Should this survey report affect our purchase?

[casaberry]

We had a survey done last week on the house we are hoping to buy and we have finally received the report. We've sent it to our solicitor but won't hear back for a few days.

Overall, the house, a Victorian property, is in good condition but I'm wondering whether some things might affect the purchase.

• Artificial roof tiles might contain asbestos and could cause an issue if work is done and they're disturbed
• Loft conversion doesn't have escape windows, fire-resistant door, mains fire alarm or central heating
• Some damp found but doesn't seem to be massive
• Not much space (no wall cavities) to insulate better
• Poorly supported brickwork left in place after a chimney breast was removed

We're FTB, so it's all new to us. Are any of these things potential show stoppers?

We live in an Edwardian house which was built with attic bedrooms for a housekeeper and maid. Just because it's not to current building regs is not a reason to start renegotiating.

Just like the recommendations are to replace domestic wiring every x number of years. No one rewires with that frequency, they upgrade the bits they have work done to as necessary.

You pay for any surveys. The structural surveyor won't be able to check if the chimney has been supported properly without taking the floor up upstairs or taking the ceiling down downstairs which the seller is extremely unlikely to let them do.

Any company who provides a free damp inspection will make their money from selling unnecessary damp remedies to people who don't know any better. Be wary of what they tell you may need doing. Tanking and damp proof injections often make problems worse in older houses as they are designed to let water permiate through the walls to some degree.

What are you expecting the Solicitor to do about the survey results?
We were informed early in our purchase that fine the survey is a great idea, however it not in the Solicitor's remit to offer advice on the contents of surveys as they are not qualified to do so.

@WeAreTheHeroes
Your house was built like that. This house has been altered. It’s completely different. The toilet and details about the loft suggest it needs looking at if it’s sold as habitable space, ie a bedroom. The pricing of the house really tells you everything. It sounds like loads of people don’t care about fire safety when converting lofts. There have been loft regulations about headroom, staircases and fire doors for decades. Just because the owner didn’t convert it, it doesn’t make it habitable or safe.

@Geneticsbunny
Of course a structural engineer can check if a RSJ is in place. The standard surveyor picked it up and they are less well qualified to know.

Its not cheap to make changes if it’s wrong.

@TizerorFizz fair enough .I should have said that they may not be able to say rather than they definitely won't. It depends on what is visible. If the rsj has been fitted properly and plastered in I am not sure how they will work out it is there though without taking the plaster off or the floor up? The surveyor seems to suggest that there are some bricks that have been left in place which shouldn't be there rather than outright saying that the job has been carried out correctly or not. Without additional info a surveyor won't be able to say much more but hopefully they can estimate costs for repairing of needed and say what would need doing which might be useful.

I'd be concerned about the poorly supported brickwork. For example I've had my Victorian chimney taken down to roofline, this is fine but if I started taking it down in the kitchen for example and didn't take everything up to the roofline out I'd need an rsj

Unsupported brickwork is visible and this needs an expert to look at it.