If you pulled out due to a survey, why?

[ManyMaybes]

We just had the survey back for the house we’re buying and I think it was generally fine. The house itself seemed structurally sound but there were various imperfections such as a slight bit of rising damp in the lower ground floor, old wiring, general upkeep required, windows need servicing etc etc.

None of this is really an issue to me as we are buying knowing it’s in adequate condition but hasn’t had work done to it in decades probably. And we will be renovating and extending the lower ground floor so any issues in there will be fixed in time anyway.

I know lots of people pull out because of survey issues, but what sorts of things have you pulled out for? Subsidence, roof needing replacing etc?

We pulled out of one house. We knew it was a doer upper but there was so much wrong with it that the bank said it was unmorgtable. We couldn't afford to buy it outright and do all the work so had no choice but to pull out.

House was £15k overpriced.

Bank valuation agreed same week.

Vendor refused to negotiate.

Took him seven more months to sell it and three further failed sales.

Pulled out of an investment purchase, damp, evidence of live woodworm, issues with the roof. All of the issues could have been overcome, but with the cost in materials soaring and labour in short supply, decided against it.

We pulled out for a combination of survey and legal reasons. Our surveyor said the garage conversion was poor and we should make sure we got the paperwork for building regs. Then it turned out it hadn't got the building regs. As we were buying it for the extra room, we pulled out. We now have a lovely new house that we've just moved into. A few issues on the survey but nothing major.

My daughter has just pulled out, she’s a 1st time buyer buying a flat, the survey says there are cladding problems and management company will not commit to an ESW1 form which includes any remedial work so no mortgage company will grant a mortgage. Fortunately she quickly found one where the management company are covering the removal of the cladding.
No one can sell a flat in the original block to anyone who needs a mortgage until the cladding is sorted, she felt really sorry for the sellers but had no choice.

We pulled out of a bungalow, it was a bank repossession, ultimately we wanted to do a loft conversion so we asked the surveyor to look at the roof space and footings etc. Particularly because the bank couldn’t guarantee anything or provide documentation.

There had been an extension on the side, and there was no rsj, no lintels, they had demolished the old outside wall and the whole side of the house/roof was held up by a bit of 2x2 on a breeze block. The surveyor said he’d seen nothing like it I. 35 years. The property sold to a “Developer” who tarted it up and sold it on. Still not sure if they fixed the structural problem. The survey was the best £2k we have ever spent!

We pulled out of our first house due to the whole house having damp and dry rot, we were given an estimate of £15k to fix this but the whole house was only £110k. The seller refused to either do the work or drop the price at all because it would affect their onward purchase so we had no choice really. In hindsight being more experienced now, I might have queried that £15k quote as that was just via the surveyor and not a professional but I still think it was the right choice to pull out.

Roof works (~£20,000).

Roof needed replacing (which we knew already) and there were bats in the loft, which meant replacing the roof became harder and more expensive, and some other things we'd have liked to have done at the same time became impossible.

Issue with drains on extension with no buildings certificate. Staircase rotting but owner wouldn't let the surveyor lift the carpet to examine the extent of it. Surveyor reckoned about 5k of work that needed fixing straight away. Shared the report with the vendor to see whether they were prepared to split the cost or do the remedial works. Vendor told me it was "sold as seen". Pulled out and the property took another 4 yrs to sell and achieved 15% less than my offer in a rising market.

We're generally not fazed by work needing doing. Our current house needed a new roof, joists and all, complete rewire, strip back to brick, floors replacing, central heating etc. I'm not sure what would make me pull out as if the price is right, I am happy to do the work. Subsidence probably. Maybe Japanese knotweed but maybe k/not.

House was superficially perfect but they'd been hiding the fact that the roof was fucked.

Massive damp issues. The word the surveyor used was 'catastrophic'. It had recently been done up, presumably to try and hide the problem.

As a naive ftb I was extremely glad we paid for a full survey. We just walked away, didn't even try to negotiate.

We pulled out of the first flat we offered on - although it was a Victorian terraced house that had been converted into two flats the freeholder was the local authority and the seller had bought it under right to buy.

The searches and survey indicated that we would be liable for a contribution to maintenance costs for planned works and the estimate was up to £25,000. When we spoke to the seller they werent prepared to drop the price, even though this was a known cost, so we pulled out. We were annoyed as we had paid £1000+ on survey and legal costs but were relieved and feel it was meant to be - within a week another flat on the same road came up which was slightly smaller but crucially had a share of the freehold and so we could control costs. We were happy as even with a new roof+ other structural work it was only £5000 each between us and our neighbour.

The flat we offered on was eventually sold six months later for considerably less than our revised offer so felt vindicated in the end.

Subsidence which the bank wouldn't mortgage. It later transpired (through a bit of prying with the neighbours) that the back garden totally flooded every time it rained and was probably the cause of the subsidence. It's sold since, god knows how!

@surreygirl1987 some houses have the heating pipes clad in asbestos so to update the heating system means £20000 in asbestos removal.
And you have to move out for 2 weeks.

I heard of one poor family who bought a house and every internal wall had been clad in asbestos, they couldn't decorate and it was gong to cost mega money to remove it all.
They sued their surveyor and lost so had a legal bill as well!
And fun fact, the government charge 20% vat on this 'luxury.'

@Melitza you can't decorate a wall with asbestos in it? News to me... seeing as we have done that (after taking advice 😄). Why did they sue their surveyor for it? Or try, I guess, as they lost? Genuinely curious!

The heating pipe issue, yes that's an issue. Although I'm amazed it cost £20k!! Thanks for the 'fun fact' 😁

[quote surreygirl1987]@Melitza you can't decorate a wall with asbestos in it? News to me... seeing as we have done that (after taking advice 😄). Why did they sue their surveyor for it? Or try, I guess, as they lost? Genuinely curious!

The heating pipe issue, yes that's an issue. Although I'm amazed it cost £20k!! Thanks for the 'fun fact' 😁[/quote]
I don't know exactly. It was on the radio about 20 years ago.
I remember feeling v. sorry for them.

TBH a lot of people pull out on survey because they don't really understand survey, that houses come with lots of issues to flag up and it's normal, or that they can speak to their surveyor if they don't understand whether something's bad or not.

I've never pulled out on survey, but I would for subsidence or serious structural issues.

@melitza ohhhhh on the radio 20 years ago.

The surveyor had done his job for 25+ years and this was the first property he’d gone to where he was nervous about flushing the toilets for fear of flooding. The septic tank hadn’t been emptied for forever despite being told it was brand new.

The property was also being advertised as a Brand New build by Hamptons when in fact it was a refurb.

Turned out the back garden also couldn’t be accessed by the owner and the septic tank in the back garden could only be accessed if permission given by the chap who owned the access road.

It took 4 years to sell.

We pulled out because of rising damp , the problem was it couldn't ever be properly rectified, one thing to treat it and another to treat the cause , in this case the pavement that didn't belong to the property was quite considerably above the bottom or the internal floor and there would always be situations where the water running off would be under the wall
It also had other problems that were not acceptable to us
That was 2017 it's just sold again with nothing done to improve the situation but with an increase of over 100k !