Structural survey has destroyed my sale and my lovely house

[Rosser]

I live in a lovely mid terrace ex council house in a sought after area. I sold in jan to a FTB, I turned down higher bids as I thought a FTB would be quickest and we didn’t want to lose the house we were hoping to purchase. The FTB apparently lives on this road in rented and loves it and wants to stay here. It’s a long road 320 houses so I don’t know who it is. We were also FTB when we brought 12 years ago so it felt right.

We are only moving because my Mum is coming to live with us. It’s a lovely house but it has no room to extend.

FTB has had a full structural survey which brought back loads of issues but all are totally normal for one of these houses.

They boiler is 10 years old but has been serviced every year and is in good working order. But the engineer has suggested they might want to change it for longevity. Same with electrics, which we had partially rewired (to regs) and are totally fine.

Gaps in the loft party wall apparently make my roof liable to collapse. All of these terraces have the same gaps and it’s no job to brick them up if you wish.

We removed a wall to make a kitchen diner (with a structural engineer, a steel, building regs) and apparently that could potentially cause movement upstairs in the long term. Again, nearly every house on the road will have done it as we’ve got tiny galley kitchens otherwise.

They’ve pointed out every single hairline crack that have been here as long as we have. Again, every house has them or has been freshly plastered or is covered in textured wallpaper. We ran out of money when decorating so didn’t manage to plaster every room. They’ve said our one squeaky floorboard could possibly mean an issue with the joists. Again, it’s been squeaky as long as we’ve been here.

Long story short FTB are now running a mile, we’ve lost our onwards purchase and we have to declare issues with the previous survey although there is nothing actually wrong with the house. The FTB is making a big mistake and I do feel bad for them as I’d probably do the same but the whole situation is ridiculous.

Anyone empathise or offer any words of advice. I’m so worried we won’t be able to sell without a massive price reduction now and our onwards purchase is dependent on the sale price. The valuation was ok. Just the survey.

Sounds like they were maybe looking for an excuse to pull out, it’s well known that surveys read like a horror story as they have to point out every tiny fault that could possibly go wrong one day. Hopefully your next buyer will be a bit more experienced than the FTBs and read the survey with a more discerning eye.

I had this with FTB and a survey on an 100 yr old house. They pulled out. It put me off ever selling to FTB again tbh.

Surely having holes in the party wall in the loft is a pretty big issue! What about fire risks? If I'd seen that I'd be demanding you had them filled tbf.

Sounds terrible, sympathies. But from what you’ve said I don’t think it’s insurmountable. What I’d do in your place is try to remedy as much as possible within reason, so replaster and deal with cracks (just a bit of polyfiller and paint can do wonders), deal with the squeaky floorboard and possibly brick up the holes in the party wall myself. Then ideally get your own survey so if this happens again you can show them what your own surveyor has said. Appreciate this takes a bit of time and a bit of money (could you possibly borrow a bit from your mum), but I think it would be worth it. Chances are a non first time buyer would have been not so jittery but as you’ve admitted all of these things together would be a bit worrying (I’d worry about the roof) for anyone, and they’ll likely want money off even if they are prepared to proceed.

Why do you have to declare the issues with the survey?
I would get an electrical test and certificate from an electrician. Get the boiler serviced and have that safety checked. You will get a certificate
Brick up the bits that need bricking up and lift the carpet and sort the squeaky floorboard. If it has been lifted for pipes it might just need screwing down. My parents have squeaky floorboards I. One place in their 20 year old custom built house. I had a whole floor that bounced in a 1700s cottage.
Fill the hairline cracks and emulsion over them.
Then say it’s back on the market because they were first time buyers and were over stretching themselves. Not entirely untrue because they couldn’t afford to do any work on the property

FTB are a nightmare.
Brick up the loft, make a little folder of certificates of boiler service etc.
Aim to sell to a downsized if at all possible, tell the EA no FTB.
Good luck!

Don't tarnish all FTBs with that brush. Blame your buyers surveyor and whoever is advising them.

Equally I would say most people before selling cover up cracks which might be questioned but aren't serious. Did you provide the full service history of the boiler and the paperwork for the beam removal for the surveyor to see in advance?

My late parents house had a similar survey which needs around 50k of work
But the buyers who were first time buyers went ahead as the house was priced to reflect this . And they were needed to stay in the area
I did a gas boiler check cost £80 but the boiler was only 3 years old
And I did an Electric check cost £200 but the house was partially rewired 3 years ago I would get this done
You get a certificate on line to prove that it’s done
The building work that was done was more than ten years old so no building regs required

Brick up the roof and sort out the plastering & the squeaky floorboard

It's unfair to tarnish all FTBs with the same brush!

I agree it’s wrong to tarnish FTB with the same brush. This house needed loads doing on our survey when we were FTB but we appreciated no house is perfect.

The holes in the party wall are apparently totally standard for these type of terraces, although they sound terrifying. We’ve actually had a new roof and it’s under guarantee and they didn’t suggest we filled them. We are sandwiched between 2 council properties and they have them too.

I didn’t fill in the cracks as I didn’t want to cover anything up and I felt sure the surveyor would realise they are nothing serious, because they’re not! My DH best mate is a surveyor and he told us they’re nothing to worry about. He would say they are due to age of the property if he were doing the survey.

Our boiler was serviced and checked the week we went on the market and solicitor has the paperwork. It’s the age she’s mentioned.

The cosmetic repair is mainly in my daughters room, I wish I’d just put a unicorn mural on the wall to cover it up like she wanted!

Why do you have to declare the issues with the survey?
I thought now you were supposed to declare defects you’re aware of.
Then say it’s back on the market because they were first time buyers and were over stretching themselves. Not entirely untrue because they couldn’t afford to do any work on the property
But it is untrue! I err on the side of honesty when it comes to selling houses, especially having been burned by a lying witch when buying one. If asked, she should declare the survey and address each red flag.

I think OP should do as @Heronwatcher suggested: address minor issues that are easy to resolve, such as a bit of polyfilla and paint in cracks, and brick up the party walls, then ignore stuff like the old boiler – as it isn’t! – and get her own counter survey. Then don’t get a FTB: they’re always a nightmare (I was!)

FTB are a nightmare.

I think that's unfair, most have to pay ridiculous amounts & need to stretch themselves so understandable get anxious.

If I was selling the OPs house I would have sorted a lot of those issues before coming to market & as a non FTB unless the price was right those issues would put me off.

FTB have no experience and are scared witless when anything is mentioned like this.

You don’t have to declare anything in your survey as they survey was created for your buyer, not you. It is for your next buyer to do their own survey.

I’m sorry you’ve lost your onward purchase, I hope you find something else that’s as wonderful and your next buyers don’t freak out about nothing! X

I agree with you Stunt better to explain what has been done to address the ‘issues’ than cover it up.

Also we looked at a few houses that had fallen through and were usually offered the chance to buy the survey at a reduced cost from the prospective buyer who had pulled out. Would reflect better on you OP to say some minor things were picked up but you’ve now addressed each one.

Our first house had similar holes in the loft party walls. It was possible in ours to climb through into next door's loft and go all along the terrace! As you say, not a major job to brick it up and worth doing for security and peace of mind...

As you said what the survey found is not real defects, personally I wouldn’t even consider declaring them (if it had identified damp or subsidence or leaking roof that would be a different matter).

I am surprised they even looked in your loft usually the comment is ‘there is a loft but was unable to access.’

Fingers crossed you get a buyer that just goes with the mortgage survey next time - they tell you nothing.

I didn’t know about the party wall in the loft, its something I learned a lot about yesterday! Bricking it up will be a very minor job.

I also didn’t think some cosmetic cracks (all hairline) in a 90 year old house would bother people.

Plus one squeaky floorboard does not mean all my floor joists are rotten! The surveyor has priced for full replacement in all upstairs rooms.

I could have done it up and got 30k more for it, I guess I will have to now but we wanted to move quickly for my mum (it’s a complex situation).

@beddygu Possibly unfair, I posted thinking of me as a FTB – also paying a stupid amount to get on the ladder, and anxious about it – and me now, and think I probably was a nightmare! It’s not a reflection on FTB being bad people, more that they don’t know the process, or that most houses have quirks and quibbles, and every survey will show something. Every survey I’ve ever had reads like “Enter ye at your peril! Death! Destruction! Horror!” then when you translate it into plain English it’s like “put some draught proofing round the front door”. And it takes experience of surveys to stay calm about them.

It was a full structural survey that they paid over a grand for. Surveyor was here an hour! They’re going to quickly spend their deposit and I’ve no doubt the next one the commission will be similar, if not worse. They want to live in this area and the houses are all the same.

So...

Brick up the roof gap
Sort the hairline cracks (yes they are to be expected but do look off putting)
Do the cosmetic work in your dds room (we have a mural wall in ds2s room and it looks great)
Replace the squeaky floorboard

Am I missing something?

The above ^ fixes are not expensive or that time consuming?

Get gas and electric safety certificates too.

@Rosser Is it too late to go back to FTB and address each point, eg roof: you’ve got guarantee paperwork, boiler: you’ve got annual services and no issues raised, floor: you’ve fixed the squeaky floorboard and there are no signs of damp (you can do cheap humidity tests and also you can SMELL damp, if your joists were rotten you couldn’t hide it!), etc. Or has your onward purchase definitely fallen through so not worth trying to salvage and remake the chain?

@stuntbubbles I don't think they are a nightmare, just understandably anxious.

Plus I've known plenty of second steppers who get anxious.

Pop it back on the market and price it accordingly. We bought a house with similar issues on the survey , but because we've bought and sold a few houses we knew what to expect and foresaw these issues. So when the next potential buyer mentions them, or you could mention it to the buyer, you say it's priced accordingly

I have explained everything to the solicitor. They are still adamant it needs 30k of remedial work and they can’t afford it.

Ive got the roof company coming round today to look at the air bricks. I’ll have that sorted as it is a fire risk. I had no idea. The other stuff, is really nothing. I just wanted to sell as it was. They will redecorate anyway, they can fill in cracks as they go!

I had this with a house built in the 1930s. The staircase spindles were too far apart according to current regs and there were roots in the drain. When I looked in the manhole there were a few thready roots at the top of the lid but three feet down where the actual sewage was taken away was clear. They wanted me to come down several thousand to replace the staircase and have cameras down the pipes. Told them no and sold to someone else a few weeks later.

Sympathies OP. Something similar happened to us. The surveyor even reported thermal images that show colder areas....on the windows are around the front door! 🤔

The estate agent said she'd never seen anything like it and suspected he might have known the buyer it was so ridiculous.

But we just pulled out, said no way to the reductions and got another sale within days - no issues on their survey and got over the asking price.

It's so unfair that the inconsistency can make a massive impact to someone's life.