House purchases starting to feel like a money pit

[Newbie1991]

We are looking to buy a semi in Wales, the house when we inspected it seemed perfect for our family we got a level 2 survey and this is the moment when I started to realise it's a money Pit.

Roof - light is coming through. roofer confirmed it's rotting away, he quoted £12k!!!
Damp everywhere on the ground floor even the party wall - someone quoted £15k. We are getting another company out next week to do a survey as well.

I don't think we can ask for all this money off to cover it, it feels so bloody cheeky but we can't afford to repair everything. I expected a new kitchen maybe bathroom but not this.

We are looking at new houses on the weekend but feel gutted.

Did the asking price reflect the cost of work needed?

It is early days. Keep looking and you will find a lovely home.

Surely you would have nothing to lose by asking for these to be taken off the asking price? Unfortunately, home ownership is like this. Can you afford to pay more for a house in better condition? Good luck.

Nope! They wanted top end of asking price as the house "was in such good condition" lol

I would walk then, who knows what other poor conditions they are hiding. I’d rather an honest seller than a lying one.

I would talk to their estate agent and show them everything that’s been highlighted in the survey. No one will buy a house at a top end price with that level of work needed doing. If you don’t ask you won’t get so you have nothing to loose.

If you still want the house, knock the price of the work off your offer and see what they say.

If the scope of the work has put you off just keep looking.

Are you happy to have the work done, if the price reflected what was needed? My concern would be that more may be needed, either from investigation from another company, or from doing the work to remedy what you already know needs it.

I wouldn’t want to live in the house with the roof being replaced and all the treatment required for the damp problem. I’d walk away.

Edit - sorry, ignore my post as I see you’ve already had trades out to look.

Surveys are quite often terrifying. Ours warned us of lack of beams on the conservatory entrance, front door / wall being askew (it still is) and the roof not being felt lined. 20 years later we have had to do various works but nothing the survey picked up.

I would get a roofer in to give a bit more detail on the door issues. The damp is a worrying one - why do they think there is damp? Did you see / smell it? Is there a damp course?

Damp everywhere on the ground floor even the party wall -

Walk away. A new roof would fix the roof problems but damp everywhere is a "how long is a piece of string" scenario. You could throw 100k at it and still have damp.

Just keep looking…

Keep looking. Even if they paid for half (that would be normal), you still have to suffer through the work. Their next purchaser will find the same. So I’d tell them you are only interested in the house if they get the work done otherwise you are walking away. Then do so

Reduce price or walk away. There are many houses. You don’t need that expense.

Don’t walk away. Run. You’ll find a much better house that doesn’t need so much work. It’s really not worth wasting any more time with this one.

Surprised the damp wasn't obvious if it’s going to cost £15 k to sort
Has the property been empty for a while ?

Seriously, you need to walk away from this one.

Hi all thank you for your messages!

We did have a roofer in who confirmed it's £12,000. He said the roof is over 60 years old and it's rooting which in his opinion causes the damp.

The entire house is covered in wallpaper which the survey also picked up so I think they were hiding the damp that way.

We are off to see a house on Saturday but still not sure what to do as the house has great potential and we are happy to do the work but I don't want be paying loads to get it fixed (might be selfish) but I also have a younger child to consider... So it's a hard one.

The entire house is covered in wallpaper which the survey also picked up so I think they were hiding the damp that way.
😮
Can you expand on that? Wallpaper is a normal thing to have.

Wallpaper could be hiding the damp, the survey mentioned it too. That's the only explanation as we can't physically see it and it's on the party wall.

Wallpaper needs glue
Glue stops the building breathing
so equally the wallpaper could be the problem.

Solution.
remove wallpaper and glue
dry out wall
paint with fully breathable paint

That sounds like a typical surveyor covering their backside commmet. There was wallpaper on the wall and they were unable to check properly so it ‘may’ be hiding damp.

Doesnt necessarily mean there is a problem.

They said the damp meter went off though and went to the highest level?

In that case back to my previous advice - run a mile!

I think you should walk away. It seems unlikely that the seller is unaware of these issues. You will find something better. It feels tough but you really, really don't want to end up with a money pit.

I wouldn’t be buying it unless you have a spare 100k to fix all the issues. Walk away.