Home buyers report! Sole reason to freak you out?!

[Mordirig]

So,, we have read through our home buyers report and I am now worrying about all the 'stuff' that needs doing.
It's got concrete guttering that needs to be replaced.
The roof is mossy and the underlay needs replacing.
Patio is only 1 brick above DPC
Asbestos suspected on outhouse roof materials.
Replastered ceiling in kitchen under the bathroom area suspect a previous leak.
Water tank still in loft, may need draining/removing.
Signs of condensation in bathroom exterior wall & on first floor window.
Unfinished woodwork especially doors, some not made to fit door frames and to not fully close.
They couldn't get to the stop cock as it was obscured and they didn't test the boiler (combi) electric fire (new) had no certificate withit either.

We are FTB and although DH is remaining calm I'm a bit worried, especially about the asbestos and roof.
How bad does this all sound to you? Should I be worried?
Not sure where to go from here, still have our more in depth survey to complete though.
Worried that will turn up more stuff to fix!

Surveys always sound like you are buying a complete hovel that is perilously close to falling down. You need to take a sensible view on whether there are any big ticket items that a) are really likely to need replacing; and b) that you couldn't afford to do.

Our home buyers report came back with a few things that really worried me. My DH was less worried and we bought the house. We've moved in and none of the things mentioned have been a problem. The garage roof leaks, but that wasn't picked up and the boiler stopped giving out hot water, which also wasn't a problem on the home buyers survey. We didn't use all our savings to buy the house in case any of the things on the survey needed doing immediately, we had a small safety net to pick up anything that needed doing.

The main worry would be the roof (saying so as we have just had a leak, a fix alongside a quote to redo the whole roof at a few thousand).

Speak to the EA and suggest either a low offer to take into account the roof repairs or that the current owners do the roof and this will be reflected in your offer.

Asbestos is quite common in buildings from 1950-1980. It is not an issue if you leave it in-situ and do not agitate it.

The one that stood out for me was the roof underlay. It would be a question of how badly it needs replacing. As in, it's rather old and it would be good to get a new one, or, this is letting in water and urgently needs doing?

In addition to the above good advice, I'd be getting your solicitor on to the fireplace and finding out why it's not certified.

Why would electric fire need certifying ? If it is new it wouldn't require PAT testing for a public environment . Normal not to test the boiler. Agree asbestos is very common in certain ages of property and not an issue until disturbed.

Thank you, they said the roof underlay needed replacing as you could see light coming through, the pictures showed exposed timber etc.
But they said to replace the underlay only would be non cost effective so basically do the tiles and underlay together although there was no evidence of a leak at the time.

The outhouse we wanted to knock down and build a very small extension with seperate back door to make a down stairs toilet and porch area for the back garden, so will this now not be possible due the abstestos?
I did say to DH maybe we should get a quote and knock that off the original offer but he thinks it will be rejected, we are in SE and properties are being sold in under 24 hrs.

I think it is reasonable to lower the offer or ask them to rectify the roof as we offered full asking price which was nearly 10k over the last property bought in that street a few weeks before and that was an end terrace, this is mid terrace.
How do we go about that? Wait until detailed survey is completed or mention it now?
I don't want to be shitty and wait until just before exchange iykwim.

sounds like he is only guessing re. asbestos anyway , due to age and style of building . It simply means that it would need a controlled specialist to dismantle and dispose, so a bit more ££ than otherwise. have you commissioned a more detailed survey of roof and outhouse ? If the items were self evident (woodwork, condensation) or non-essential (outhouse demolition) then you can't really reduce for that but cost of redoing roof maybe or offer to go 50:50 as if you don't go ahead the next person will find the same.

What has the surveryor valued it it- I would be worried about the patio being aboce the damp proof course, it shoudl be below

you wont be able to ask them to drop price unless surveryor has said it is worth less than the price.

well you can ask

I wouldn't worry too much about the asbestos if it is white asbestos - we had some white asbestos and called a company to remove it but they said it is fine to remove yourself as long as you have the correct safety gear on. The local council then gave us some advice on parcelling it up so they could take it away, once it was parcelled up they done it next day so it's all gone now. It is quite a hard material and unless broken into small bits creating lots of dust it's quite safe to handle with the correct protective gear (gloves/mask/overalls).

If it is blue asbestos that's a different matter - it is dangerous and does need a specialist company to remove it and it can cost a lot of money to remove due to the amount of work need - they need to seal the site completely and do air tests to make sure it's all gone.

The only things there that would give me pause for thought are the patio above the dpc, and the inability to get to stopcock.
Maybe typo should be below DPC, and surveyor couldn't be arsed to get to stop cock?
You need to be able to turn the mains water off quickly if you've a leak or are doing some plumbing work, and a patio above the damp proof course means that water on the patio will soak up the walls.
Otherwise all surveyor reports have stuff that matter not a jot irl.