Should I walk away after survey

[coldcomfort02]

I had an offer of 140k accepted on an old 3 bed cottage in Cornwall. I knew it needed plenty of work when I viewed it however the level 3 survey has just come back with a very long list of major work, much worse than I thought. New roof, most partition walls need replacing, high levels of damp in the floor and walls, new electrics, new plumbing. The list goes on and on.
Not sure whether to renegotiate price with seller or just walk away. The problem is I’m a first time buyer and due to issues with the cost of renting I’m currently in an awful shared house which I hate and need to leave urgently. So I’m in a desperate position and need to move urgently and this cottage was my perfect dream place despite definitely bring a project.
The survey has made me feel totally overwhelmed, don’t have a partner or parents to talk to and my friends are not knowledgable on this stuff.
Any advice?

How have they worded the list of jobs to do? I’ve had a survey before and everything was listed as “may” need doing when in actual fact it was fine.

From the wording it seems like they all need doing straight away. I knew it was a project but they have made it sound unliveable in. Frustratingly the surveyor has now gone on holiday for 2 weeks so I can’t speak to him

I'm sorry but I think I would walk away from this one unless you have a very large budget for putting all these problems right.

You expect a few negative things on a survey with an old property but that list looks a bit overwhelming, especially without a partner to share the cost and the stress. Maybe I'm being naive but are there any better rentals you could move into temporarily?

It sounds like you would be buying some walls, and everything else would need to be replaced. You would probably not be able to live in it while that was going on, either.

I love a project, and I would still walk away from this one.

Agree with the above. Don't underestimate how awful it can be living in mess.

140k sounds cheap. So does that price reflect the amount of work that needs doing ?

TBH I think these are thoughts you should have been having before paying out for the level 3 survey. A lot of stuff can be easily spotted if you know what you are looking for - and if the price is really low too then it is a strong indication a place needs a lot of work. Maybe a lesson learnt.

This is a tough one. I know what it feels like to live in a flatshare where you spend every waking moment wishing you could be anywhere else.

Would you be comfortable cutting and pasting the exact two paragraphs re: roof and re: electrics so others can form an opinion on whether the surveyor is arse covering or if the house is actually about to burn down?

Withdraw from the proposed purchase immediately - sounds like the property needs a whole lot of expensive rectification done before it'd be fit to live in. Unless, of course you have quotes for the necessary work and can get the vendor to agree to drop the selling price by the total amount of the various quotes?
The only way I would preoceed with the purchase of such a property would be if the vendor was prepared to drop the selling price to cover the cost of repair work.

I guess the price partially reflects the condition, but getting it 30k cheaper than a good one, when you’d need to spend 80k on it, is far from a bargain.

Might be worth getting some quotes on knocking it down and rebuilding? If the roof and most interior walls need replacing plus the electrics and plumbing you might aswell start a fresh and build something nice. It certainly doesn't sound like a project for the inexperienced anyway.

Just walk away this sounds like someone trying to offload a problem property.

Here are some screenshots from the roundup

I absolutely would walk away but there’s nowhere else I can afford to rent. I have spent so much on survey and solicitors, it’s not money I can afford to walk away from. Just gutted it’s this bad

How much money do you have set aside to deal with all the repairs needed?

With all of that needing to be done the property will be a money pit. Many of those repairs are going to be very expensive and will have to be done by people who know what they are doing. Something in this state with this level of work required will be a magnet for those wanting to rip you off.

I know it is hard but for your own sake walk away from this. I would question it is worth the price with that much work required and the mortgage lender (if you are getting a mortgage) may baulk at lending on a property with so much wrong with it.

This kind of property is only viable for those who know what they are doing building wise and/or have a lot of money.

The actual mortgage valuation survey went fine with the surveyor saying it’s worth the £140k. That’s why I was so shocked with this survey coming back with so much wrong

If you get a major reduction on price to cover it then it's possible. It'll be awful but I know someone who lived in a caravan in her garden for about 2 years whilst slowly renovating (that needs to be possible, so check the size of the garden and any covenants!).

The important thing is not to be unrealistic.

You need to be completely level headed about the costs and the pain of renovating!

Are you local and do you know a good builder who's opinion you could ask?

Is the house priced with all that in mind? How much does a good condition equivalent sell for?

Forgive me, but if rental prices are a problem for you, then you absolutely can't afford to buy a property requiring so much work.

If you don’t have building know how, a good builder or a huge pot of money (or all 3) then walk away. I understand that you are in horrible living arrangements but imagine owning a property that you haven’t done the work on immediately so it’s condition is getting worse and you can’t sell because you’ll be in negative equity.

Tbh a lot of what has been listed on the screenshots you uploaded is stuff I would always expect to see in older properties, but this particular one seems to have a disproportionately high number of things that need doing to it. You might have a survey done and get maybe six items - idk - folks who have bought old places can probably guide you.

But yeah. If I had to pluck a figure out of the air, I'd say you might need to spend half of what you are paying for it in repairs - over the years.

The thing I noted is that the surveyor doesn't say any of these need doing immediately.

I've only had one survey, they were rated red, green and orange, which was a helpful system.

I think you need to hold off spending any more money progressing the sale and talk to him when he's back from holiday. He needs to tell you what needs doing and within what timeframes.

'If this were your single daughter on [my salary and no other financial means] buying this, with no DIY experience and nobody to help, who intended to live there for X number of years, would you tell your daughter to buy it or walk away'?

That's what I'd be asking him.

If I didn't have any personal experience of absolute desperation re: buying and dreadful house shares, I'd be telling you just to walk away from it.

But, I think you need to be convinced you have done your utmost to get away from that setup before your brain will let you move on from this purchase and hold out for the next - less onerous - potential purchase.

Surveyors copy and paste a huge amount of general suggestions that can apply to any older house. It can be a shock to see them all written down. Try to identify the immediately required jobs and get costings on those. A friend bought a three year old house and the surveyor listed that the electrics would 'benefit from being updated in the future'. Eh, yes. In 40 years, like any other house.

The house is in Cornwall - are you, and is this your only chance of staying where you want to live? And do you love the house and see yourself living in it?

I notice the survey mentions that some of the walls could be cob - this suggests it’s a historic building (probably older than 140yrs) with traditional construction, but the survey doesn’t read as though it’s been done by a surveyor who knows anything about old buildings. So, the things he’s flagged may or may not be correct.

I know quite a bit about historic buildings and cob. I can’t tell from those 2 pages if it’s the surveyor not understanding the building, or whether you should run a mile.

Was the assessment of damp done with readings from a sensor / probe, or based on visual evidence? (The former is indicative of a charlatan or someone who totally doesn’t understand historic buildings).

@JustWimpy

A friend bought a three year old house and the surveyor listed that the electrics would 'benefit from being updated in the future'. Eh, yes. In 40 years, like any other house.

Wtaf? I mean there's arse covering and then there's arse covering. Are we reaching the stage regarding surveys whereby they become quite literally pointless to do?

I would have asked for my money back!