Selling a flat that needs replastering. Would you buy it?!

[goteam]

We want to put our flat on the market after Christmas. We have awful wood chip in most of the rooms. It's a 3 bed flat and only one bedroom has nice smooth walls, the other two have old wood chip, as does the living room and hallway. Painted over several times and peeling with surface cracks.

Bathroom and kitchen are less than a year old, new expensive carpets but we just can't do this work on the walls but worried that it will prevent a sale. We would have to move out and move our stuff out for two weeks and we just can't with young children. I work from home and the kids are at school nearby.

Would you buy a flat that needed replastering? We would take 15-20k off the asking price, maybe more.

The flat has a lot going for it. Zone 2, a decent sized garden, big rooms, 3 bedrooms, high ceilings, a lot of light...it's just the issue with the walls.

It only really started bothering us in lockdown when we had nothing better to do than stare at the walls! It always bothered me more than DH though but the size of the job put us off doing anything about it.

[goteam]

Old here too @user1471538283 but a Victorian conversion so some walls are newer but done in the 80s (when woodchip was in vogue). Lots of original features like original tiles and fireplaces so sometimes people have to take the bad with the good!

[user1471538283]

It depends on the age of the flat. If its older I would expect some work and all the walls may not need completely replastering. Our walls here aren't great but it's an old house

[goteam]

Had estate agent visit. Interestingly he didnt mention the woodchip / walls. I pointed them out and asked if we should get them done and he said no, it's not worth the money or upheaval for us.

[goteam]

Ha ha @Seeingadistance do you want to buy a flat?! There is something rustic and wholesome about colourful painted woodchip. It reminds me of going to community cafes as a child with vegetarian food and notice boards full of adverts for CND campaigns etc!

Goodness @juneisbustingout maybe we need to get the kids to do it for pocket money..

@LionLily thanks for that, you've hit the nail on the head. We have done the flat up as much as we can and had quite a bit of upheaval with kids around, both working full time etc and we hope we have buyers who were like us 12 years ago, childless professionals. We were late 20's when we bought and really should have got everything done then before furnishing it and certainly before having kids but ho hum. Other things seemed more important...

We will see what the EA suggests. We would rather just leave it....

[LionLily]

I would just put it on the market at the lower end of the range for similar properties. Incoming owners will not have to worry about the kitchen and bathroom which are two of the biggest projects, and with 3 bedrooms it must be possible to rotate use in order to deal with the wood chip room by room. You are coming to end of your tenure there, you feel you've done everything you can there, you're weary and ready to move on to pastures anew. Understandable, but the new owners will be refreshed and ready to personalise their new space.
I bought my first property in the 80s, so I've had my fair share of wood chipped walls to deal with but I've never contemplated replastering before actually seeing the state of the walls underneath. Yes, removing woodchip is a messy and time consuming job even with the most efficient equipment but it's a labourer's job really rather than a qualified painter/decorator. Pare down your belongings, put stuff into store as you will do anyway prior to putting the flat on the market, then get a contractor to send in a couple of labourers for a week, even at their London wages it's not going to cost £15k.
Although my chosen course would be just to leave it and see what happens.

[Seeingadistance]

My name is Seeing and I quite like woodchip.

When I was growing up, in an old farmhouse, our living room had gloss paint on the walls, and linoleum tiles on the floor. When we upgraded to woodchip and carpet tiles it was luxury! Luxury, I tell ya!

[BluebellsGreenbells]

We had it in an old bathroom.

It actually came off in near enough full sheets. Not all wood chip is bad to get off. Test an area first.

[juneisbustingout]

I bought a five bedroomed Victorian house with wood chip on every wall. It took me the twenty years I lived there to remove every bit, make good and hang lining paper. I can recall that not a single tradesperson would contemplate doing it and I used to pay the children to do it over summer holidays.
I'm currently buying and am happy to do lots of things but wood chip is a big No.
I'd ask around locally, put a message up on local FB page for anyone who needs some extra work as it's not a skilled job just time consuming. You could offer £10 an hour cash and have it done in a couple of weeks ( you really may not need to re plaster)

[ivykaty44]

Whilst wood chip is seen as the work of the devil it can be sorted cheaply.
But it takes HOURS to get it off and fill sand the walls and paper with 2000g lining paper the stuffs like cardboard will cover most war wounds

Pay a decorator to do this, it’s not going to cost £20k

[Whenwillthisbeover]

WoodChip is not that bad to get off if you know what you are doing and prepared to put in the hard graft.

First score the walls with a Stanley knife in diagonals. Then soak thoroughly with a heated steamer stripper. Whilst one person is scoring and soaking the other is taking off the paper with good quality tools.

It will probably take a weekend a room though depending on size.

Agree that well decorated wall with heavy duty lining paper filled along the seams and painted can look very good.

Depending on the age of the walls you can’t always just reskim them, sometimes if they’re Lath and plaster And poor, the plaster will have to all be knocked off and start again.

[Ontheboardwalk]

Woodchip in nearly every room can be an expensive issue to resolve. I know that from bitter experience

My first house I bought had lots of shelving units and fabrics on the wall. Only when i moved in did I realise they were hiding woodchip

Trades were reluctant to take on the job as the amount of time as effort it took made the estimates seem extortionate. They said they also ended up having to quote more to repair the wall under the woodchip

[Wingedharpy]

@goteam :
Any potential buyer who wants a 3 bed flat in the area you're selling, will see past the wood chip.

It really is a minor detail in the scheme of things.

Good luck with it all.

[Saz12]

That’s a huge reduction in price, I think you need to see what EA values at. I don’t see how paying to get the work done would come in at that.

How long would it take you to earn £20k (net salary?). It just doesn’t sound like a smart financial decision, but obviouy I don’t know your house/area/etc.

You’re not looking to sell for another 4 months. Why not do the sitting room (sensible to assume walls would need skimmed, but maybe you’ll be lucky when you strip the paper and you might find the walls just need some bits filled and sanded).

[goteam]

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz rewiring isn't needed I wouldn't have thought. We live here. The flat is in very good condition apart from the walls and even then its just cosmetic. They are actually painted nice neutral colours, it's just on top of woodchip. The flat isn't a complete renovation job Most things have been done. Brand new (as in done in the last 2 years) boiler, carpets, kitchen, bathroom, radiators, windows etc. We have done a lot of work just not this one thing, just because of the upheaval involved.

I will speak to the EA though as I don't want the wording to suggest the flat is a renovation job. As PPs have said maybe we let ourselves down not doing the walls as it does make it sound like a do-er upper when it really isn't.

[ILoveAnOwl]

You can do a plastering course for £350. That plus expense of buying the plaster and paint and your time and you've just saved yourselves £20k.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Also, as someone who has stripped only woodchip off walls in a Victorian home it is not as simple as it sounds.

The walls will likely be whattle and daub underneath and need reboarding. Add insulation in too.

Plus, as a pp said - sockets and rewiring are likely to be needed.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

We would take 15-20k off the asking price, maybe more

Your asking price should reflect it's current condition. Pricing it as 'done up' then negotiating down because of it being 'not done up' just isn't the right thing to do.

Just ask the EA to say what it is worth now and put into the wording of the listing that the price reflects it's current condition.

[FurierTransform]

Wouldn't bother me at all so long as it's priced in.

One thing to bear in mind if you consider doing it - if the walls are still in 90s chipboard, is the number of wall plugs also at 1990's levels? If so, i'd assume a buyer will want to rewire at the same time & scatter double plugs everywhere.

[goteam]

@steppemum we are just assuming the walls need replastering as that's usually why walls have woodchip but I guess it was fashionable for a few years in the early 90s (maybe?!) So perhaps the walls are fine. There are a few cosmetic cracks to the plaster. I guess patching it could work.

Thanks all for the advice.

@dustyparadeground nightmare! That would annoy me too. I like original Victorian features or whatever design features are in keeping with the era of the house.

[Cottipus]

Another alternative might be to strip off the woodchip and get a decent lining paper and paint over. Might be an idea to talk to a decorator about it.

Taking off £15k - £20k for redecorating looks like a lot of money to me.

[DianaT1969]

I'd go away in half-term and have it done then. Your stuff piled into the centre and covered in dust cloths as someone said. With weekends that is 9 days. If not enough for it to dry and be painted, then painting the following weekend.

[WombatChocolate]

Essentially depends on how much you need full done-up value to move on to where you need to go next and how far you can afford to accept a lower price for the convenience of leaving it.

Some people desperately needs every penny from their sale to move to the next place,so have to do the work as the work is cheaper than the drop in price required to shift it.

Responses here suggest lots of people are up for a project if they can save some cash. Speak to the EA about exactly how much you'd need to drop price by to make it attractive now, assuming you want to move during stamp duty holiday. Personally, if it would cost me £10k plus the inconvenience to do it up, versus a £15k drop in price, I'd accept the drop in price very quickly. However, there is the question not just of price peoole will pay but also how many will look if it's a big job....although I guess it's not really a big job. Lots of people lack imagination...but I suppose they won't be buying a project anyway.

If lowering the price to reflect the work needed, be aware you are also then likely to need to accept a lower offer anyway. Make sure you can afford to do that if choosing this route.

And when accepting an offer, I'd make clear to any buyers that the price being agreed reflects the current state of the property and you won't later be renegotiating orice based on the plastering needed. Of course other things might appear that they want to negotiate on the price over and you can't prevent that, but be clear it is priced to reflect the work needed.

[JoJoSM2]

I think you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot by not doing the work. With the kitchen, bathrooms and floor done, it could be sold as ‘done up’ if the walls are sorted too. As it is, people will still see it as a bit of a project and pay less.

[CurlyStrawsRock]

You have typically two kinds of buyers, those that want turnkey and those that are happy with doing work (although how much work varies!). Woodchip would not put me off at all, it's all cosmetic. Our new house still has Woodchip as we haven't got round to those rooms yet.

[sleepyhead]

The only thing I really looked at when we were moving was the number and size of the rooms and whether it had a gas supply.

Everything else is fixable.