Walk away from this one?

[leicestermare]

We've got an offer on our house and thought we'd found the perfect place to move; 4 beds, en suite and not too far so no disruption for kids school.

However, the mortgage company have raised a roof issue. Turns out vendor's have had that foam insulation sprayed onto the inside of the roof in the loft area - badly! It seems it's all over the wooden roof joists not just in between. No surveyor will go near it because they can't report reliably on the condition of the roof and whether it might need replacing/ repairs because they can't actually assess the state of the wooden beams. It also appears there could be a problem with the insulation causing condensation and damp issues because it's a water tight seal.

This came as a bit of a bolt out of the blue because I assumed these companies who do foam insulation were a legit thing? Or perhaps they are but this was a cowboy job?

Really conflicted now. 4 beds in our area are hard to come by, this ticked the boxes but should we walk away? We don't want to pay for removal of the foam (which has been suggested by a builder friend as the only reliable answer) so my heart says don't progress with the purchase. Head says the vendor's will have to solve the problem if it's really that serious or they won't ever sell so perhaps we should press on and throw it back to their court. Any advice welcomed

It depends how much the sellers want to move. If they would discount to the cost of a new roof I would go for it personally. It doesn't sound like it needs to be done immediately and could also be an opportunity to do a loft conversion for instance. Replacing a roof is also work that don't mean you have move out etc.

Could you get a quote for roof works and ask vendor to reduce asking price?

What have mortage company actually said? Have they asked for particular works to be done, or a specialist survey carried out? Or have they said they won't lend on it.

If they are still willing to lend, have not downvalued it or asked for remedial works, then, you know its worth what you are paying and just need to decide if you are willing to live with the insulation/have it removed or not. You can of course, ask for a price reduction.

If mortage company have imposed conditions then likely any other company will do similar, so you are in a good position to negotiate with vendors and get them to pay for the required works.

But if you just can’t face the hassle its ok to drop out. Just be aware there are very few houses out there without some problem or another.

My personal choice would probably be to ask vendors to get the insulation removed.

I think you need to get a quote for remedial work and see if the vendors will offer an appropriate price reduction

It can be removed - checkatrade gives a 2022 indicative cost of £3,200 for a 3 bed detached.

I guess you need to take pragmatic view from what you can see and externally. They may have timber treatment previously which could give some assurance as to integrity of timbers.

I don't think it would put me off if the house was otherwise what I wanted providing the mortgage company don't put a retention on it

The problem with you accepting a reduction of just the cost of removal is that the timbers etc. may be damaged underneath and you don't discover this until you do the work. Therefore you might need to budget for new trusses etc. I would ask them to do the work or give you a larger discount to cover any other possible remedial works you need to do after removal of the foam.

Mortgage company haven't said they won't lend, they just want the roof looked at as part of the survey and the problem is the surveyors we've contacted won't go near it which rings alarm bells for me. I've just tried yet another surveyor recommend by a colleague and they said they're happy to look at the roof - if the foam is gone! The other worry is how much of a problem the condensation from the foam issue might cause. Any advice on that? We don't want to persist if even if the foam is removed, there's damage from the fact it wasn't ventillated properly. I don't think a neat job was done on it because of the way the foam is all over the wooden bits. Vendor is being cagey now, she says it was a proper company that did it years ago but no paperwork remaining from it

Can the mortgage company arrange their own survey?