Building survey on Victorian terrace - what to make of it?

[Me2Me2]

We've had a full building done on the property we're buying - a 3 bedroom terrace in London built c.1900. The survey starts by saying the property is in a condition commensurate with its age with no major structural issues, but then goes on to list a whole lot of work that needs doing, eg. repair chimney, replace concrete flashing with lead flashing, realign downpipes etc etc. It doesn't all need doing immediately (a couple of things do) but there's a lot in there.
What I'm not clear on is how normal it is for a property to have lots of (at the moment) minor work that needs doing.

If you have had a survey done on a Victorian property, what kind of issues did it raise and how seriously did you take them (as in, did you go back to the vendor, change your mind etc)?

Most of Victorian properties will have issues, but people live happily nevertheless. Mine had a number of "issues" but 5 years on I have not fixed any of them (fixed some others). And my house seems alright.

It's just niggly stuff, most of which you will never get round to doing (at least not until it grows into a real problem). If it is Victorian but it's not moving massively, hasn't got water pouring down the walls and isn't generally a health hazard, I'm sure it's normal and fine. Good luck.

In my experience most of it will not be thought of again until you sell and a surveyor writes it on a form

None of that sounds scary to me and we've lived in two. We knew we really wanted both houses and with the market the way it is now I wouldn't quibble over relatively small things. They don't sound like big fixes. If you'd said unexplained cracking, roof with holes in etc that would be different though!

Well when I called the surveyor today he did make it sound a bit like the chimney might fall off! though in the report itself it just said it should be reinforced or something like that

The other thing he said was pressing was repair of section of roof over front bay window which shows signs of moisture in the timber.
I think it's the word 'roof' that is panicking me. That and the approaching exchange

Agree with all the other posters. That type of outstanding minor repairs is 100% standard. Most people don't get around to fixing these minor issues until they become serious enough that they are causing some kind of damage (ie a leak!).

We moved into a Victorian terrace, built about the same time. The survey had colour coded the problems in a 'traffic light' style, eg red for immediate attention etc.

Initially the survey sounded like the entire place was about to collapse, but we got some builders in who assessed the problems and gave us ball park figures for the more urgent work. We then negotiated this off.of the asking price. We had the most urgent work done prior to moving in (a half day job tieing in the remains of a chimney breast to the wall in the loft) but tbh the rest remains undone 3 years later, and although will need doing it's waiting for us to save up & get it all done at once.

Would the vendors allow you a builder in for advice? Our Estate Agents sorted it out, the only thing the vendors didn't allow was a carpet to come up, which is understandable.

Is it a double or single storey bay?

We had this with ours (single storey bay) and it was about 2 years before we got round to fixing it.

If it's double there may be more costs incurred as they have to scaffold higher to get to fix it but it's still very, very minor work. By roof I think you have to worry more about cost if it's the whole roof needs doing.

We had a leaning chimney stack and just had it taken down as the chimney breast was no longer there internally.

I would not let any of those things put me off buying. We've bought and lived with much worse.

My roof was flagged up when I bought my 1900 terrace. I didn't get around to it for ten years. It was fine.

I have never seen a survey on an existing house that didn't have something that needed doing!

As long as there is no serious damp, structural or roofing issues you should be fine to continue. From what you've said nothing on that list isn't fixable at a reasonable price (under 5k).

I agree the window roof would be the first thing to do as once damp gets in your house it can cause other more expensive problems. If it's just a window roof it shouldn't be too much upheaval and is worth doing within the first few years to prevent problems. If your really concerned get a builder to look at it and give you an estimate of price and urgency before going ahead.

Good luck! From what you've said I see no major issues to stop a purchase from going ahead.

Thanks. It's double storey bay

I'm feeling a bit stupid - we had the survey don't ages ago but the sale was delayed and I've only just read it now, when things are moving fast to exchange.

Really don't worry. If you love it, go for it.

Had a builder over to quote on roof works today and it wasn't that bad at all (under 2k). Phew
He did say it should have been done yesterday tho

Ach, they always say that.

Good news tho!

victorian properties are wonderful but believe me there is always stuff to do!! the main thing is the survey says it is structurally sound.

I think the chimney thing might be important - you wouldn't want it to fall onto the pavement as someone was walking past (or into the garden onto your DC come to that). The chimney cover on ours was leaning but was fixed by next door's builder who nipped along the roof and straightened it with his hand - it took about 30 seconds. Would your builder take a look?

Yup builder commented on the chimney. I think we will deal with the roof as soon as we've recovered from the pain of the actual purchase. I'm paranoid about roof problems

We had a roofer look at the roof of the house we bought due to similar issues. He said he was absolutely sick of being called out to properties because of what a surveyor had said. He said they have to cover their backs and mention anything that might just might go wrong.

Our survey sounded dire, we did buy. Yes, the work will need done eventually but it's nit a must-do right now.

One surveyor actually hold me that some just cut and paste things that are likely to affect a property of a particular age...

They always have a long list, usually the most pressing issues are already obvious to you - I didn't really need a surveyor to tell me the kitchen was 'worn and dated' for example, there'll be something you couldn't have known and a load of stuff about pipes being the wrong diameter for example, despite the previous family having lived there happily.

Up to you what to make of it, if you drop the house, try to shave a bit off your offer, leave it and do some of the work when you move in or completely ignore it.

5 years on I've done most of the work on my survey but some of the most serious problems I've had were unexpected.

Sounds like you might want to do the roof and chimney and leave all the other stuff until you are actually decorating that bit of the house.

I think it's all normal on a property of that age. You could get a quote for the works and submit it to the seller to see if they will take that amount if the price. But don't be surprised if they don't.

Yeah we tried to put some of it on the vendor via the EA, who put us in our place and told us no way.

no major structural issues

That's the main thing. If the chomney was about to fall down it would have said 'significant structural issues'

When I bought my Victorian terrace in 1995 I was told the roof had a "Limited life", never really had anything done to it, it never leaked so didn't bother. Fast forward to 2002 and it didn't even get a mention on my purchasers survey !