Survey came back with major issues, buyer pulling out

[pumpkinspiceforbreakfast]

Accepted an offer on our house of 495. Buyer had a survey done and it's come back with results that have left me a bit in shock. Firstly it says the external wall insulation was poorly installed and doesn't meet "standards" (whatever that means, I only have the buyer's interpretation, not the surveyor's report) and needs more passive ventilation because it's causing issues with damp.
Secondly, we have an issue with condensation in the loft in winter, and that has come up on suvery (as I knew it probably would). We've had lots of airbricks fitted but when it's really cold outside, there is condensation on the felt. There are no leaks in the roof. There's also apparently "a problem with the way the bay window was built" (house was built in 1936, we bought it 10 years ago and nothing related to the window came up when we had our survey done).

based on all this the surveyor has valued the house at 425, 70k below asking price, and buyer has (understandably, I suppose) pulled out. i'm honestly stunned and can't see how this could be accurate, especially as the external wall insulation was done by a prominent company that's still in business with hundreds of 5-star reviews, neighbours had exactly the same thing done at the same time and their house has since been bought/sold without any issues. i can't see how even with a whole new damp course, new vents and new windows we're getting to 70k of work?! and we've never had even a hint of damp in the house (i've lived in houses with damp issues and have always felt lucky that i didn't need to deal with it here). is it usual for surveyors to overestimate costs and problems, or are we screwed??!

I think it's typically that it can only be relied upon by the buyer that commissioned the report - standard risk management. The buyer can share it with whoever they want to.

We had this as the buyer, unfortunately we had to pull out. Our problem was that although we were still interested as the house had been downvalued the mortgage would only lend the value on the report and held the rest in retentiok and we didn’t have the cash to cover the difference so we had no choice. I think there was the option for the seller to rectify the issues but they had to use specific companies with specific registration and then it would have to be re-inspected for the retention to be lifted, the seller didn’t want to do this.

I’m with the buyer on this. A £10k down valuation is one thing, a £70k down valuation is something else.

We had a surveyor value house low and moaned about the extension. We just kept it up for sale - another buyer came along quite quickly and ww got asking price

I had an ‘ in depth ‘ survey done on a house I previously sold , 2 men turned up ,
one played with my puppy for the entire time ( not code 😂 ) and the other mooched around like an uninterested viewer , I opened the loft hatch and he didn’t even go up there . I know through friends of friends that it was the top survey they’d paid for as they’d been stung before .
Having said that I don’t think there were any issues that I was aware of with said house though .

last night once i'd calmed down i found the original paperwork for the external render - it has all the building regs certificates, and also a 25-year warranty, so i guess the plan is to get my own survey done and claim on the warranty if it's genuinely "not to standard". spoke to EA and he was fairly unbothered, thinks the render stuff is bollocks and the valuation is crazy, and to just go back on the market now at the original price while doing any work needed in the background - he reckons it won't be much. he also said he's seen lots of surveys lately where they really put the fear into buyers about external render causing damp. i had a good look around this morning and no visible signs of damp anywhere, inside or outside, and no sagging on the bay window. house has cavity walls as someone asked above.
it's been such an emotional rollercoaster to get to this point that i'm not sure i want to be dealing with all the hassle of getting work done and selling at once, so i'm leaning towards getting a new survey and getting any work done at a more leisurely pace... but we shall see.

i mean yeah, obviously i would do the same in their shoes, i'm not blaming them, i'm just confused as to how there's apparently 70k of longstanding issues that didn't showed up on our level 3 survey (ie bay window that's original to the house "not built properly") and didn't affect the identical property next door (external wall insulation, which has all building regs and is by a reputable company but is somehow "not standard") with no external or internal signs that anything is wrong (apart from loft - as mentioned, we know it gets condensation on the membrane in winter, the other seasons it's fine, had the roofer out and spent £2k on air bricks but it's an airflow/temperature issue). even with a whole new roof (unlikely) and rebuilding the bay window i don't get to 70k.

I’m sorry you’re having this stress, OP.

When I tried to sell a doer upper house a few years ago, a set of buyers pulled out over the survey. They kindly sent us a copy. It was horrific and whilst there were some sensible points on there, there was lots of points that were just plain wrong. For example, saying that there were no smoke alarms when we had several decent ones wired in, and that the chimney wasn’t capped when it was. For the bits that were accurate, we used the survey as a checklist to make what improvements we could when we next put it back on the market.

When it was me being the buyer, I took the survey I had done with a big pinch of salt. It tried to flag up damp issues in the house I was buying but I couldn’t find any traces of it, nor could the vendors. In fact, one of the ‘solutions’ the surveyor recommended was putting in a French drain around the property, but it already had one there… Fortunately for me, the surveyor agreed with the amount I was buying it for, so I kept going. The only thing I flagged with my sellers was something fairly small in the loft that I asked that they fix, which they did.

I hope you get some answers and new buyers. It’s such a stressful process anyway that this must have really thrown you.

You are in a semi-detached with a gable end?
Putting in air bricks on the gable will only help if you have vents in the soffits and/or roof/tile vents. You need air circulation.
Most lofts are very drafty.

It’s a hipped roof. The roofer put about 6 vented roof tiles each into the main front and back of the roof. it does feel draughty in there most of the time now (whereas it got hot and stuffy before), but when it’s very cold outside as it has been, we still get condensation. I wonder if getting a new loft hatch that seals more tightly would help - the hatch is quite old. If we stay here we’ll reconfigure the upstairs, which will involve moving the loft hatch anyway…

Surveys are often thorough and unforgiving, but not malicious, they have no skin in the game. You could assess the walls and see whether you can somehow improve the situation. If you are not in a rush, you could wait for a cash buyer and hope they don’t do an extensive survey. Or accept that you need to lower the asking price.

Lowering the price might get more interest more quickly?

I think a small amount of condensation is normal when it's very cold out?

I think I'd chuck it back on the market and see what happens. If an issue arise again then I'd get my own survey.

@pumpkinspiceforbreakfast a couple of thoughts:
Get your own survey done and ask the surveyor to particularly look at the alleged problem areas..it might be that external render has increased the humidity levels in the house w
But I can very strongly recommend you looking into having a PIV unit installed. It will address the loft condensation issue and improve air circulation in the whole house which drastically reduces any tendency to damp or high humidity.
I researched the market and opted for Envirovent. Not the cheapest but the best package overall imo.

Buyers and lenders will still get their own survey/valuations done though?

I would happily get a PIV installed but I thought that although it was installed in the loft, it only delivered air to the main house - the air in the loft is theoretically essentially outside air, as I understand it, so I was thinking a PIV wouldn’t help - am I wrong?

re humidity, I have a dehumidifier for drying clothes as well as a humidity meter for my fussy house plants, the highest reading i ever get on either of them is 55 and it’s usually lower than that, so I know there’s not significant humidity in the house.

Yes? but op was wanting to get her own survey to see if these issues really are as bad as made out and if so how to fix them. I'm just saying I'd hold off on that because this might have just been a rogue surveyor.

I don't know all the ins and outs of PIVs but Envirovent will do a free survey. Our surveyor was very un pushy and didn't make drastic promises.
It has however made a drastic difference in our coastal property, also a 30s house.
Hope you get it all worked out,

I think there’s two types of buyers.

Ones that take the survey (with often a load of wooly cop outs and caveats) with a pinch of salt…

And ones that treat it like gospel and don’t understand that a large part of it is simply the surveyor covering their own arse.

You want the first type of buyer. Sounds like you’ve got the second type.

Fwiw I’ve had structural surveys on many of the properties I’ve bought and sold. Much of the content of those surveys was either exaggerated, noncommittal, or just plain wrong so I’ve learnt (as a buyer) to take the surveyor’s opinion with a pinch of salt- it often conflicts with the advice I get from my builder friends. Just my 2p.

@Lonelycrab whilst i agree with you, the surveys can cause a nightmare for the buyer regardless of what type they are. If it places a retention on the mortgage (which is what it sounds like here with the 70k downvalue) then buyers most likely aren’t able to proceed whether they want to ignore the survey or not.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to do a damp proof course in an older house? I thought they were generally seen as a a bad idea.

I also don’t think you’ll be able to claim on the warranty. I suppose it depends if they mean “not up to standard” to mean that it’s poorly installed, or that it no longer meets requirements.

To be honest, though, a house with insulation and damp issues that has a known condensation issue in the loft would be a no go for me now, it’s so expensive and painful to deal with.

You probably just need to remarket, and wait for someone who will ignore the survey. The complicating factor will be that if you can’t drop the price, you’ll need someone who has enough cash to make up the difference between the mortgageable value and your selling price, and that might be a tough sell unless someone absolutely falls in love with your house. Or just cash buyer overall.

Buyers can find another house, it is more a nightmare for the seller because future surveys might say the same? Isn"t it easier just to drop the price than starting to throw money at the problem, let the buyer fix it.

True. Although even if they dropped the price and found another buyer if their survey then picked up the same problems could a further retention be put on. Eg say they dropped to £425,000 for a quick sale, a new buyer makes an offer has a survery which picks up the same issues could it be downvalued again to say £375,000 if the works not done?