Are we overreacting to walk away? Survey came back with...

[NotJustACigar]

The survey on the detached Victorian house we offered on has come back with a lot of problems. The worst seem to be that the bay window is moving away from the rest of the house and that there is a downpipe draining directly onto the ground undermining the foundation. Also there is a lot of damp in various bits of the house, lintels need replacing, plaster needs replacing, etc. And the cavity wall ties are likely so be rusting and this could lead to structural movement.

The surveyor said the house is in "the lower end of average condition but not really, really bad". He said there isn't anything that can't be fixed but a programme of repair and renovation is required. He offered to cost it all up for £100 extra but we declined as DH wanted to just walk away.

Now I wonder if we overreacted to the survey. We just want a house we can move into and live in and don't want to put up with too much disruption or extra expense. On the other hand we did really like the house. Should I try to convince DH to give it another chance and try to get money off? Or is he right that we should walk away?

The house just sounds like ours except from cavity walls. My buyer did not peep after the survey was done.

All those things sound quite standard for an old house. Arrange quotes to do the necessary repairs and then negotiate regarding he price, if you can. In some areas it will probably just get snapped up anyway.

The movement in the bay window would worry me as I walked away from a house with the same problem when my builder said it would need underpinning.

Yes we were told the best solution for the bay window would be to underpin but that would have implications for the insurance premiums and resale value going forward.

It's the excessive and pervasive damp issue that really bothers me, though. This is due to DH having asthma and other respiratory difficulties. I don't know how he would cope in a damp and therefore probably mouldy house.

We were told by the seller that there wasn't anything that needed doing in the house. But the surveyors say it is in below average condition for its age and almost everything in the house came back as a 3 - requires urgent repair.

Do we not belong in a Victorian house? We love the look of them but don't want damp or too much worry. Maybe we should look at 1930s semis? Definitely want to avoid another bad survey fiasco or wasting anyone else's time (and our money!).

We live in a Victorian house and every surveyor would tell us that our kitchen is damp. The meters they use register high moisture levels but there is no obvious issue with it. There is no mould and it doesn't smell damp. We had a damp specialist out to look at it who agreed that it isn't a big problem, the plaster needs replacing to a proper specification which can wait until we next change the kitchen. We're actually in the process of selling and are currently waiting for our buyers to come back to us with their concerns .

Not saying yours is the same thing but it might be worth getting some specialists round to get their opinion if you really love the place. I'd recommend the guy I used, I'm in the Northwest.