unnecessary invasive work. Survey report didn't say whether there was a dpc- would expect a house of this type to have a slate one- so will check this. Surveyor gave me his mobile no in case of queries but feel bad about phoning over the holiday period- would like to start arranging stuff next week though.

Apart from the potential wood decay, other urgent issues are possible rising damp in a couple of places, damp in utility room being held back by concrete plaster (eeek!) replacement of garage roof, replacing slates on main roof, replacement of fuse box (and possibly more on electrics) and repointing and possibly rebuilding of main chimney. Should we get quotes for this work at this stage, and how do we go about getting 3 quotes for each aspect without pissing off the vendors? We still really want the house but want the price we pay to reflect its condition- the vendors seem to have done no maintenance at all.

Sorry for the long ramble- am so worried about doing something wrong!

Londonlottie, how are you getting on?

I would add that just because house hasn't got dpc, it doesn't mean it needs one- our house is 1901 and hasn't got one and we have no damp. Dpc firms ate a big industry and I did read an article by someone high up in RICS that rising damp is as common as rockinghorse shit! I'd check to see if there is an obvious cause of damp first ie dodgy down pipe etc.

Good luck with the purchase!

Sausagedog- yes, I have read that about rising damp too- am less worried about that aspect of things. The drainage channel at the front of the house is blocked with leaves etc and there are bushes right up at the front wall- think if we clear that lot it will really help. However if it has been damp in the past for whatever reason this might still have caused wood decay which will need dealing with.

Hello CaptnW - am certainly no expert but can tell you how we're approaching it.

Firstly, I don't think it's necessary to get three quotes for each service area required - personally I think that's overkill and is likely to piss off the vendors. We chose a very well regarded timber specialist firm in the area to give an independent evaluation. Of course there are no guarantees but it's not in their interest necessarily to artificially bump up the estimation of required work - it might backfire and put you off buying entirely. We have also had a number of relatively minor roof niggles emerge, and I am about to call a roofing company to go in and quote in the New Year.

Did your surveyor give an indication of when work was needed on the various points? The faults listed on our survey also include items such as missing/dislodged tiles, repointing needed, etc. My husband is always wary of roofs as they can cost a fortune, so although our surveyor didn't specifically suggest a separate roofing quote, we're getting one anyway.

Unless the quotes come back as being significant, and/or listing work which is essential and needing to be done immediately, I don't think we will try to knock the vendors down in their price. Interestingly, my husband is much more aggressive on this front, until I told him that if our buyers tried to get £10k+ off because of niggles on their survey, I would be really annoyed. It cuts both ways in our case - we're both selling and buying a period property (selling one bt. 1850; buying one bt. 1630) and I almost don't want to tempt fate by being arsey with our vendors in case we get the same treatment back!

Anyway, time will tell - looking forward to getting these specialist reports back so we can move forward with it all.

Wish I'd got that book for Christmas - are you glad you got it? :)