Spongey floor in flat i viewed

[Spongecakehouse]

I viewed a flat i really like, Im in scotland so I already have the home report. The house was in mint condition as backed by the report, however there was a section in the kitchen where the floor felt extremely spongy. Its laminate flooring. The report notes this but all it says is "uneven floor section in kitchen with sponginess".
What should I do? Im in contact with the seller. I doubt it could be leak related as theres a flat underneath?

Maybe weak flooring? I know spongy laminate is a common problem in upstairs bathrooms because the floor had gotten so wet over time. It can sometimes be unstable or eventually give way and cause a leak to the floor below, or worse. I don't know if that's the case with the flat you're interested in, but it might be worth getting someone who knows more about these things to take a second look. I hope it works out :)

It's likely to be a plywood subfloor that has become debonded to whatever is underneath it. But ideally it does need investigating and to understand what is allowing the flex.

It could be anything from a leak to a major structural issue to some moron installing it over the top of carpet. You'd need to get it pulled up to find out the reason.

I asked the seller and he says the spongy floor is recent, his old dishwasher had a leak. he says "I still have some floorboards from the kitchen in the garage, It will probably be a little tricky to cut the board but with the right tools it shouldn't be that bad. For installing the floorboard I think you'll need to remove the entire row, replace the spongy board and install the row once more."

So why hasn’t he done that?

Yeah thats my thought.
Can i ask him to either do that, or allow me to have a joiner to go in and inspect? How does it work? Am I supposed to go through my solicitor for this?

Did you phone and speak to your surveyor and ask them what they thought the likely cause was or to explain more as you can do that you know,if you have any questions about your report.

Im in scotland so the survey has been done with no input from me

Leaks often spread under the floor covering, for example vinyl or laminate.

It would be reasonable to suppose that all the floor covering needs to come up, with appliances and units lifted out of the way so you can see the problem. That might take a day or so.

It the flat is of an age to have chipboard flooring, a long term leak would mean it all has to come up and be flung in the skip before you fall through it.

I expect the vendor would like you to be unconcerned and not investigate until after he has the money and you have the problem.

Thank you for this. They would have to lift the entire floor to check? Not just the section?
I'm guessing the seller would have claimed on his insurance (?), is this something I can ask my solicitor to ask for or should I ask the seller directly?

Report says "floors are of suspended timber construction throughout"

Incidentally this is one of the flaws in the much touted Scottish system of conveyancing.

IMHO it has as many flaws as the English system just different ones.

Sorry for the drift.

So you need to budget for new kitchen flooring, possibly the floorboards underneath, and if really bad new joists which may go under a wall and be expensive to replace.

Also you said there is a flat underneath so the joists would be a party structure. How does that work with Freehold responsibilities?

I'd avoid personally.

I have a few friends in the trades and none of them seem to think its a particularly big deal 🫣 arrrghhh!