Help, help, help please... survey results - need advice before tomorrow

[Dottydot]

Aaarrgghhh...

The survey is back on the house dp and I want to buy and I really need help/advice on what to do:

1. The building society are asking for a structural engineers report. Who do we get to do this - can we ask the building society for their preferred people; do we ask the company who carried out the homebuyers? Would you negotiate with the vendors to pay half the costs of the structural survey?

1. The valuation bit of the report has come back as not valuing the property at all. It says the proprty has been affected by past structural movement, and is likely to be progressive. Will the full structural survey uncover the extent of this or do we need a builder to come and look at it?

1. It also says the current standards of maintenance and repair are low and the property is in need of extensive modernisation and refurbishment. We know this and are happy to spend some money doing it up - but presumably that's not affecting the value as much as the movement stuff - would you take any notice of this bit?

1. It says the property requires a full specialist damp proof/timber contractors report - there is evidence of dampness and possible decay to ground floor supporting timbers. Is this common or Where do we find someone to do this survey work and again, would you ask the vendors to go halves?

Overall - those of you familiar with surveys, does this all sound awful, or fairly normal but made to sound scary??!

We're very, very and at the minute - don't know what to do...

Sounds pretty bloody scary to me.

get a full structural survey done - ask the building society for a recommended firm

i have not heard of a valuation report not valuing a property before - do you have a solicitor yet? If so, would ring for advice

re point 3 - homebuyers surveys do normally highlight things like this. On the house we are buying they have put in the report that the downstairs shower room needs fitting out, which we were aware of but they need to state it too

i have moved 4 times and never had anything like you are describing happening - doesn't mean that it doesn't thought IYSWIM

If it's an older house, surveys always look terrible. So don't be too alarmed as the surveyor's job is to cover his back by pointing out every tiny defect. Some of this is just requesting further surveys, again to cover their backs.

Don't know about the valuation thing.

And the movement thing is a bit of a concern. You could always call the person who wrote it and try to get a sense of how concerned they are.

DP is a builder and suggests the following:

Past movement - often not such a big problem. Ongoing movement - think twice.

Most things can be sorted, it just depends how much hassle you are willing to put up with, and how bottomless your purse is. Major structural work often won't get quoted by builders as it can be a complete unknown, which means paying a daily rate - aarrrgghhhhh!

If you go ahead with the sale, I would negotiate a new price with the vendor.

I used to be a mortgage underwriter.

Sounds to me like the surveyor is covering his own back. It could well be that there's been very slight movement, but as he's not an expert in this, he wants someone else's opinion. Same with D & T report.

This is not necessarily a major concern. You may find that there was some kind of movement way in the past, it's been satisfactorily repaired and it's now all fine and everyone will breathe a sigh of relief. Although with the comments about the current standards of maintentance being low, I can see why the surveyor might be concerned that it's not been repaired properly/at all - that's why it needs checking.

With regards to getting the reports, there's a number of options :

-getting the vendors to get one, if you've needed one, chances are any subsequent buyers will need one (should you not proceed for any reason). Problem with this is that they might go with the cheapest and not the most reputable.
-look in (eg) Yellow Pages for local companies
-ask for recommendations from the surveyor, the estate agent and the building society. See if there's a name that's common from them all.

But most of all, please don't despair - although this rings alarm bells I really feel that in these days of litigation, it's just everybody covering their own backs.

On another note, it might be worth finding out who they are presently insured with. IME buildings insurers can be somewhat wary of insuring if there's been previous claims, but the existing insurer will often continue cover.

hth

My dh is a structural engineer and from what you've said, it sounds like they're concerned about subsidence. You will need an engineer's report to assess the state of this property and whether or not this is the case. I would be very cautious if I were you, before deciding to proceed. You might find the future costs of insuring such a property are too great. DH deals with this type of insurance claim on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I can't suggest he does the report for you, as we are on the South Coast. My advice would be to tread very carefully and really consider whether you want to go ahead with this property.

and with regard to not valuing it, I have seen this before. Again, the surveyor wants to know more about the movement before giving it a figure - if it's very old and been repaired correctly, it shouldn't affect the value. However, if it's moving now, has been for some time, and nothing's been done, as Iliketomoveitmoveit says, it could be a money pit so obviously this will be reflected in the price.

Although he's a surveyor he's not a specialist in structural movement - think of it like a GP and a consultant - he's just referred you for another opinion, it might be nothing

Definately get a full structural done. If movement is progressive you need to know. The not placing a value on the property is quite unusual and would suggest the valuer has serious concerns about the property. The damp proof and timber report is quite common and depending on what they say you can re-negotiate the price if necessary. But you must get a structural engineer to have a look.

god you're all brilliant - thanks. I'm feeling really panicky about it and dp's very low about it - she's at work tonight so I've said I'll write an action plan to try and keep things positive and moving.

Right, will phone building society and estate agents tomorrow for a recommended structural surveyors.

It's only a 1930's semi so the house doesn't seem that old to me - we're in a Victorian terraced and I think our survey must have been OK as our buyers have had it for nearly 3 weeks and haven't said anything!

Our purse is definitely not bottomless! We've built about £4K in to cover the basic stuff - it needs a new kitchen and bathroom, but other than that there's no money for stuff. We could spend that on building stuff but then we'd have to live in what's quite a mess at the moment...

Any more advice gratefully received - but thanks all for responding so quickly - very much appreciated!

ooh - another quick question while you're all there (hopefully).

It says in the report that the "current cost of reinstating the property, in its present form, is estimated to be approximately £110,000". Now the property is being sold to us for £222,000. What does that mean??? Does that mean we wouldn't get insurance for £222K, but only £111K??

I think you want structural engineer not surveyor.

A built house is a higher price than an actual build cost ie if your house was burnt to the ground, you may have paid £220k to buy it, but to actually rebuild it would only cost £111k. Hope this makes sense.

it means that although it might be worth £222000 to buy, it would only cost £110000 to rebuild it if it burned down for example. Obviously the land's worth something, and it takes into account the materials it's built out of (rare constructions materials or easily available ones) etc etc

oops x posts Iliketomoveitmoveit, sorry!

Ah - thanks - was worrying this meant that the house was only worth £111K.

Thanks again everyone - have written the action plan and feeling slightly more calmer - it's always good to have a plan..!