Mortgage stress -WWYD?

[Beachbaby5678]

We sold our first home last year in July 2022 as we were relocating to a different part of UK for partner’s job. To cut a long story short, the cost of childcare in south-east, painfully long commutes into London, the imminent arrival of DC2 and a looming remortgage all forced us to seek cheaper property areas. We decided to break the chain and move into rental whilst we searched. All in all we have loved being near the sea and the lifestyle that we have achieved as a family… but trying to navigate this current property market is almost finishing me off with stress.

Weve loved and lost 3 properties due to vendors pulling them off market and chains falling through. What with rental costs, storage costs, legal fees and surveys etc. we’ve spent over £9000 with no property to show for it. All this chaos forced us to reapply for a mortgage twice, playing havoc with our credit ratings and our budget.

Dud to the mortgage rate insanity and the CONSTANTLY changing goalposts of affordability, we can’t now afford the semi-detached family home we originally wanted and have downsized expectations to buying a 5 year house which will do us until we can sell on. Because of this we chose to prioritise area over and above space, on the basis that we could easily sell on, hopefully for at least the price we paid for it. Now we are finally very close to completion on this house and the survey has revealed structural problems
with The roof which will cost £20k to repair.

I am devastated. We don’t have £20k left in the budget to do this work, the seller or refusing to negotiate and our rental contract is about to end. We’ve already been informed that the landlord will be putting the rent up another £200 per month and this was already at the top of our budget. Our current mortgage deal is fixed at 4.25% (good in current market) but not transferable. If we walk away and have to secure a new mortgage it will be closer to 6.6% according to our broker.

I am really at a loss what to do next. Do we proceed with the house and bite the bullet on the roof repairs even though it was supposed to be a cheaper prospect? I’m seriously considering this really as all the other options seem pretty bleak now and we need to move ASAP. Or do we find another rental and try to wait out this current mortgage crisis? Will it even end or could things be even worse in 1-2 years? If we look for another house we’d need to adjust our budget even further (probably by £50k ) which would mean compromising on both place and space. I guess I’m just ranting and very tired after nearly a year of ‘trying’ to buy a house.

If it’s only 5 years old the roof should be covered by some sort of liability insurance. We bought a 9 year old house and the roof leaked but the builders insurance covered it.

What’s your budget? Where are you looking? You may have to change to an even cheaper area. I’ve lived all over the UK some cheaper areas are much nicer then the SE expensive areas imo not as many job opportunities and the proximity to London is not there but you can get good communities and schools in most places.

It's not a 5 year old house - it's a house they will live in for 5 yeears (I think).

OP: all things considered, I'd bite the bullet, buy this house and pay the 20k for the roof. It's shit, but it seems like the least costly option for you.

Can the roof wait?

Are roof repairs really necessary? Often surveyors will cover themselves by pointing out some things which may become issues.

The roof might be fine for the next 5 years.

I think OP means they are staying in the house for five years, not that it's five years old.

It's tough OP. I would probably go ahead with it and get back on the ladder. Will the vendors not meet you on the middle?

Okay I read that wrong then. I’d walk away then and look for a house that will suit most of my needs even temporarily. You are in a strong position with no chain you just need to find a more motivated seller.

Honestly I'd keep going especially as you have a mortgage rate at 4.25%. If you don't, then you've got another £200 a month on your rental (or fork out the costs of moving somewhere cheaper) than any house you do finally buy is 6.6% interest rate.

What is the issue with the roof?
We had guys say the whole roof needed redoing, and guys say it needed £100 of a tile replacing with a vented tile.
I'd get another roofer round, see what is said, and try to get some of the 20k off the price, if both say the same thing.

Unless that roof is literally falling down, or the house is in fact a mansion, there's no way a roof repair would cost 20k. A full replacement maybe, but not a repair.

I'd go ahead and sort the roof out later. You'd be amazed what a few rolls of felt can do to fix a leaking roof.

Perhaps get some advice from Citizens Advice. I'm not sure that the LL can FORCE an increase. You could decline it and stay put, thus forcing the LL to begin eviction proceedings if that's what they choose. That'll take them months and months and incur costs. They may prefer to keep you on paying your current rent instead.

It's all a game that is now weighted in the renters' favour.

I would get a local roofer to have a look, for £20k it sounds like roof timbers need to be replaced and not just the outer roof tiles.

Make sure you fully understand what you're getting into.

Have you had a roofer round to take a look? Our structural survey for a previous house flagged the roof as red urgent to be fixed asap. All doom and gloom. We got two different roofers over to take a look (vendors agreed to give them access as they wanted sale to go through too) and they both said it was fine. Old but absolutely fine and not an asap urgent fix. Just something that may need done down the line.

You’ll need to expand on the exact wording of the ‘structural issues’ mentioned.
Unless the roof is splaying out or bowing in, it’s most likely ok.

Thank you for all the replies. Yes, to clarify it’s a 100+ year old house that we planned to live in for 5 years before buying bigger. I’m on maternity leave so we’re hoping our income will increase in that time when I go back to work fulltime to make this possible.

Unfortunately there is a dodgy velux window in the attic conversion that is causing roof to bow. The survey thought it’s likely not been reinforced properly and would need timbers replacing. However, 2 builders have now agreed that it’s likely the whole roof would need to be replaced as the necessary repairs can’t be done otherwise IYSWIM. There’s every possibility it would last a few more years, but we’d definitely have to get it done before we sell the house on.

You are unlikely to want to live in the house while the roof is replaced, so more costs.

I would consider getting a local self employed or freelancing structural engineer to give you an impartial opinion. Although understand you probably don’t want to shell out for more fees at this point in time! Are you sure the builders aren’t exaggerating? Surely they can reinforce the existing rafters without needing to replace the entire roof? Could you find other trusted builders for a 3rd opinion?

Will the Sellers not renegotiate on the price if you offer to meet them half way with a reduction of 10k?
Surely they don’t want to lose their Buyers so close to Completion.

Another way of looking at it would be that an additional £200 a month for 5 years (rent or mortgage increases) is £12,000. You could say therefore that you'd be £8,000 over the course of 5 years worse off. I know thats a bit arbitary but you get my point. You might therefore be worse off, even if the roof costs £20k, in the short term, but you'd have certainty in relation to the location and size (albeit not ideal) and the house would presumably be increasing in value. If you stay in rented for another 2 years, you'll miss out on that house inflation, possibly not be much better off financially and potentially have to compromise on location and space.

"...and the house would presumably be increasing in value. If you stay in rented for another 2 years, you'll miss out on that house inflation, possibly not be much better off financially and potentially have to compromise on location and space."

Memo has not been received.

Really difficult situation for you especially with small children.

If the sellers won't negotiate at all, I would be tempted to move out and find another, affordable rental if you possible can. I would be v wary about overpaying for a house which needs v expensive repairs in the fairly near future. Also, if your moving time frame is only 5 years, you may get stuck there longer than you want.
Mortgage rates rates will stay high in the short term at least so I wouldn't bargain on lower rates. What is happening and will happen increasingly is that prices will fall in most areas. Do you have your cash from your previous house sale in a high interest Isa/ account earning money? That effectively offsets some of the rent costs too.

Exactly. Not good to assume!

I would roll the dice and inform the vendor that if they cant reduce by the price of the estimate repair then you will be, very reluctantly, forced to pull out as you are already at the top of your budget. Do this by a nicely worded letter - and be super polite and respectful in how its written. If the seller is switched on to what's happening in the market at the moment they won't want to risk loosing a buyer and then having to sell for less in a few months time. If you really don't want to lose it - also make an action plan for refusal that you can implement immediately it becomes apparent they won't budget. I suggest another nicely worded letter that parents have offered to lend half the cost of repair and could they possibly just reduce by 10k. If its still a no pull out and hope that in 12 months the falls have been big enough to get a similar house for less (then the extra interest rate payments will have been cancelled out anyway).

It depends what the survey said. Almost every house we've bought over the last 30 years (all Edwardian or older) has had a survey saying that the roof might need replacing. But we have never needed to. 2 required no work between buying and selling (though the first, bought in 1994, finally had its roof replaced 5 or so years ago based on a drive-past in a grief driven trip down memory lane) The other 2 had less than £1k spend fixing loose slates/tiles.

Hi OP, a key question is how long has the dodgy window been there without problems?

Many surveyors are very conservative and will cover themselves by listing "nice to haves" not "need to haves" - you might find that these works might not actually be needed in the next 5 years at all.

We've been in our house since 2019, the roof was flagged as needing replacement on our survey but (touch wood!) we've had no issues with it yet!

All in all given your good mortgage rate in your shoes I'd probably go for it.

If you did need to get the roof done urgently, you would most likely be able to list in when you come to sell as having a brand new roof and add 20K onto the asking price to reflect that?

It's a shitty situation right now, I wish you all the best.