Am I being overly worried FTB?! Pulling out of house purchase after survey

[Yoyopotato]

Paying top whack for a terraced house. Survey flagged the following as requiring further attention:
Chimney stacks
Roof coverings
Rain water pipes and gutters
Main walls
Windows
Walls and partitions
Floors
Fireplaces
Woodwork
Inside other
Electricity
Gas/Oil
Heating

If anyone wants further information on any particular area in order to advise, do say. But that's the list of everything that needs further attention urgently.

Also, the house is a 4 bedroom house. But the survey has flagged that bedroom 4 (which is in the loft) doesn't meet buildings regs to be a habitable space as it doesn't have a fire escape route. It's a loft storage space only.

What does the mortgage company say- they for me are your best indication.
Surveys always pull your everything to cover themselves, the mortgage company will analyse the risk- if they are still preps to lend that would be good enough for me.
It’s an old property it was never going to be perfect- surely things like damage to walls you would’ve seen anyway when you did the viewing?

If the survey downvalues the property or suggests immediate work you may find the mortgage company will not proceed on your 90%ltv deal.

@MrsWinters

What does the mortgage company say- they for me are your best indication. Surveys always pull your everything to cover themselves, the mortgage company will analyse the risk- if they are still preps to lend that would be good enough for me. It’s an old property it was never going to be perfect- surely things like damage to walls you would’ve seen anyway when you did the viewing?

We haven't had the offer yet from our mortgage lender. We had a homebuyers survey done by the company who also prepared the valuation for the lender.

I would run a mile, but I am risk-averse about house buying. The only issues in my last house survey were out-of-date smoke alarms and a broken garage door lifter!

The loft room is a non issue, I just sold a house like this. It is standard for older properties. Some surveyors seem to be very picky on it.

Electrics and gas are always marked as red on a homebuyers report as the surveyor isn’t qualified to comment on them.

Have they been rated as 2 or 3 on the report? It’s so common for an older house to have everything listed as needing attention, that’s because the property is old. So much hysteria on this thread.

I’d run- these issues could be very time consuming and costly. As a FTB you are in a strong position and but normally less liquid to address these issues immediately. Hope you find something soon

Is there really woodworm? It's difficult to identify an active infestation (unless the woodwork was in such poor condition that the surveyor could break off a piece and see the larvae inside!)

I thought we had woodworm (holes and frass everywhere) but after a lengthy monitoring period have concluded there's no active infestation. If you keep the house warm and dry woodworm is unlikely to be an issue.

Ditto damp - usually there is a root cause and it all comes back to insufficient ventilation (blocked air bricks, level around the house has been raised, render with non-breathable materials, etc.)

The most important thing is not to panic. It is unlikely that any of these problems need immediate attention, even if it might seem like they do. You can happily live in a house with a leaking roof and water in the basement (for example) while you figure out what's causing the problems and the best way to tackle them.

@Browncoo6

The loft room is a non issue, I just sold a house like this. It is standard for older properties. Some surveyors seem to be very picky on it.

Electrics and gas are always marked as red on a homebuyers report as the surveyor isn’t qualified to comment on them.

Have they been rated as 2 or 3 on the report? It’s so common for an older house to have everything listed as needing attention, that’s because the property is old. So much hysteria on this thread.

Everything has been rated a 3.

"The walls are of solid brick and rendered masonry construction. The rear extension walls are of
cavity construction with rendered finishes. The dormer has a tile cladding finish. The damp proof
course could not be seen; however, in a building of this age a slate damp-proof course is likely to be
present. The walls are of solid and partly rendered to front and rear.
The render finishes are hollow sounding. Re-rendering or extensive patch repairs are needed to
prevent water ingress and further deterioration.
The patio slopes towards the property and this will direct surface water towards the building
increasing the risks of damp."

What's right about it? Seems to be a very long list of wrongs!!

I'm so lost with what to do next! Please can someone give me a list of next steps?

I am not a builder, but none of that is particularly alarming to me. The level above our house has been consistently raised so that at the back it is higher than the damp proof course. The surveyor correctly flagged this as an issue - however, it has not caused any problems and we are damp free.

If you saw no evidence of damp, go back for another viewing and check again. If you still see no evidence of damp, then the chances are the cracked render is not having any effect and is just cosmetic. If there is damp then consider what the render is - concrete render on a solid brick wall may cause problems and need stripping off rather than patching.

OP, I would definitely go back for a second look. Take a builder who has experience working on the type of house you are buying and keep a cool head!

Get estimates/professionals to look at the areas raised in the report, they will tell you whether any work needs doing. If it was historic woodworm for instance, not a current infestation, I wouldn't worry about that for example.

The fourth bedroom might be more of an issue but as a PP said, is that something that happens a lot in your area with those houses?

The 3/4 bedroom issue aside, have you actually spoken to your surveyor?
Surveys read terrifyingly but ring and ask them to go through and "translate" for you. A good surveyor will be able to tell you a rough cost and estimate of fuss of each item.

You need the valuation report to see if your offer matches your offer as if not you may find you need a greater deposit or to renegotiate the price. Find out what the urgent works would cost to rectify if you are still interested but if you already felt you are paying over the odds to start with you may well lose out financially or have the mortgage offer withdrawn.

So from what you posted sounds like you might need to repair the render, and the patio hasn’t been build very well so this would need relaying? If there isn’t actually any damp currently you could just do this in your own time.

I would pull out. Now is not the time to be paying top price for a house. Sounds like it's a three bedroomed house being sold as a four
bedroom.

There's not enough info here to advise properly. My feeling is, this isn't the right house for you as you're not knowledgeable enough to assess. Unless you have a friend or relative who can come sensibly assess the house for you, I'd pull out. Could you find a trusted builder?

@HollowTalk I mean modern building regulation i.e. if you were to do a loft conversion nowdays. Obviously a loft room done in 1899 would not be up to the standards expected for today in terms of fireproofing, insulation, joist strength etc. All the houses here have rooms in the attic with steep but normal stairs which have been there since they were built. There literally aren't any 3 beds without one of the beds being in the attic and so all of the houses are priced with that being the standard 3 bed situation. I.e. locally they count as "real" bedrooms.

@Yoyopotato in your situation I would make a list of all of the things listed as a 3 on the survey and then find out if they are just standard surveyor chat for " I can't check properly due to not being able to see the route cause and am covering my ass in case this turns out to be bad" or are actually a possible issue.
Then work out how quickly they would need to be fixed i.e. if the render isn't causing internal damp issues now, which you would have seen during the viewing, then it will be fine and can be dealt with in 5-10 years when you have saved up. The woodworm can be ignored unless it is active. The roof not being felted isn't an issue unless it is leaking, which again would have been obvious when you viewed.

Owning a house, especially an old one means that you have constant ongoing maintenance and repair costs. Like budgeting for a new roof if it hasn't been done in the last 50 years or so. Most stuff can wait for a couple of years unless it is dangerous to the people living in the house like unsafe electrical wiring, internal water leaks or a very leaky roof.

Once you have a list, if there are any things which weren't obvious when viewing and need fixing quickly, then you get quotes from builders and ask for a reduction in the price of the house to cover the costs.

There are damp issues at present, downstairs walls and flooring.

Hi OP, I think your best advice is to call the surveyor and ask for a translation.

All surveys are doom and gloom, especially on old houses. I have also had friends whose surveys came back identifying nothing major of concern who went ahead with the purchase and found lots of issues that had gone unnoticed.

Key questions: are the woodlice ACTIVE? If surveyor can't say, see if you can get an expert to view with you. What remedial works are needed IMMEDIATELY to make building sound and habitable?

Also absolutely key to understand whether the house is 3 or 4 bedrooms. EA should be able to justify their decision to market it as such. I agree with PPs that if it meets regs in all ways except fire exit (roof height, door etc) and was converted before that requirement existed then it is likely to be a legitimate bedroom, but again ask the surveyor this, as it's key to an accurate valuation.

FWIW our survey for this house flagged possible asbestos in textured ceilings - we just skimmed them; roof unlikely to last 5 years - we are in a terrace none of which have a new roof yet, no plans to replace anytime soon; damp issues - we got 2 experts in and their readings for damp were low/high in totally opposite places, got so confused we did nothing and no issues yet!

All old houses have something to flag up, but the surveys I've had have always made terrifying reading but not been super accurate. Just my experience! The question I asked our last surveyor was "all said, would you buy the house at this price?" and he said yes so we did :)

We got our survey back a couple of weeks ago for our purchase. I've turned it into a spreadsheet, listing everything it suggests doing which gave us a much better idea of the reality. So we have 48 'actions' from it, but two thirds of those involve repointing specific sections of brickwork, brushing moss off different bits of roof etc all of which are relatively easy to sort as we need repair work to the chimney stack so will have scaffolding up etc. There are suggestions to replace some double glazing which isn't urgent, rewire some of the house, add mechanical ventilation to bathroom etc.

Ours was a building survey so more thorough than a homebuyers' survey and gave a figure of £6k to fix the immediate actions eg the chimney stack.

I'd double check the loft - a lot of older loft conversions don't meet current regulations but are used by lots of people without problem! The house we're buying has one with 'paddle stairs' which I can't imagine are very safe in an emergency but are apparently legal!

I would pull out, too many what ifs especially as you are paying top whack for what is really a 3 bed house.