survey reports

[spookehtooth]

Buying my first house and just got the survey report, which had some urgent issues. Main ones recommend urgent work on guttering and getting conservatory roof looked at, as it was colder than rest of house with a plastic roof. Also the front porch bit by the door needed work. None of it looked obviously bad to me when viewing, the conservatory has electric plugs and seemed like no serious damp issues

Did you act to get quotes on all the urgent issues in the survey report, or just some?

How common is it to try and renegotiate price after getting a report?

Pretty common to renegotiate, but, tbh, none of those things would worry me too much.

I felt that way instinctively, but it's new to me. It's been rented until recently, which I hoped was a good sign, generally

What sort of things would worry you, or think to renegotiate?

Ours has come back with extensive damp. We've booked a damp specialist to go round to do an in depth survey but tbh, I'm thinking of walking away.

@spookehtooth TBH, your milage may vary somewhat. My husband is super handy and would be able to fix those things as part and parcel of having the house. I would maybe try to renegotiate a little on the roof (energy costs etc) but without more detail, it's hard to tell. They may say things are urgent, but looking between the lines is a good skill.

Things that bothered me in current house, and that we negotiated on: ancient gas boiler that wasn't serviced for 20 years, wood burner that wasn't HETAS installed, broken glass panes in lean to, workshop that had an expired life (with an asbestos roof).

Structural issues, extensive damp, dry or wet rot, insect infestation (termites etc), roof issues are things that would get me asking (and buyer pays for) further investigation. Depending on what the reports say (and take them with a grain of salt as often the inspectors want/expect the work), I'd then try and renegotiate- and hope to get half the cost knocked off. For example one damp guy said £10k worth of work, did get a reduction of a couple thousand, and the work never needed doing! I found the damp course and it just needed minor repair.
Things that are worn, electrics, boiler etc, are pretty much par for the course and just take it into account when doing my figures.

@poppym12 be careful with damp experts. They have a reputation for recommending unnecessary work at times, when what you really need to do is work out the cause and fix that.

The survey that was done on our previous house showed "higher than normal damp readings" in one corner of the room. It was where the airbrick was, and it had rained the night before, so of course it did... We never had any issues at all with it in 5 years.

Thank you, good point.

After reading through the survey we went for another look and the damp was visible now that the masses of furniture have been moved.

It's not apparent whether there is actually a damp course so that needs investigating.

One thing I spotted was that outside ground level was above floor level along one wall (the one with the highest damp readings). The readings along this wall were as high as the protimeter went.

How old is the house? DPC has been standard for a very long time.

If it's behind furniture, my guess is that it may be coming from condensation. It often happens when furniture is up against walls (external ones in particular) with warm air hitting cool walls. If that is the cause, it's easy enough to fix through ventilation and dehumidifying. That's just a guess, though, as it's pretty common, and a lot of people don't air their houses regularly.

It's Victorian @Flubadubba. Big house converted into flats in the 60s. Some external walls are rendered - right to the ground - so nothing is visible dpc wise.