Thinking of offering but water damage

[TenTeo]

I’m relocating and have found a property but there is some damage to the bedroom ceiling, see attached. The owner has gone into a home and cannot answer any questions, the son that is handling the house is abroad. I would obviously get a full survey done but I don’t want to start the ball rolling and make an offer if this is a serious issue. Would you be put off by this? I kind of am but there isn’t much on the market to choose between.

I am not a surveyor, but water's coming in (as opposed to condensation forming) and at that height, it's from the roof or gutter.

If it's the roof it will be a bigger job. If it's the gutter it might not take a lot to fix at all.

Is there access to the roof space to look in there?

The problem with surveyors is that they can do quite a sketchy job IMO and I'm not sure they'll get on a ladder to check the roof and gutters! Do you know any builders/roofers who might be able to have a look for you separately from any survey?

In my experience that kind of damp is easier to find the source, roof/guttering and can be fixed. If its at the bottom, well that would be a no from me. If you like the house and can get it for less than asking I would go for it.

Looks like a gutter problem, either leaking or could just be full of leaves. If you're being put off an old house with such a minor issue perhaps an old house isn't for you. (Not being facetious honestly, having owned several)

Agree that surveyors are very hit and miss and you need to do your own investigations.

Thanks for your replies, I am somewhat reassured. I am relocating to a new area so don’t know any roofers or anything. I do really like the house, I guess the done thing would be to get an offer accepted and then ring around tradesmen and get a suitable person to investigate and get a quote? The location of the damage looks to match the location of the guttering/downpipe.

Blocked guttering or similar sounds quite likely if the owner is v elderly and their child lives abroad - harder to keep on top of annual maintenance tasks like that.

It wouldn't put me off but I'd get a more detailed survey (the surveyor went up ladders and used binoculars for ours) and ask a builder to have a look and quote for likely repair cost.

Wouldn't put me off at all - my bet would be the gutters just need a clean out!