What on a survey would make you pull out of a sale?

[PrismSpectrum]

Please talk me down from the heights of survey anxiety I've worked myself in to. We're selling our Victorian terrace to a cash buyer. All issues that were raised on the survey we had done when we moved in a decade ago have been fixed. Any issues are clearly visible e.g it needs a new kitchen. I'm not aware of any other problems so why am I sick with nerves? The house is nearly 150 years old. There's bound to be something unexpected that will come up. I'm trying to CBT myself and ask what's the worst that could happen, but the jitters won't stop. It's probably worth saying if the buyers try to negotiate us down we won't be able to buy the dream house we're buying - what they offered is our absolute bottom price.
So if you were buying an old house, what would you consider issues you could take in your stride and what would make you renegotiate or even walk away?

I'd renegotiate anything that was going to cost money and i'd walk away from major structural problems, damp and asbestos.

Red ash would have made me pull out plus anything costing over £5k to put right.

Subsidence. That’s it probably! I’ve bought houses with damp, collapsing garages, cracked lintels. All stayed standing!

If something came up in survey that I really couldn’t have known myself (eg needs a new roof/ drains collapsing) I’d negotiate a reduction on the price.

Oh, and Japanese Knotweed

Calm down, it will be fine !
Waiting for survey results on the home you are selling is always nerve wracking.
To answer your question it would be anything that is dangerous or would cost a lot of money to fix, like subsidence, chimney about to collapse etc
If it was something like rotten timber windows I would find out cost of replacement and try and negotiate on price.

Roof possibly, as such a huge cost. Subsidence. Not anything else really. 150 year old house will have some issues to be expected.

OK, nothing so far that we need to worry about. Thank you. Logically I know it'll be fine and if it's not we'll have to come up with a plan B. there are some bits and bobs that need doing, and we would have done them prior to marketing but couldn't get an exterior decorator until spring, so stuff like that were factored in to the price. We went to market 10% cheaper than houses at the other end of the street which are smaller and right next to a busy road and station. It's a bargain really. I hope.

We had the roof redone when we moved in, so it's only just out of guarantee.

Only really subsidence, but we only usually buy houses that need quite a bit of work so most other issues would be addressed as we went along . Anybody buying a house that’s 150 years old should expect it’s going to need some work ( unless it’s already had a full recent refurbished). Good luck with the survey 👍

Absolute No:
Unresolved subsidence (not historical so long as the cause had been fixed and wasn’t in danger of being reoccurring)
Anything built over old mining areas
Anything built over under ground streams
History of flooding
Japanese Knotweed
Neighbour right of way/easement over my land

Things I’d give pause to:
Listed building status
Any extension etc built without planning permission
Thatch (unless it was relatively new, then I’d consider)
Neighbour dispute (obviously the details would be relevant)
Flying freehold (again details may consider)

In our case with one that was advertised as a new build but then turned to not be , the septic tank was full of cement, meaning the drains, toilets and sinks would not take away any waste.....

Never before in his career had the surveyor said he had been afraid to flush a toilet

A new tank would have been £10k plus it then transpired that although the tank was in the middle of ‘our’ land, access was only via the neighbours driveway.....we withdrew.

Neighbour/boundary dispute?

I agree entirely with @Judashascomeintosomemoney list!

You’d never buy anywhere here if built over old mining land was a no.

We just bought a big Victorian house that we know has lot of (fixable) issues, but our surveyor (who specialises in old houses) was pretty happy, especially after we pulled out of a Regency terrace in the spring when the survey discovered something genuinely unfixable unless you could persuade a neighbour to let you do something fairly obstructive through their land.

Calm down!

Ha ha thank you, I'm trying to calm down Jude's list is reassuring, but like ComeAway, this is a former mining area and each property comes with its own personal mineshaft

Name change fail.
MN would be some much easier to use if you could see PPs usernames when typing. Sorry for name mangling.

Am clearly nuts as bought a Listed Building with a flying freehold

However thatch was a step too far for me, as was anything over Grade II.

I'd even be happy with roof issues if rest of house was right, I'd just renegotiate.

For me: Flooding, knotweed, unresolved subsidence, asbestos, neighbour problems

Learn something new everyday here. Never heard of Red Ash before (from Comefromaway's post). So many possible problems associated with housing in a colliery area, that I'd think twice about buying within 50 miles of any coal mine

Lol. I’m in stoke on trent. Bit difficult to avoid coal mines here. There is a shaft in next door but ones garden. It’s within 18 metres of a corner of my garden.

Same here, apparently all movement/subsidence would occur within 100 years of the mine being last mined or something like that. Can't remember exactly. There's not that many working mines left in the uk are there?

Never heard of red ash either @Mutunus

Another thing for me to worry about

Red ash only tends to affect properties built after WW2 up to the 70's & mostly in mining/pottery areas as it's a byproduct of the industries.

Only anything structural really. We bought our 1960's house that needed new stairs and a new boiler, all ceilings replastered....amongst a zillion other issues. Not everyone is scared about a bit of work so chilllllll.....it will be fine!

Neither apply, thanks @Comefromaway