Lender wants roof survey and loft wall work before mortgage - common?

[Blarn]

We have found a wonderful house, offer accepted and our mortgage application was sent off by the broker. The lender got back to us with two points. They wanted the sellers to brick up the party wall in the loft which they are doing and get a written survey of the roof with any recommended repairs done.

I've got in contact with a roofer who said it was unusual. But we want the house and the mortgage so we need to do it. We are wondering about costs, I'm thinking we get the survey done and if there are repairs ask the sellers to pay? But how unusual is this request from the lender? I'm worried it is because our deposit is only 5%. If we ask the sellers to pay might they just pull out and go with another offer? But we don't want to pay for any roof repairs on a sale that may fall through anyway!

We are first time buyers and this is stressful already. I just want a lovely house that is ours!

Edited for typos.

I wouldn't pay out any money on a house that wasn't mine. Absolutely not. Normally the lender would get you to agree to get the work done afterwards.

That's what I thought. I don't think asking the sellers to pay for repairs would be outrageous? They did confirm that they had repairs done five years ago but the paperwork has gone missing so I'm hoping that the roof would be in good condition anyway.

We had this with the Yorkshire building society. We arranged a different lender instead. It was cheaper than doing a load of surveys on a house we didn't own.

I didn't think of trying a different lender, I might speak to the broker. The estate agent the sellers didn't seem surprised so this obviously happens. But it wasn't how I expected things to begin!

Who’s the lender? If you’re FTB it could be worth you looking at Nationwide Building Society ‘helping hand’ mortgages?

Hey. We were in the process of buying a house and had a MIP from a lender. They had their valuer come out who reported subsidence. The property we were buying had been built onto a 1600 farm house that was subsiding which had to be pulled down, and it basically looked a mess at the back. We knew what we were buying and we knew it had been underpinned.

We had a structural engineer who came and reported that the building was sound, but lender still refused.

Mortgage broker went back to the drawing board and found a new lender. This lender didn't even send anyone out to inspect (something to do with our postcode and the amount of deposit we were paying).

Do go back to your broker and let them do the work, that is what you are paying them for.

Good luck.

The house is a 30s semi and although I am not a structural engineer or roofer but the house has been really well maintained and the owners have had repairs undertaken to the roof etc. The roof survey will be about £250 so I will contact the broker. I suspect our 5% deposit has something to do with it. Our mortgage options are a bit restricted because of this as well. But we need to move so 5% it is.

This sounds very odd, why do they require this? What’s the reasoning. I would look at a different lender.

I've just emailed our broker and explained that I am concerned the seller might pull out and go for an easier buyer.