Level 3’s on Homebuyer report

[LolaLollypop]

We’re in the process of buying a 1930’s house. Just had the Homebuyers report and it has a few level 3 (red) issues on it. Some we kind of expected due to the age of the house (needs new plumbing, electrical wiring etc) but our major concern is in the loft. There surveyor suspects the insulation will need to be done, timbers need strengthening and possible asbestos on the lagging on the pipes up there.

What’s the etiquette here? Do we ask the current owner to sort these issues out before we exchange contracts? Should we ask them to pay for a roofer to come and check it out first? Or does the burden fall to us after we move in?

I guess the main thing is I want the loft to be safe - and to know whether it’s a £1k job or a £30k job a this would make a big difference to the amount we’re willing to pay for the house.

Any specialist reports on work is down to you to get and pay for.
Insulation is not expensive and a DIY job.
If you are not going to use the loft I'm not sure if the asbestos is an issue, but if it is exposed I don't know.
Are the timbers rotten? A building regs guy came by to check some work we were doing and we had taken some ceilings down as they had failed, exposing the roof structure and supports. He made a comment that the timbers were not up to current code, but as we were not touching the roof and it had been doing its job for 150 years we didn't have to do anything to it.
Regardless, if there is urgent work needing doing it is common to go halves with the vendor (have them reduce the asking price by half of any quotations you get). They may refuse and then it's up to you if you want to go ahead.

Any specialist reports and quotes you’d need to pay for, but expect vendors to facilitate access for these.
After that, you’d go back to the vendor with results to renegotiate.

Thanks both. We’ve asked a plumber, electrician and roofer to take a look at the report (they haven’t actually been to the house). The works needed to get it up to today’s standards would cost about £10k. This would be to re-wire and plumb the entire house, fix the loft issues and also sort the guttering out (also flagged as red).
Given we have agreed on a sale price of £15k over the mortgage valuation (agreed on condition the Homebuyers report didn’t flag anything too concerning) - do you think we are justified in going back and asking for a £10k reduction?

FWIW the mortgage valuation was originally £30k lower than sale price. Both parties agreed on a £15k difference.