Dodgy roof - walk away?

[EnidSpyton]

Looking for some advice for people not emotionally involved in this property purchase!

Partner and I have bought dream home, but survey has come back saying the entire roof needs replacing immediately. It's a leasehold second floor flat in a house that has been divided up - freeholders also live in the building, but on the ground floor so not directly affected by the leaking roof.

Surveyor reckons we're looking at £40k. According to the lease, the expense of this should be shared between freeholder and leaseholders. However, I'm not sure if the freeholder legally has to consent to this work being done, whether they would consent to the work being done and stump up their share of the cash, and whether we'd have to end up shouldering the whole cost ourselves if we can't come to an agreement, which we can't afford to do.

I am really emotionally invested in the property now and am reluctant to walk away, but we had to drive a hard bargain to get it down to the purchase price as it is and I'm worried the seller won't budge if we try to renegotiate.

If anyone more experienced with this sort of thing than us can advise as to next steps, I'd really appreciate it. I'm trying not to panic, but the surveyor was so negative that I'm thinking maybe we should just go back to square one...

£40k seems a bit steep. Get another quotation.

£40k is a lot for a new roof.

Is it all the trusses etc?

What does your solicitor say about the lease and cost responsibilities?

Is it managed? Is there a service charge with sinking fund for just this kind of major work? You could make it part of the contract that repairs are agreed between all those responsible (putting it back on the seller to sort out). It is also reasonable to expect a reduction in price to be, say, half of your share of the expense (but you'd need more than one quote for that).

If it was a house or bungalow I’d say just get different quotes. A flat and I think I’d walk away.

I was all prepared to say proceed but factor it into the price if it wasn't already. Then I read it's a leasehold with the freeholder also in the building. I wouldn't touch it to be honest. You can't proceed without your downstairs neighbours agreeing.

If run not walk away.. and 40k for a roof? That seems high but I'm just picturing a Victorian pitched roof.

I think 15K would be a realistic cost: you would be able to force the repair by going to court.

BUT: why not simply speak to the other people (the freeholders) to assess if they are aware/ready to pay their half. The 50/50 split on a roof is totally normal, and if it is needed they will eventually have to pay no matter who buys

If they indicate unwillingness to pay then think twice

The surveyor for our last house reckoned we needed a new roof. We did not. We needed all the broken tiles replacing. But the roof was not leaking. If it is not leaking you could possibly have it repaired. Also a new roof doesn't cost £40k!

40 grand?!

@EnidSpyton: the PP is very likely right. I moved onto a Victorian terrace about 10 years ago, and a new roof or roof overhaul was indicated

I chose to do an overhaul (as cheaper): was about 8k back then but I expect I could have got it done cheaper.

That held up well for 10 years, I needed 2 other tiles replacing about 5 & 8 years later - £40 each cash jobs for local roofers (I did not bother informing freeholder about those ). I did make a point of checking the roof for leaks every few months/after big storms and would have gone down a more official route if big repairs needed

With this awful weather, can you go yourself and take a look? (Ie if the lights are off on the loft can you see daylight), and are there any signs of water entering the property?

PS -re negotiations, you are in a good position as if you’d survey says it, others will too. Try to get a price reduction but vs other quotes - ie get 3, average out. Request full amount off , possibly agree to 50%...

I would walk away. I owned a leasehold property and got my fingers burned (I ended up having to pay out £21k) and would never walk into a property purchase of a leasehold property knowing it needed major works. Absolutely not.

There will be other houses.

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. Sorry for taking a while to come back - it's been a busy week. After lots of discussion with the surveyor and our solicitor, we've gone back to the seller with a lower offer to factor in the repairs and a demand that the freeholder agrees to the repairs and their share of the cost in writing.

It's an 18thc property with a shitty 1950s asbestos roof that's leaking everywhere and it's riddled with damp as a result. I don't think the surveyor is exaggerating when he says the roof is shot - we saw the evidence of leaks when we viewed, but were hoping it might just be some slipped tiles. It should have been replaced years ago but I think the freeholders have been avoiding the issue for as long as possible. So the whole roof needs replacing, the chimneys - of which there are several - all need repairing, and it also needs repointing everywhere. I think the 40k is the cost of everything that's needed to make it watertight, and apparently it's more expensive because we need a specialist asbestos contractor to remove the existing roof tiles. We're getting some quotes to get a more accurate cost at the moment.

I'm trying not to panic but I am worried we're going to be walking into a nightmare, as much as we love it. It's just the only property we can afford in our perfect location...but if the reason we can afford it is because it's falling down...do we really want it?!

It's so hard. The market is moving so fast at the moment and we've been looking for a year in a very desirable area. And now we've spent over a thousand pounds already on the survey and the solicitor I'm just so reluctant to start all over again!

You lost me at asbestos roof. I'd be jogging away quite fast having heard that. There will be another house OP.

Cease this "emotional investment" which is a foolish irrational reaction. Too much pointless emotion.

If you have thousands to waste after just buying then keep on.

Otherwise find somewhere else.

Believe it or not there are other more suitable places- and avoid leasehold unless you love hassle and out of control expense.

The words 'asbestos' and 'leaking' in the same sentence would have me run fast!
Maybe it's sensible to look in not such a desirab;e area but bordering?

Building surveyors are not roofers or even quantity surveyors, their estimate for the job will be well off.
However in this situation I’d walk away.