Surveyor's report with 17! urgent items and part of the building is reduced single skin

[kokos1]

Hi All, We're in the process of buying our first Victorian house in London and just received a surveyor's report. There are 17! items that needs urgent repair.

Brief summary:
Roof coverings - Deteriorating condition - Quote for repair
The rear projection roof is lined internally with slates. (highly unusual - slates appear to be under concrete tiles).
Main walls - Dampness (throughout - inadequate sub floor ventilation)
Drainage - Inspection chamber - front garden - blocked
Electricity - Test recommended - dated fittings / loose wiring /sockets on skirting
Gas - Test recommended
Heating - Not test certificate - Test recommended
Chimney stacks - Dampness internally - middle bedroom
Rainwater pipes and gutters - Leaking in places
Ceilings - Dampness (fire hazard - polystyrene tiles)
Floors - Dampness - Inadequate sub floor ventilation
The boiler is old and in disrepair

The external walls to the kitchen are formed in traditional solid masonry of reduced single skin thickness. This is considered to be substandard design

Would you walk away?

Surveyor didn't provide with any estimates for repair and we're now thinking if it worth asking for timber surveyor, roof specialist etc to come to give us quotes or do you think it's way too much to repair? We knew there were some issues with house, but haven't expected that much. Also really concerned about kitchen that located in kind of extension with reduced single skin thickness. Looks like it will be very expensive to re-build or to knock down and re-build original wall.

Any opinion would be very helpful! Thank you.

What price is it compared to a modernized one?

I would walk away from that yes.

Is this your first buy ever? Some of the things in that list of 17 is just normal arse-covering - saying gas and electric can't be assessed by a surveyor and you'll need a separate test is in every single survey report ever. Older houses obviously have older services and of course they can do with an update but if they work that's not urgent. You'd expect to need to do the roof sooner or later with any property that isn't brand new or being marketed with a recent new roof highlighted in the particulars. Likewise with any heating system in any property that isn't brand new or being marketed with a recent new heating system highlighted in the particulars. Those are things that you are supposed to have already accounted for before making an offer on an older property.

However the extensive damp issues and the single-skin shoddy extension are enough to make me walk away.

Ok. I live in a 1888 Victorian terrace so have some experience. How much do you love the house? How is it priced compared to others in the area? Are you prepared to live in it while you save to get things put right? The airflow damp issues may be because airbricks are needed to get air under the flooring; damp could be because of it being empty or not well ventilated or guttering etc.

The single skinned extension is not going to fall down so you could live with it until you can get that fixed. Also does it have building regs? It may be that it was built before standards changed.

Victorian houses are always going to have issues unless you buy one immediately after its been renovated. I did and I still have issues!

Good luck

It’s a Victorian house, sounds fairly standard.

Some of that is standard backside covering stuff from the surveyor. Recommending you get gas/electricity/ heating tests etc.

The rest of it is quite concerning, particularly so much damp in so many places.

I’d be walking away from that one.

Thank you for your reply. It's not first buy ever, we owned new built flat before.
We were prepared to some issues of course and to do cosmetic work inside, maybe partial rewiring and partial plumbing, some smaller roof repair etc. And we have budget for this. But this report sounds like it will be extra £100k :(

House next door was sold last last year for 10% cheaper (photos showed that it required complete modernisation). When we made an offer we specifically asked if there are any issues with roof, leakage etc and owners said "no", so haven't

It might well be 100k. It certainly won’t be zero.
How old is the kitchen and bathroom?

They seem pretty standard for the age, so really it comes down to 2 things, price and whether you have the capacity (or desire) to do renovations.

It's highly likely much of the list is linked to, and none of it will be cheap to sort but if it is cheap enough it's all fixable. Perhaps it's time to seriously negotiate

@kokos1 i wouldnt walk away! I would run as fast as my legs could carry me!!! it sounds like a money pit and will take years to bring it up to scratch unless you have the money to get builders in to do it!

This looks normal. The survey said that our Victorian terrace did not have enough rafters to hold the roof up, but it had managed for 130 years by that point and lasted the 6 that we lived there. The damp could be a pain but is pretty common in buildings of that age.

Was the inspection chamber actually blocked or just not accessible- e.g. there's decking or some massive plant pot on top of it?

Our current home that we've been in for 25 years had a drainage problem and the cellars would fill up with 2ft of water. We had it fixed then had to wait for the house to twist back into shape which took a couple of years but all is good now. I love my home and was prepared to put the work and money in.If you feel up to the challenge could you get some ball park figures for the repairs and go back to the seller and ask for a reduction in the price?

it was actually blocked

@kokos1 my local shop has had a severe drainage problem for the past 40 yes 40 years!! scottish water etc have never been able to fix it so when it has been raining the shop stinks!!

Seems fairly standard for an old, unmodernised property. Get it watertight first, guttering won't be helping the damp. It does sound like the current owners haven't done much in the way of maintenance though

Ask the vendors to sort the blocked inspection chamber and provide proof.

I would walk away. It sounds like way too much work for you. The kitchen has probably been knocked through into the shed/coal scullery.
The floors might be rotten. There’s damp, etc etc.

Ask for a phone call with the surveyor and get them to talk you through the report. It will give you a better idea of what can probably be solved easily and what should concern you.

Has the property been lived in within the last 2yrs? If not, there is a little know government scheme to get homes back into a livable state. If that is the case, let me know and I'll give you the details.

DH and I bought a derelict property 3.yrs ago. We knew it needed a huge amount of work and £'s to get it livable again. The price of materials etc has skyrocketed though since we started. We love the house, the street, garden etc, but don't underestimate the costs involved!

Thanks, everyone for your replies! We spoke with the surveyor, and he mentioned that many of the issues are easy to fix - just costly, haha. He's particularly concerned about the single-skin kitchen and damp under the floors. It seems like a much bigger job than we anticipated, especially since the house was advertised as being in much better condition. We've asked if the sellers are open to negotiating the price, if not - we’ll likely walk away. Thanks again!