Buying a house - roof issues

[dimmu]

Hello everyone

We are 3+ months into a chainfree house purchase (empty house, we are in rented, already sold ours) and were about to get ready to exchange but have now come across issues with the roof.

The house was previously tenanted and incredibly cluttered, including the attic. We paid for a specialist damp survey as the property had flooded a few years ago, and this highlighted a potential leak from the roof, but the surveyor was unable to access the attic at the time to investigate, and it was too full of stuff anyway to see anything.

The vendor now finally this week emptied the attic, and we asked to take a look in there yesterday, and could see that some dodgy repair works have been done in the past, there were actual small gaps in the roof and there is also clear evidence of leaks/damp.

We took some photos and managed to find a local roofer who will go and take a look at it after xmas.

Where do we go from here? If the roofer says the roof needs replacing do we ask for the cost to be taken off the price? We were also hoping to convert the attic in the future but can't afford it yet, so we are reluctant to get a new roof now and would rather just make some repairs to make it last another 2-3 years.

We still want the house and don't want to piss off the vendor at this stage, but it really has been impossible to look into the roof/attic properly until this week.

Any advice/experiences?

Also, any ideas about the rough cost of new roof for 1930s semi?

Hmm, not sure I can fully answer your question but when we bought our 1930s terrace we knew the roof needed some TLC (could see daylight) but like you we planned a loft conversion. We are having the roof replaced as part of this now which makes loads more sense cost wise. For the year or so we waited between buying and starting work? Ignored it .
Re chipping the price, I would ask to reduce it by the cost of the interim repairs. I’m assuming it’s a buyers market at the moment??

@Thinkle thank you. Guess my question was really what usually happens in these situations.. OH thinks we should ask for a reduction worth full roof replacement as the seller is likely to refuse, and then if he meets us half way or agrees to cover the cost of temporary repairs it's a good result. He says if we ask for just interim costs he will refuse or at best meets us half way. I'm not too sure, I would just ask for the interim costs worth of reduction. Yes it's a buyer's market, our offer was the first and only proceedable offer he had received after some 2-3 months on the market. He messed us around a bit to start with so OH is still annoyed with him.

I’m with you but my husband would be with your husband. For me the honesty of setting out that you only want a reduction for the repair should win them over but that assumes the seller is a similar type of person who’ll respond to this. Can the agent advise you on this? I know “they work for the seller” but really they work for themselves and just want the deal.
Alternatively you could ask for a retention, I.e. you don’t release £x of the price until the work is resolved. Then in the end they will only pay for the word done.

OP we are in the similar situation like yours but for us is a buy to let property. We viewed a 3bedrooms semi detached house and really interested to buy and we were supposed to exchange the contract and complete before Christmas but a week ago I booked an appointment to do the final check and when I went there I found out the roof was leaking and the agent informed the owner and he sent the roofer to go and fix it and sent us the report but unfortunately we went there after a week of repair and after heavy rain the roof is still leaking and we have asked the owner to repair it properly before we can complete and he had agreed to do it and create a loft so we can have access to the roof from inside cause the house doesn’t have any loft. This happened to my friend who bought a beautiful house inside and outside but with the roof problem and 2 years on the roof still the problem and spent money on different roofers. I don’t think you will put the vendor off at the end of the day he wants to sell too. Once you hear from your roofer on how much it will cost ask the vendor about knocking of some money or ask him to fix it before you complete.

I would point out the defects to seller; suggest that you obtain 3 quotes for the repairs required and the lowest sum shall be deducted from purchase price. In the short term agree a retention for a full roof recovering as a worst case scenario.
Ensure that all contractors investigate fully and provide an accurate quote (not an estimate).
I doubt the roof condition will be a surprise to the sellers and if the valuation was based on a wind/watertight property then you'd be mad not to insist on this.
Obv in a sellers market you sometimes have to 'suck it up' to get the property you want but it doesnt sound like this applies to you.
Good luck

I would be cautious about how you negotiate - if I were the seller and you wanted the full cost removed I would tell you to go away and put the house back on the market - after the recent election, optimism in the housing market is much higher and we will I think see an upturn after Christmas / New Year - so as a seller I would not consider that we are in a buyer's market any more...

there is a tendency in online forums to expect / advise that you should be able to get any work knocked off the price as though your right as a buyer is to have a perfect / brand new house - not the case - work out what it is worth to you in this condition if the seller is happy to accept that then you have a deal...

I would go back to them and be honest - say that there is considerable work needed - however, as you plan a loft conversion in a few years, you will need to patch it now - could you come to an arrangement over the patching costs...

Thank you everyone for your comments and input, very much appreciated.
I was trying to contact more roofers yesterday to get another quote or two but it is really difficult to find anyone so close to Christmas.
Our solicitor has sent us all the paperwork to sign. Was gonna have a chat with them tomorrow and see what they say, but my plan is to transfer the money for the deposit before Xmas anyway, so that we would be prepared to exchange after the new year should everything go to plan. I presume the solicitor would just return the funds if the seller refuses to renegotiate the price and my OH doesn't want to proceed any more. I really want this house but I know my OH will want to pull out if the seller refuses to reduce the price.

I think you would be mad to buy it without s full survey on the roof. Delay the purchase until you have this. I’m with your DH. It’s extremely foolish to go ahead without knowing what the issue is and what the repairs will cost. You cannot negotiate anything until you do. It’s the vendors issue that they didn’t clear the loft for the surveyor. What would you do if it needed a complete new roof. Pay the £20,000 that would cost quite happily? Get accurate survey info, costs, and then negotiate. No one else is buying it, are they?