First house survey roof problems ask for money off?

[HouseBuyingStress]

Hi, I had a survey done on a house I have had a offer accepted on. It has shown the roof is on its way out but did not say I was over paying for the house.

I am confused as to if I have offered too much money now as I did not expect to have to pay for a new roof in the first 6-12 months which is what the surveyor recommended.

I have read other threads on here with vendors getting annoyed with buyers for asking for money of and I am terrified of them pulling out as I need to move and really like the house and I don't think I can go through the stress of finding one again!

When I questioned the surveyor if I was paying to much he said as long as his valuation was within 10% either way they recommend the offer price. so for me I could be paying £16 grand more than what the house is worth!

I just don't know what to do any advice much appreciated!

I take it the survey wasn't a survey for a mortgage? What does 'on the way out' mean? All roofs need replacing eventually.

If you need a mortgage then the valuation on their survey is what matters. How long do you think you'll stay in this house? If it's a long time then pay what you think it's worth to you.

If the roof really does need replacing 'urgently' then go back to the seller and discuss your offer as you won't be the only potential buyer this happens to. In fact ask the estate agent if there have been previous accepted offers and/or surveys. And if so what happened.

Well you certainly can't ask for money off without actually knowing what, if any, the problem is and how much it will cost. If you want the house, explain the issue to the vendors and say you'd like to get a roofer round to have a look. They may want to get a roofer of their own to have a look too. Once you've got info from the roofer, take it from there.

Get a roofer to have a look. Our previous edwardian house we were told the roof will need doing - that was back in 1994. Apart from some specific areas which needed repair we never had to replace the whole roof. We sold in 2011 and the new owners havent had to do the whole roof yet. So there could be some years left in the roof still.

Vendors hold their breath until the survey comes in. It’s usual to discuss reductions for major issues. There might be some issues, but the surveyors usually use language that covers their back.
Best course of action would be to get a roofer to look at it. Vendors shouldn’t complain

We were told we needed to re roof soon in 1992. We still own the house, and apart from some flashing, and the odd slate coming off in bad weather, the roof is still there, 26 and a half years later.

Get a roofer to look and pay for their opinion so they give you an honest not just to get a job opinion.

Much bigger property much bigger roof and money stakes. Surveyor thought dry rot in roof timbers. We paid another 1K for a specialist to give their opinion seems a lot but in the long run it saved as 250K.

Hi thanks for the replies so far, how do you just do bits of repair do you have to put scaffolding up?

On its way out is what the surveryor said when I called him to clarify some things in the report. I asked what it meant and he said i should budget to replace it in the next 6-12 months.

That's what I am worried about buying a money pit! I paid for a survey on a house in January and it came back terrible even I could see it was a bad idea so obviously I pulled out but that was £500 down the drain! I can't afford to keep doing that!

I am just going to copy and past the bits from the survey as I am probably not explaining it very well,

Roof

The roof is pitched and covered with slates. The main roof is lined with sarking felt. The roof coverings are nearing the end of their performance life.

I note that some of the neighbouring roofs have already been replaced. Replacement of the roof coverings is not yet essential, but as time progresses increasing maintenance will be required and you may prefer to replace the whole roof covering rather than commit to regular expensive repairs.

I noted the following Condition Rating 2 items:pb> Some of the slates to main roof are laminating and need replacing. This is an indication that the coverings are approaching the end of their effective life. Further replacements will be needed in the future as the roof continues to age.

pb> The need to provide a safe working platform and other difficulties associated with working at height makes repairs to chimneys relatively expensive.

Flat Roof

There is a flat roof to the rear with a felt covering.

The rear roof is in satisfactory order for its age. You should check the roof coverings on a regular basis and they should be maintained in good condition. Small items of disrepair if left unattended can lead to costly problems. This roof will have a limited service life when compared to a tiled or slate roof and can fail suddenly.

Insulation and ventilation are important elements of flat roof construction; it is not possible to determine their provisions without the roof structure being opened and therefore this should be checked the next time the covering is replaced.

Also something about chimney stacks as well I do feel like giving up and living in a van.

The property has one chimney stack built in brick. This has clay pots. The stack has a mix of lead, mortar and self adhesive flashings. The stack is shared with the neighbour.

I noted the following Condition Rating 2 item:
Some unused flues are open and need capping. Where flues are no longer in use purpose made ventilated chimney pot caps should be fitted to prevent water ingress and nesting birds.

It appears that self adhesive flashings have been used on the chimney stack. This type of flashing is a temporary fix and will quickly deteriorate. It would be prudent to replace this with a more durable material such as lead.

The need to provide a safe working platform and other difficulties associated with working at height makes repairs to chimneys relatively expensive.

The mortar fillets to the stack will be prone to deterioration and will need replacing periodically. If possible, they should be replaced with a more durable material such as lead.

The chimney is unlikely to contain a damp-proof course and there is a risk of rain penetration particularly during periods of severe wet weather. Whilst I found no evidence of damp penetration inside the property, it is essential that the chimney is well maintained to reduce the risk . Should dampness occur then the chimney would need to be rebuilt.

The chimney pot bedding mortar could not be properly seen but is very exposed and may have deteriorated. This should be checked as soon as the opportunity arises.

The owner of the neighbouring property will have rights (and responsibilities) with regard to the stack and you should check with your Legal Adviser before any work is undertaken. I refer you to my comment in Section I.

Could I pay another estate agents to value the house taking the survey into consideration so that I know I am not over paying considering its condition?

You can’t get an estate agent to value someone elses house surely?

Most if those comments are vague- it could be x y or z. The surveyer hasn’t been on the roof so they have to make an estimated guess and outline problems that may be there. As other posters have said, the roof is likely the stay up for many more years but the surveyer has to cover their back and give you a worst case scenario.

Ok thank you that makes me feel a better, I am just going to go for it, I can’t afford to keep being put off by surveys!

@Housebuyingstress is this for your mortgage?

The paragraphs you quoted about the roof are fairly bog-standard speil you'll get about an old slate roof - as to how long it will last until it needs replacing I find it difficult to believe it can be pinned down to 6-12 months unless it is already leaking in places?!

"The owner of the neighbouring property will have rights (and responsibilities) with regard to the stack and you should check with your Legal Adviser before any work is undertaken. I refer you to my comment in Section I.

Could I pay another estate agents to value the house taking the survey into consideration so that I know I am not over paying considering its condition?"

It sounds like the chimney needs repointing and flashing - it could be that with modern H&S it will need scaffolding erecting to do the work - we paid £500 (cash) when we had our chimney stack partially rebuilt after storm damage.

The surveyor is covering himself. The trouble with surveys is they are fairly non-committal but normally seem really specific, scare the cr@p out of you as a buyer. We nearly didn't buy this place because of a full survey, when we had the mortgage survey done there was next to nothing on it!

Forgot to say - are they shared chimneys somehow as I don't see how your neighbour has rights, etc?

Hi sbplanet thank you for your reply, yes it is a shared chimney. You can sort of see in the picture, mine is (will be hopefully!) the end terrace and the neighbors house is white. They are narrow houses with a shared chimney in the middle.

All of these replies are making me feel a lot better thank you. The couple selling the house are elderly and really nice and I am terrible at talking about money. I offered 160 they said 165 then I said 162 which they agreed to so the thought of going back again to ask for more money off fills me with absolute dread!

My mortgage advisor was actually surprised I wanted to pay for a survey. The mortgage company just wanted to do the drive up and check it is there survey but I thought because it was old I should get a more I depth look at it but then I don’t know why I bother because I am to scared to ask for any more money off with the extra problems they have found!

Hi @HouseBuyingStress it's a long time since I bought a terrace but I helped my brother a few years back with his (much bigger than yours) 3 bed terrace. It was re-roofed for £5k, but it had been leaking for many years and has a 'velux' type window in it.

Yeah it's difficult to be 'tough' when you 'like' the sellers, we liked our sellers here. But we still went back to them via the EA and asked them to accept a lower offer when there were survey issues - we settled for a halfway reduction. But the estate agent will know how these things go. You could show them the survey and say would the sellers take a lower offer for the chimney work - you will need scaffolding. I'm not sure whether there's a current problem with the roof - did the surveyor go into the loft/roof space? It's tricky with old slate roofs but as another poster said it could last for years.

The trouble with getting a survey on older property is just that, it's an older property. :) If the mortgage people are okay with a 'drive-by' (we had one of those) then there's probably enough equity for them not to be bothered if there is a hiccup or two!

Good luck with the sale, but do go back to the estate agents and ask for a price reduction.

Hi sbplanet yeah there is, it will be 33% equity in it when I move in. That is what concerns me really although I know I am in such a lucky position to have that to put in, I know the mortgage company won’t really care if I pay 10 even 20 grand too much because they will still be able to sell it and recoup what they lent me easily due to the equity.

Also I have had some generous over time and bonuses this year which my mortgage application was accepted with but can definitely not be relied on. My actual annual salary I would never be able to be accepted for the mortgage. I will be able to afford it but it is a worry. I know I won’t easily or at all really be able to afford expensive repairs, but I hate new builds! This one has a lovely long garden that I am thinking I will make really lovely so I don’t ever need to go on holiday again because I won’t be able to afford to!

There was some moderate damp readings under the stairs as well but surveyer said could possibly be due to them having a large dog crate there..

I dunno, I know I never want to buy another house again after this. I always imagined I would not be doing it alone so it’s difficult not having someone who is as invested as you are. Family/friends/colleagues are great but in the end it’s not them tied to it and you don’t know if they are just being nice. I finally left my serial cheating partner who I had been with since I was 17 this year, no kids and not married thank god but the whole thing is just daunting and tinged with sadness at doing it on my own. Ahh just rambling now thanks everyone

It's an old house (but this relates to any property), it will need upkeep. The place is liveable though? Buyers nowadays tend to want to move into a place where it's all 'done'. If there's a bit of damp (is it an internal wall?), so what. If/when you sold on then that could be sorted, or just later on down the road. Bit of damp isn't much to worry about. Or you could go back and ask to see behind the dog crate?

I can understand you worrying about overpaying - what are past sale prices like? But why are you so keen if there's lots of choice? If there isn't lots of choice that you like and can afford then it's answering your question. It's going to be your home for the foreseeable future, it's not always about money (within reason). Even if it needs a new roof (in the future) and with a bit of damp I can't see that you'll have overpaid that much, if at all.

It's going be tremendously exciting when you move in and on, but it's also very stressful. You're going to have to be ready for the ups and downs - keep your eye on the main prize. :) Good luck.

Do go back to the estate agent with your concerns over the roof though (which will need work soon/eventually), and the other issues the survey highlighted. Because although you haven't needed a 'thorough' mortgage survey if you pulled out it's likely anyone else would have one (the agent will see this). So the sellers would get the same problems again.
Ask for £5k off £162k, say you are at the top of your finances already in monthly payments, and take it from there. Good luck.

Thanks sbplanet , I spoke to the surveyor again and he said that he actually valued it at 155-165 in its current condition but he said within 10% of the purchase price when I first spoke to him so maybe did not explain himself very well. And he seemed to be getting annoyed with me for asking questions, the report said call if you had any questions or concerns but it seems when you do they get annoyed with you! I thought if you pay quite a lot of money for a survey you should be allowed to ask questions about it!

I am going to try and gather the courage over the weekend and call on Monday. Not looking forward to it!

We met our buyers halfway on a damp proof course. Weve been here a decade and had no issues with damp, however a thorough damp inspection has highlighted a need for the work. Meeting halfway on those costs has kept the sale and negated us actually having to do the work.

Wrt to the roof, arrange a local roofing company to visit and do an inspection and quote. Then ask for that quote figure knocked off. Be prepared to then renegotiate to half and half.

At the end of the day the seller will have this flagged on every survey if you pull out or they decline an offer. So you could be in a good position.

As TulipsinBloom1 agrees these things will get flagged by others if its not you asking.

Valuation is such a moveable feast depending on how much you want to pay and what the seller will accept. I don't think it's an outrageous thing to ask after your survey, that the sellers accept that there are (unforeseen) additional costs that have arisen after your original offer.

Don't wait until Monday, given the sellers time to consider over the weekend. Ring your EA tomorrow, just be business-like about it (be detached, it's a financial arrangement). By all means express your liking of the property and your desire to buy it, but also stress that these are additional costs that have arisen/will arise on buying the property that all surveyors will point out.

Th estate agent, if they are any good (and even though they are working for the seller) will explain to the sellers that these things will occur whoever it is looking to buy and so they should look to reach a new agreement with you on a new price.