Worried

[Buyingahouse]

We had a structural building survey done and it revealed a handful of major things that we were not aware of and which would need fixing. We had anticipated spending a fair amount of money to update the property but these things are game changing because it becomes far bigger a project than is affordable unless the vendor negotiates. I’m just sad we may have to walk away from it. Financially it would just be silly to take on this much bigger project than we had budgeted for.

I don’t know what I’m asking but I’m sad that at this stage that might be what we need to do. I reckon we are about 3 weeks before we can exchange/complete.

Vendor would be foolish not to negotiate if its major issues, because other buyers will find themselves in a similar position to you.

Does the asking price factor in the work that needs doing? What kind of property is it?

No it does not factor in the these unseen remedial actions one of which includes rising damp not obvious to the naked eyes.

Truth be told it is overpriced but we were willing to pay the price as we want to stay there for many years but the additional cost is very sobering and if they do not renegotiate we would have to walk away. Not because we want to but we would HAVE to because it would be financial stupidity on our part. I’m worried they will be greedy but we are open and honest and fair. We will be very transparent with them on what needs to be done and the cost estimates only for the unanticipated major things that the price does not reflect. I’m just preparing myself to walk away and distance myself emotionally. I hate house buying and negotiating.

You need to change your mindset about it. Don’t be sad if you have to walk away, congratulate yourself that you had the structural survey and didn’t end up with a house that would cost you way more than you thought.

Hi OP sorry to hear you are feeling like this I remember waiting with dread for the survey report when we were buying our home.

Don’t give up hope as others have said a good estate agent ( they do exist!) will advise their vendor to consider negotiating if the survey finds deal breakers as the same thing will most likely happen to a future buyer if you pull out .

Try the negotiation if it’s possible - we did it on our house as it needed a new roof. The agents were very helpful in brokering a new deal.

All I can add with the wisdom of hindsight is major work always costs more than you think and no house is worth financial ruin.

Good luck !

At least you have the practical sense of the problem, if the vendors don;t budge then it's the end of the road. Shame after you find the house you feel is right though.

Use the evidence of the survey, if they don;t accept it then move on.

I understand your disappointment as was in the sad situation in the summer. The sellers wouldn’t/couldn’t negotiate down. It has gone under offer and returned back to market twice since we gave up trying to buy it.

We are now in a rental and not had any luck in finding anything else we love enough to buy.

I am hoping common sense will prevail but I am going by the early indications of greediness through the inflated price. They know we love the property (of course that is why we are buying it).

I think I would give up for this year looking for something else. We have seen so many properties. I am just fed up or exhausted. I am not sure which.

I have laid out clearly in a document the 3 major issues with evidence and the estimated costs of fixing. Let’s see what happens.

I’d buy it and crack on , if you love the house and let it get away from you , you will regret it forever .

If it’s an old house ? Most of them have a bit of rising damp somewhere. My tip is forget damp course ( injection ). And use tanking slurry ( same stuff as they seal cellars and basements with ) it works great is relatively cheap and you can do it yourselves. 👍

Follow your head not your heart. Depending on the extent of the issues this could be a nightmare.

What are the issues? Standard roof problems or something all together less common?

Are you sure it's that bad? The survey on my current house was pretty bad, and many years on it's been fine. Old houses will generally always throw up issues.

It amazes me how so many houses for sale seem to have serious structural issues, but people are living in them ( for years ) and don’t seem to have problems.

I think a lot of today’s structural problems are just old fashioned building methods that don’t meet today’s regs. All Victorian houses are built straight onto clay with very little foundation, but people still buy them.

You’re best to cut and paste the main issues into this for people to look at. Surveyors often make small problems sound huge.

@Chumleymouse

It amazes me how so many houses for sale seem to have serious structural issues, but people are living in them ( for years ) and don’t seem to have problems. I think a lot of today’s structural problems are just old fashioned building methods that don’t meet today’s regs. All Victorian houses are built straight onto clay with very little foundation, but people still buy them.

I agree. Pretty much every house round here on London clay soil is Victorian and has been underpinned. I’d be more concerned about the ones that haven’t been done yet.

Rising damp is more often not an issue - if there is any damp you need to find out where and what is causing it. Damp proof injections are pointless.

If youve had a full structural survey it WILL sound as if the property is falling down - but i bet If you read it again theres a lot of ‘suggest you get someone to check this out as it MAY need replacing’ which is entirely different to ‘it does need replacing’.

First i would speak to the surveyor and get him to explain any problems that he thinks may be there. You could also discuss with the estate agent who will be used to reading about these issues.

If it still seems too much then walk away.

We are sure it is that bad. One part is classed as not up to liveable standards and the damp issue is major.

We spoke in-depth with the surveyor. We were expecting to do significant work on the property. There are a few issues that are just far more than was evident and are serious enough for the surveyor to speak to us directly and press these points.

There is a lot of structural stuff that needs to be done and we don’t mind so this is not us being scared by the survey. I can’t go into detail because the biggest two issues are very specific. I do believe that anyone else who did a survey would reconsider. It really increases the cost of the project by an easy £30k.

I guess you need to wait and see what vendor says. It does depend on is it 25% of price or 2% of price, though, as well as how much you like the house, will something equivalent come up in a reasonable timeframe, etc.

Costs on all renovations always increase I’ve never known anybody who has done it on budget ( myself included ☹️)
At least you have an idea of the extra costs before you start .

This isn’t just extra costs for renovations though. Contingencies, added-ons or nice-to-have are to be expected but not for fundamental problems that should be reflected in the price. We’re talking about part of the main property needing to be completely demolished and rebuilt as it is unsafe.

We shall see. I’ll keep a positive mindset but gearing up to walk away if no negotiations.

I feel your pain! We were in the same situation a month ago and pulled out (got a whole spectrum of MN advice...). We haven't found anywhere else yet but I'm glad we made the decision we did. The "best case scenario" was still more than we had budgeted when we made our offer, and we since found out the vendor had withheld other info so I feel like we would have been getting into a whole heap of unknown. If you dont have the cash/time/energy/desire to get into a project of this scale then it was the right decision

That sounds like the situation we're in. We would be better off just buying a fuller done up more expensive property. I’m very glad we did the survey because we would honestly have never known until it was too late. I am hoping the vendor will do the sensible thing but the survey has knocked sine sense into us. There is a limit to a dream home . I truly feel sad about it but at the same time I feel strangely relieved. I can’t explain the complexity of my emotions. I am sure I’ll cry one way or the other when this house buying process comes to an end - either because we pull out or we complete. It has been a really emotionally draining business of looking at houses, making offers, getting rejected, waiting ages for one thing or another. It just draining and now this negotiating thing.

Out of curiosity, did you go through the estate agent or solicitors to discuss the negotiations?

We went through estate agents but they didnt even get back to us before house went back onto the market! Gutting but I also felt a bit relieved, I dont think I could have settled in that house until the major works were done and all the nice stuff like decorating would have had to be put on hold... Very fed up of the house buying process though, theres nothing straight forward about it.

We were in this situation earlier in the year and withdrew which was heart breaking at the time. Immediately found completely the right house and have moved in - it was the right thing for us. Even if we hadn’t found the other house I don’t think I would regret pulling out of our sale, also post survey also big project, also close to completion. We just suddenly knew it was going to take more than we had energetically and financially. Good luck with your decision.