Terrible survey on old house

[bobofthelobs]

Need some advice as I am going round in circles.

We have accepted an offer on our house from a cash buyer and had our offer accepted on a house we have totally fallen in love with. It's a Victorian end terrace that we knew would need cosmetic updating as it's been let out for years - we had budgeted for new kitchen, bathroom, internal decoration etc.

Our offer was accepted at £345k (asking price was £350k). But the survey has come back and is truly awful. There is literally nothing positive in it at all. New roof required (this has been checked by a roofer post survey and he agrees), possible old structural movement and cavity wall ties and supports.

The surveyor pretty much said that most people would walk away on the basis of the survey. The major work is looking like it will cost around £60k with internal improvements costing the same again. We'd budgeted for the internal work but all the structural work needed has totally thrown me. I'm totally in love with the house and it would be our forever home but we'd need to massively lower our offer. The vendor is disputing everything in the survey and saying that loads of other buyers would snap it up at asking price. That's what we were wanting to do but the survey has terrified me.

God no.

If tonnes of other buyers want it, the vendor wouldn't be arguing with you about it or have accepted a reduced offer.

Unless this house is unique (and a run down Victorian terrace doesn't sound it) and you have pots of spare cash I'd run.

If it's that bad, you won't get a mortgage or a really small offer. The sellers are kidding themselves. It sounds a nightmare and however lovely I would walk away fast.
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We were in your position. We walked. House took another three years to sell at half of what we offered. No regrets.

I'm afraid you should walk away OP, sounds like a money pit.

"The vendor is disputing everything in the survey and saying that loads of other buyers would snap it up at asking price."
I'd suggest to him that he puts that to the test.

You say it would be your forever house. It's reasonable to make different decisions about a forever house than you would about somewhere you expected to live in for five years. So, "we had budgeted for new kitchen, bathroom, internal decoration etc." - would you be willing to put those on hold while you sorted out the structural issues? It could take years.

If you still want to plough on, then the price would have to drop by the amount you'll have to spend on it. No ifs, no buts. And you'll be living on a building site for years - the voice of grim experience here. It's not for everyone.

But since the vendor of this house sounds like he'll be as big a nightmare as the survey, I'd step away from this one. There are a lot of Victorian terraces out there, and most of them have been well cared for and are in move-in condition. Yes, you've fallen in love with it. I did too, and it fell through - which was a blessing as the next house we saw became our forever home.

Don't worry that this was 'The One' - no such thing. There will be another house that you will fall for. Best to leave this one for a builder to take on.

You should walk away. The seller is obviously very unrealistic at best.

An end terrace with structural issues and an owner desperate to sell. What could go wrong?

Walk away.

The vendor is disputing everything in the survey and saying that loads of other buyers would snap it up at asking price

So why haven't they?
I'd walk away and leave him to it personally; any other private buyer will discover what you have if they've got any sense, and if - as sems likely - it's only fit for a developer he'll be lucky to get a goldfish in a bowl for it

Look at what its worth in perfect condition, deduct the cost of all works.

• the cost of a good holiday as you may need it after the stress, then offer a bit lower, I doubt he has a queue, he might have a fool who hasn't got a survey?

Victorian buildings didn't have cavities , so cavity wall ties ?

If the surveyors says it's that bad, I'm afraid it's that bad. People often freak out at negative things on surveys, and I always advise talking with your surveyor if you're not sure what it all amounts to - a lot of the time it's not as bad as people think. But sounds like yours is pretty certain it's a no go, and surveyors don't generally say that easily!

With things like this you need to decide with your mind and not your heart.

I'm not saying it dosnt need re tiling ( not seen it 😀) but a lot of roofers will say old roofs always need re tiling as its a big money earner for them, and how many homeowners are going to go up there and have a look for themselves ?

The cost of roofing materials is relatively low, it's the labour that is where the cost is. As its not really in the realm of most diyers.

If it was that bad, surely you wouldn’t get a mortgage without the work being done?

Depends on the construction whether there are wall ties - our house is early Edwardian and has cavities and wall ties.

If this is Victorian if won’t be cavity wall. It might be Edwardian of a bit later even. It’s obviously not been looked after. Does the work make sense at the asking price? If it’s not even close to breaking even, then walk away. The owner needs to fix things.

I would check exactly what the surveyors actually said.

They say sometimes things might need doing just to cover themselves

I have been on both sides of this type of survey.

When I was selling the first buyer walked and the 2nd buyer on the list bought. The subsequent buyer had a full structural survey and it found nothing.

Equally I have tried to buy a place and the survey was awful and they valued the place at £0.
They listed everything that could go wrong and then said a tree several feet from the house was the cause of subsidence. There was no subsidence

Regarding the roof - it's a terrace, so what do all the other roofs look like on the other houses? If they have all been redone apart from this one i'd be concerned. If all houses have matching original roofs then it likely just needs some very minor work.

Historical movement could be nothing/normal - need more detail on exactly what surveyor said really.

You need a structural survey from a structural engineer and then decide. They look at everything you have mentioned. Including the roof.

hmm I'm a bit meh about surveys for old houses.
they always show up something that looks awful if the surveyor uses a newbuilt & modern building standards
I don't know the house you are buying, but we had an issue with selling once because a couple of floor beams were stained and the surveyor mentioned damp and possible wood rot. the beams were stained as they were in the area of the traditional coal shoot or storage...

You need a structural survey from a structural engineer and then decide. They look at everything you have mentioned. Including the roof

We sold a house once where the surveyor was just out of his depths.

It was a 18th century thatched cottage with 4ft thick walls

Some of the points the surveyor made was that it was an old house that could fall down at any moment.

It didn’t have planning permission

It didn’t have any insulation

It didn’t have foundations.

I felt sorry for the buyers who had to pay out for a full structural survey
The guy who came gave the place a cursory glance over and spent more time drinking tea than looking at the house.

He said his money was made because surveyors are so nervous of saying anything positive on a report that a lot of people get nervous and end up with full structural surveys for peace of mind.

A lot of things most people can see what needs doing if they look at a property properly.

Think a Sarah Beeny programme years ago showed about putting right things that came up in surveys
I remember a couple being told their roof joists were not secure. This involved them buying a few braces (flat metal strips with screw holes) and screwing them to the joists. Cost was about £5 to put right but when they read it on paper it looked like it would cost thousands and involve weeks of work.

I find surveyors in a lot of cases say things like might or could be or go wrong which doesn’t really mean anything.

Was it a survey for a mortgage? Did it give you a value? Does it say all of the work is needed now (I.e. immediately?). Normally, if that's the case the lender would want a retention until it was fixed - and then you have a strong position to bargain with the vendor. If he's not willing to engage then you have to walk away if you can't afford it.

Have to say though although you mighg not have expected problems with big ticket items, it's quite naive expecting an ex-rental Victorian terraced house not to need any work, other than cosmetic updating.

Structural issues are a money pit and hard work. If he refuses a reduction then leave it. I so wished I had done so for one of our houses. He only has one house to sell and there are lots you can choose from