We're first time buyers and are looking in the £250k price bracket for a 3-bed property in Scotland.
Looking at houses with offers over 239k upwards (and less if we find any) but all the Home Reports seem to be upwards of 260k for 3-bed properties in the areas we'd like to live in. We found a house we liked the look of in an area that would allow the kids to stay at the same school. It's on at Offers Over £240k with a Home Report of £260. We can't get to view it until next week but the Home Report seems pretty horrendous. It has Category 3s for Dampness, Rot and Infestation; Roofing including Roof Space; Main Walls and a whole heap of Category 2s.
It's an old house and basically it's saying the roof needs new slates, chimney needs work, there's saturated walls in the kitchen and dining area, a slight dip in the floor may be due to something wrong with the timbers and there's evidence of rising damp. It seems that significant investigations need to be carried out to investigate all these areas.
At one part of the report it says:
Essential Repairs - Instruct a specialist contractor to inspect the whole property and report on internal dampness and the condition of
all timbers including the sub floor and roof voids. All necessary works to be carried out. The inspection to be
carried out irrespective of existing guarantees, invoices or estimates.
Further on it says:
The property affords adequate security for loan purposes based on the valuation figure subject to the need for
essential repairs. Costed estimates should be obtained, as retentions based on estimates produced will be held.
Estimated cost of essential repairs - £5000, Retention recommended? Yes, Amount TBA
I'm slightly confused as to what 'Retentions' means. And I'm also confused as to whether they think £5k should cover the costs of putting that all right - because it sounds like it might cost a hell of a lot more! Are they also saying that they we won't get a mortgage until all the essential repairs are carried out?
How would you proceed with offering on a property that had potentially a lot of work to do and was still being valued at £260k (less £5k 'retention') My instinct is that we don't even go and see it!
Would someone be prepared to do a full investigation into what needed doing and provide quotes for free or would that only happen if we commissioned and paid for a full survey?
It's the first house we've seen that we like the look of and I've even been and looked at it from the outside and sussed out the area. It looks lovely but sounds like a can of worms.
We haven't got a solicitor yet but have a mortgage broker.
All opinions and any advice gratefully received!