about to exchange contracts on a house - should I walk away instead?

[schipo]

Hello all, apologies for long post:

I'm pregnant (24 weeks today!) with pfb and in middle of selling one bedroom flat and buying a more child friendly house with a garden etc.

The house we found is a victorian terrace. It turns out that the basement in this house is a recent addition (but over 10 years old) and seems to have been dug out without planning permission or building control certification. A two story extension has also been added and a chimney flue removed without official approval. These could be more manageable problems though because they don't affect foundations of the house. Also, since we put offer in we've also discovered there's a party wall agreement with neighbours who are about to dig out their own basement.

Planning permission isn't an issue after all this time, but the lack of building control documentation (esp in basement) could be a real problem for a long time.

The seller (who has lived in house for 9 years) says they've had council come round to approve the works in last week and were told to put in fire doors and smoke alarms but won't be able to get us official documentation to prove this before we complete. Since they've spoken to council though they can't take out indemnity insurance about this I understand.

Anyway, I spoke to a structural engineer on Friday who strongly recommended that we just count our losses and walk away.

He says that without spending thousands of pounds drilling into basement foundations to make sure that underpinning etc no-one can really make any guarantees that the property is sound, and if problems are found the costs could be huge! He was also alarmed to hear about works planned by neighbours. They could uncover problems which we become responsible for.

Is this really our only sensible option?

I had thought that we could ask for a refund of some of our original offer price to so we can fix all these problems in our own time. I spoke to engineer imagining he could quote me a rough costs for investigation and any remedial work.

Any advice would be much appreciated

I would walk away.

Listen to the structural engineer. He could make a lot more money from you managing the ongoing remedial work. Instead he said walk away. I think that is a very clear message unfortunately.

If you were my client (I'm a surveyor), then I absolutely would not complete until you have had a structural engineer inspect the property and give their professional opinion on the basement, the chimney removal and the state of the 2 storey extension - and I certainly wouldn't touch it with a barge pole if you can't get indemnity insurance. It might cost money to get a detailed survey done, but it will cost you a whole lot more if you have to underpin and shore up the foundations.

Victorian houses have notoriously shallow foundations, and if your house and the house next door are dug out, you may not have anything holding up the houses.......!!

Would walk away - sounds a nightmare, and the lack of building reg sign off would really bother me. Party wall stuff can be a nigtmare too esp with a small baby

Meant to finish by saying that heartbreaking though it may be, I think if I were in your situation, I would walk away.

(and we have moved every time I have been pg and have lost out on houses very close to due dates so I do understand the desire to have a 'nest' but it's a lot of money to spend for one that could fall out of the tree.......)

Walk away. Don't get into this in a hurry due to the baby. IF there are problems, underpining would be incredibly expensive and selling it, now that you know that, virtually impossible.

There is no way you should even consider exchange of contracts under these conditions. I realise you really want a house now, but these sellers musT be deperate to offload a house with such terrible problems. Don't be the mug that makes this happen for them!

My best advice: walk away.

If you feel you can't do that, tell them (via your solicitor) that you will not even consider proceding any further unless they pay for a structural surveyor (of your choice) to produce a formal written investigation report that is satisfactory, that they pay to undertake any recommendations of such a report (bear in mind this might take months), they get all permissions/permits formalised with the council, that the selling price is adjusted to reflect anything negative that comes up in the report (you can get tens of thousands off for this sort of thing), and that they pay for full indemnity insurance on these works prior to the transaction. If they baulk at any of this, once again, WALK AWAY!

Walk away

(and thats what I was going to say before I'd even got to the bit about your structural engineer advising you to do the same)

Walk away. Its no point speaking to a structural engineer if you do not listen to his advice.

You will find a better house, don't feel pressured in to this one!

The two storey extension will affect the foundations - extensions can sort of lean backwards dragging away from the house. You have no idea how the basement was done - could be fine, could be a disaster. WALK AWAY! Carrying on will just cost you massively in time and money. Sell your place and move in to rented if necessary. You can then take your time about getting the right house. I feel for your vendors because they've got a huge problem on their hands but don't make that your problem too!

Thanks for all the advice!

As you can probably imagine not really what I was hoping to hear, but no doubt for the best.

I guess it will mean we lose buyer of our flat. Not sure I can face moving out to rented house only to move again when we do find another place.

So I guess we then have to choose whether we take flat off market for a while or hope to find another buyer and another house risk moving around due date. How bad would that be?

Keep the flat on the market, and keep looking for your dream house.

Loads of people move around their due date (expanding families and house moves go hand-in-hand).

Don't worry about the actual move. Things have a way of sorting themselves out.

Run Forrest run.

Definitely walk away.

You don't have to take your flat off the market if you have a buyer, it depends on their time scale though.

Walk away. I think they are pulling a fast one saying they can't get you documentation until you have completed.

I think you should walk away. Just incase you didn't get what I meant.

Yoru solicitor shsoudl not even be contmeplating exchangin untilthe documentation is produced. You can;t egt indeminty insurance nwo so it is remedial works or nothing. Personally I'd never rest easy knowing there are so many potential flaws and costs . You dontl need that stress with a new baby.

I loved a house in a conservation area for its potential, hgih ceilings, tall widnows onto garden, original features.... then our sale fell through. It came back on to the market a few months later when a previous buyer had walked away after recieving a damning report. When we saw the survey we just couldn't proceed. We'd also never have got a mortgage - is that a possible issue for you ? Now been bought by a developer who is selling off part of the garden to fund the works for subsidence etc.

Don't walk - run!!! Something better will come along soon.

We move house when DD was 10 days old, it really wasn't as bad as it seems. At least I had an excuse not to carry anything.

This house could cost a lot of time and money - not great when you have a small baby.

Speak to your buyer, they may give you time to find somewhere else. The worse that could happen is that you have to find another buyer. You've done that once, you can do it again.

LIZS, are mortgage was approved strangely, even though valuation surveyor did initially raise questions about all this work.

This house has also lovely high ceilings, original fireplaces etc... we'll be sad to walk away. Better that than saddle ourselves with an over priced liability though.

We're actually using one solicitor to sell flat and another to buy house. The guy involved in selling flat wants us go in and sign papers tomorrow ready for exchange, but the solicitor involved in buying house is waiting for direction from us. I guess we should cancel tomorrow's appointment for signing contracts on flat given the chances are that the buyers will walk away when they discover we're not about to complete our purchase.

I do wonder how the people we're buying from ever managed to buy the house in the first place. The building work all dates from before then. The estate agent even tells me that the guy selling the house is a surveyor himself!

'our' mortgage!

Don't give up on your sale necessarily - you might not fancy renting but it puts you in a pretty strong position re buying again. We were in a similar situation (purchase fell through) and ended up going ahead with the sale and renting for about 14 months - yes it was a hassle but it definitely made the eventual purchase easier as we had no chain below us. Definitely walk away from the dodgy house, but why not spend today and tomorrow lining up quick viewings for rentable places? You may be lucky and find somewhere perfect that's available now.

Have also moved house close to having a baby - it's doable. Be fussy about a rented place though, you want one in good nick.

I'd go ahead and exchange on your flat if I were you, then look for somewhere to rent. I've just rented my buy to let house out to people in exactly your position, it is a really common situation.

walk away and rent somewhere until you have the right place.If you buy this one ,it may be impossible to sell when you want to move and they may have contravened building regs

Agreeing with the masses here - walk away and rent! Don't touch anything that looks dodgy seriously - we got burnt like this and had a terrible job selling our house on again.

Is much better to cut your losses and you will be in a better position without a chain - good luck!