Home buyers surveys has come up with some red flags

[lboogy]

Hi all, I'm buying a dated 1930s property. It's a probate sale. The survey has come back with needing a new roof. I expected to have to rewire , replace boilers etc. In essence the property needs a fair bit more work than I can afford at the moment. I was hoping to spend £30k on internal cosmetic updates but the survey is suggesting much more extensive work.

I'm debating to renegotiate or Walk away. Has anyone sent round a contractor to have a look and give an estimate of costs with something like this?

I'm not sure how far you'd get with negotiating. When we offered on a reasonably well maintained 1930s house, we took into account that there was a good chance the roof would need replacing just due to its age. If the alternative is that you walk away then it doesn't hurt to ask, but be prepared that the vendor might give you short shrift for it.

Thanks @PowerslidePanda. Did you replace the roof in the end?

It's perfectly normal to renegotiate the price after an adverse survey report such as this. You should seek to adjust the offer deducting a percentage of up to 100 per cent of the cost of the new roof.

Did the selling price fairly reflect the condition of the house ? I'd be looking at what similar houses have sold for vs cost of renovation and weighing it up.
Building materials have increased in price by around 20% as have builders quotes (in my area anyway) There is such high demand. So it's with factoring that in.

Is the roof past its useful life or are there immediate repairs that need to be done?

What do other roofs in the area of they same age look like? If all other 1930's houses in the area have had their roofs replaced then it might be a fairly immediate job. If not then perhaps changing a few broken slates, repairing the soffits / guttering might be in order. Has the surveyor been able to look at the rafters, supports, wall ties etc to see if there are any issues? 1930's roofs were often constructed without underfelting and the mortar to hold the tiles in place may have degraded leaving gaps between the tiles. Maybe get a roofer in.. ...

Don't all home buyers surveyors on properties older than ten minutes come back saying it needs a new roof?

Surveyors also go for worst case scenario. The roof will need replacing at some point, of course. But it may not need to be now or even for several years

Are there current signs of water ingress?

I'd get a three separate roofing companies to look and quote for what they think needs doing. They may have differing views on what is needed so don't tell them in advance what you think needs doing.

And then the question is does the price you offered represent by market value of the property taking into account it's condition.

In a very similar situation we had a roofer look at the property. It was in the vendors interests to allow this - he said it just needed a bit of patching and would cost £500, whereas the surveyor had been all doom and gloom, and if we’d accepted that we’d have wanted to renegotiate for thousands off.

Have you spoken to the surveyor on the phone? By the time we bought our second property I’d wised up - read the survey then rang for an informal chat about it, during which they gave a much more balanced view than what was written down.

What does the survey ACTUALLY say? They always make comment about the roof on old houses. I’ve only ever bought old houses and never had to replace a roof yet.

I would ask surveyor for an estimate of what works will cost and what would be a fair price for the property and renegiotate based on that.

It would also be worth getting a roofer out to see if it really needs a new roof as surveyors tend to be over cautious but often on a house needing renovation there is more than you initially expect.

Generally I would ask for a discount for anything not taken into account in initial offer that isn't improvement work. An initial offer should have taken into account anything visible.

We moved into a 1930s house in 2004 and the home buyers report said it urgently needed a new roof. We had it patched up and never had a leak. Sold in 2018 - our buyers had a survey done. Not sure what their survey said but they went ahead with the sale.

Surveyors point out anything that might go wrong so you are prepared. Doesn't mean it's urgent.

It’s amazing how good surveyors are at spotting roofs that need a complete retile , when they don’t even go up there 🙄. I went up on a roof to refit a chimney pot cap once, when I got up there you could just lift the bricks off one by one with your hands. I could have pushed the whole lot down with a good shove 😮 from the ground it looked perfectly fine. A surveyor would have spotted it straight away 😀

What rating did the need for a new roof get? In a similiar situation, 1930s property that looked immaculate and offered asking price based on the fact it didn't appear to need anything major doing to it as sellers have done loads in recent years. Survey came back as urgently needing new roof with a rating of 3. This was a surprise and until we have a quote we won't know whether we can afford to go ahead without renegotiating the offer. Very keen to see if a roofer will also suggest its a matter of urgency or whether it can hang on a year or two. Difficult to know how best to proceed if you really like the place isn't it?

I would agree with what others have said. If it is being sold as a project they may not want to renegotiate. Only you can say how the price compares to similar houses locally.

I bought a 1930s semi detached house with a bad roof. It was a probate sale and had very little done since it was built. Quote for rewiring, new boiler, new radiators, new roof, new doors/flooring, new kitchens and bathrooms plus all plastering and painting was £100 k

@MojoMoon

Don't all home buyers surveyors on properties older than ten minutes come back saying it needs a new roof?

Surveyors also go for worst case scenario. The roof will need replacing at some point, of course. But it may not need to be now or even for several years

Are there current signs of water ingress?

I'd get a three separate roofing companies to look and quote for what they think needs doing. They may have differing views on what is needed so don't tell them in advance what you think needs doing.

And then the question is does the price you offered represent by market value of the property taking into account it's condition.

No. Same surveyor, houses around the corner from each other probably built the same year and he said one roof needed replacing and the other one was fine.

@LopsidedWombat

What rating did the need for a new roof get? In a similiar situation, 1930s property that looked immaculate and offered asking price based on the fact it didn't appear to need anything major doing to it as sellers have done loads in recent years. Survey came back as urgently needing new roof with a rating of 3. This was a surprise and until we have a quote we won't know whether we can afford to go ahead without renegotiating the offer. Very keen to see if a roofer will also suggest its a matter of urgency or whether it can hang on a year or two. Difficult to know how best to proceed if you really like the place isn't it?

We had the exact same thing happen recently. You're not in Sussex are you?

@QueenStromba Not in Sussex, no! However, the more I trawl the internet for pointers, the more cases I read of this sort of thing so really hoping we can postpone a new roof for a year or so and get on with the sale as it is without the need to start squabbling over a few thousand pounds. Did you try and renegotiate or did you just walk away?

Every house needs a new roof at some point, is it actually leaking? If not, I would put it down to surveyors arse covering themselves. (our survey was the same btw)

[quote LopsidedWombat]@QueenStromba Not in Sussex, no! However, the more I trawl the internet for pointers, the more cases I read of this sort of thing so really hoping we can postpone a new roof for a year or so and get on with the sale as it is without the need to start squabbling over a few thousand pounds. Did you try and renegotiate or did you just walk away?[/quote]
We walked away. We were unimpressed because they clearly knew about the problem and didn't mention it. We were also concerned that if they'd been neglecting one structural issue while spending their money on things to make the house superficially immaculate then there were probably other issues that the surveyor missed. They did actually offer to replace the roof after we pulled out but we didn't trust they'd do a good job of it.

I bought an Edwardian house (1905), the survey said the roof would need replacing at some point. I moved out 12 years later and had had one small leak which I got someone in to fix for a couple of hundred pounds.

We bought a 1930's house 18 months ago and it was suggested that the roof could have a few- 10 years left.

From the ground it looked fine, even one of the roofers doubted it, however the tiles were like biscuits and very worn.

We had no leaks

Anyway we got three quotes two about 22k and one for 32k

We have just had it finished and it looks lush

Both chimneys were re-pointed

Our leading was redone around chimneys and bay

The bay, when everything was removed, showed signs of water damage.

Anyway, my point is the decision is yours.

It may be ok, it may not.

We decided that ours had lasted 100 years, more or less, but we knew it would need reparations in time.

I did not want a leak or tile slippage or something else chimney related.

We took a punt and it has been done

It is up to you really

PM me if you want more info 😊

We've just spent £75K refurbing our 1930s house - back to bricks for re-wire, new CH, all new floors, walls, kitchens and bathrooms, plus open-planning the ground floor with a single-storey extension.

Our survey did mention the roof but we're on a sizeable ex-council estate and only 2 of the many houses have re-roofed so far.

Ours doesn't leak and is fine, with decent insulation on the attic floor.
It will probably be the next thing we save up for but got to clear some credit cards first!!

There's no harm in trying to renegotiate but for us the house was priced fairly with regards to cost of works and we loved the area so we cracked on. Only you know if that applies to your purchase or not. Good luck!

We bought an Edwardian house in 1994 and survey said roof would need replacing soon. Apart from some repairs in one area we never did replace the roof and sold the property in 2011. As far as i know the original roof is still going strong.

I did speak to the surveyor and he said the roof is at the end of its life. There is a high degree of damp on the rafters and there is salt deposits only them. Also the roof tiles have moss all over them which happens when the tiles are porous. He said to replace the roof all together and go renegotiate the price based on that.

The house is a probate sale and hasn't had much updating. It's obvious it needs a new kitchen etc. It's priced to reflect that it needed updating. There wasn't a lot of interest in the house as the vendor had tried to sell it for much higher. She may well reject any attempt at a reduction. But I have told the EA. He says he'll get quotes as they have a number of roofers on their books.