Bungalow we are currently in the process of buying has given me the ick!

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

I have posted about this previously but the issues we are having with the bungalow we are buying continue to come in and it has now given me the 'property ick'

I'm not sure I can come back from it but DH is still really keen to buy. Although he won't make me feel bad if I decide I want to walk away.

Issues are:

Bungalow has no completion certificate from when it was built in 2004 (and it has already had a new roof which makes us nervous as to why it has needed one so soon)

Oil tank is knackered and needs replacing. Due to new legislation it can no longer go in the same place as the one already there meaning we need to move the shed losing a chunk of garden on the other side, and the tank itself will be further into an already small garden.

Boiler is knackered and needs replacing.

Searches have shown a drain under the property which is owned by the house next door and the title shows they have rights to come onto our land to maintain or repair this drain. We are also liable for 50% of any costs incurred for this drain.

Searches have shown the property is in a high risk area of both natural ground subsidence and radon.

All of the above have made me fall out of love with what should have been a 'dream relocation' by the sea. DH thinks everything above is fixable and doable and we need to crack on further and get some answers to our questions and have a proper think before we pull out but I feel just about ready to walk away.

We have put our concerns about the above to the sellers solicitors and have requested they get the build signed off retrospectively along with questions about the oil tank and the location of this drain so are waiting for those answers and having a few days to think and talk further.

I just think that when you are buying a property it should be an exciting experience and I am just worried we are buying something that is a potential money pit and it doesn't feel the same property that I thought we were buying and fell in love with.

Would all this put you off or is DH right?

I think that is still a pretty strong “Do Not Do This” message from the solicitor and surveyor, even if they haven’t said it in so many words, @ErlingHaalandsManBun.

Did you pull out OP . This thread came up as I tried to google about radon . Does it put people off generally . We are in the process of buying a coastal home and just found out the risk is 5 to 10% . I didn’t even think about radon before !

@kerstina nope. We eventually ploughed ahead and continued with the purchase. We have had to get our sellers to do lots of sorting though i.e get the build signed off, replace the oil tank, and make sure each issue we had was addressed and investigated, which has taken time to do. But it was the bungalow we wanted so in the end we were willing to keep going. Now everything is settled I have fallen back in love with it again.

The radon apparently is not a massive issue and is pretty normal for coastal areas. You can get a radon test when you move in and then there are ways you can deal with this if you find out that your actual property is a higher risk. We were told we could get an amount held back from the sale on completion, do a radon test, and if the results come back and we needed to get some work done then we could use the money that was held back to do it. If not then the money gets released to the sellers.

It hasn't put us off, and having spoke to lots of people about it, it wouldn't put them off either.

It turned out that, when the build was signed off retrospectively, it was discovered the bungalow was actually already fitted with radon vents. So it all worked out okay for us.

The radon was actually the thing that worried us the least.

Oh thank you for coming back on and updating us. That is reassuring to hear your thoughts on radon . I am a bit of a worrier but as I say I hadn’t factored in radon to worry about 🤪
Good luck with the move , I am presuming you aren’t in yet .

I'm the same. Hence my original post where I just wanted to run away from the issues. 😂But once the panic was over, and we actually sat down and looked at each thing individually, it was all actually 'fixable' or not as bad as we first fearer.

I had never even thought about radon either and had no clue what it was. But my initial thought was to think 'no way'.

We haven't moved yet but have a date of the end of the month now so we are finally almost there.

Good Luck with your move too.