Survey has come back and it's not terrible but not great. Help!

[HumpHumpWhale]

So, we're in the process of selling our 2 bed flat and buying a 4 bed flat. We got our survey back, and they've said a number of slightly worrying things, including:

1. Conservatory at back of kitchen probably doesn't have planning permission.
2. Kitchen is open to hallway which is a fire hazard and should be rectified.
3. Roof isn't definitely problematic but some of it looks bad.
4. All windows need replacing (we knew this and have budgeted for it)
5. Banisters on stairs need replacing.
6. All internal doors need replacing. As does the front door.
7. There's some damp coming from bay windows - some cracks need filling on brickwork.
8. There's damp on ceiling coming from a bathroom (which we knew, but they suggest the leak hadn't been fixed which estate agent said it had).
9. The water tank in the loft was noisy even when no water on anywhere. There's a leaking toilet cistern but it shouldn't be enough to make that much noise.

10. Boiler probably needs replacing.

There's more! But those are the main ones.

Does this sound like a total money pit? What does it mean if there's no planning permission for the conservatory? Should we be thinking about pulling out? I think we may lose our buyer if we do, but that's not a good enough reason to buy a house we can't afford to get into a good condition. This is meant to be the forever house. We do have a 70k budget for Windows & redecoration but I'm worried it won't cover everything! Especially as we want to replace both bathrooms as well as windows sooner rather than later.

Advice gratefully received!

7k or 70k?

Is it possible to rent whilst looking to buy so your sale does fall through?

Planning permission wise apparently the council can only take action within 4 years otherwise it’s unenforceable.

Get a plumber to have a look over the boiler, the water tank and any potential leaks. Get a roofer to check out the roof. Most of the other things are easily fixable or not urgent, as far as I can see.

Clearly a neglected property so screw them down on price. Lot of water where it shouldn't be.

Flats don't usually have permitted development rights so that's why the conservatory could need permission. You can get an indemnity policy though.

By the way, you could need planning permission to change the windows if you aren't doing like for like.

Roof- what precisely? Would that be something for the freeholder to fix?

Damp- they all say that. Is it an old flat?

Why do the bannisters need replacing? What have they said?

New boiler/tank not unreasonable and you have a healthy budget.

Again why do the internal doors and front door all need replacing? That's a curious one.

Some of this sounds ridiculous! Why do internal doors need replacing?? If you like the property then go ahead.

Kitchen open to hallway which is a fire hazard?
I don’t understand this

My kitchen is open plan to dining room and living room and just passed building inspection.

We got a survey back a few weeks ago on a house we were buying. Said there was damp, woodworm and the roof needed loads doing. There was some other minor stuff too. We sent a damp and pest specialist out. His report said there was no damp and no woodworm. The roofer advised there's about £500 worth of work to do which is minor compared to what the survey said. Don't panic, it might be nowhere near as bad as it sounds.

Our kitchen is open to the hallway. Never a problem for us and we've just sold with no problems.
Boiler would be my biggest worry (and windows, but you're onto that). Get quotes for the boiler asap.
Get advice on whether it us damp. Lots of properties have condensation which is easily fixed (we dry lined for a couple £100).
The rest sounds standard to be honest.

If the conservatory was finished more than four years ago, there's nothing the council can do. Check whether the freeholder's permission was obtained. Tbh none of it sounds that bad, but it's not been well-maintained.

Re kitchen fire hazard - you should be able to safely leave the flat if say youre in the bedroom and theres a fire in the kitchen. So there needs to be a door to contain they fire between the kitchen and the front door.

So the kitchen wall and door was removed(?) without building regs. Id also wonder if conservatory was done without regs too and thus may be shoddy work.

Thanks for all the replies! This is v reassuring.
It's the top three floors of a 4 story house, the basement is a separate leasehold flat and the vendor is the freeholder, so we're either getting a share of freehold or the whole freehold if the owners of the basement flat don't want the freehold. I assume they will. Not sure when conservatory extension was done but definitely more than 4 years as we currently live 2 doors down and it was there when we moved in. I assume it was the current owners who converted it etc but the but we're buying is let at the moment so a bit grotty. Which is fine, we're prepared to redecorate, I just wasn't expecting structural work.
I think the internal doors are fire hazards? I guess that's a recommendation more than anything.

It sounds like the kitchen is the biggest thing. I can see now that I've been told that it is a hazard - it's totally open from front door to the kitchen and all the way up the stairs. It's nice because it makes everything v light but it's also basically a chimney.

70k is our budget, yes. It sounds like loads, but there are 9 or so big sash windows to replace and we do want to do wooden sash windows, but double glazed, so that alone will eat up a big chunk of it. Plus two bathrooms, replace the grotty built in wardrobes... We didn't have to do anything to our current place so this is all a bit daunting. We love the area and to be able to stay, minimise disruption to the kids, and get two more bedrooms would just be so great. But there's NOTHING else in the area we can afford that we like.

The internal doors probably have to be replaced with fire doors as it's a 3 storey house, due to fire regs (friends recently had their loft converted and had to change all of their doors).