whisky

We have just had a Surveyor round. Done the full survey and picked up a 'Few minor' points in his words.

Signs of damp at front of the house (House is 80 years old)
He said, that it could be salt from the bricks, but recommends it be inspected.

Signs of woodworm in the loft, but not sure if it is active, but recommends it be inspected.

Signs of age to the flat roof, but no signs of leakage, and recommends it be inspected.

Electricity has not been inspected during the last 5 years although it is modern wiring, but recommends that it be inspected.

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?

Would you pre-empt the buyers or their lender and have these things inspected before they ask?

Thanks

Whisky

cresta57

Hi Whisky
We had the same thing last week surveyor found "damp" when we further investigated we found that the radiator pipe had in fact leaked, this was last Thursday and we still haven't heard anything. My suggestion is to do as we are trying to do and put it out of our minds until we know what the buyer wants to do and work from there.
debbie

Andy_Hanrahan

Hi Whiskey

I would agree with Cresta on this. If the buyer wants it fixed, worry about it then. I think it would be virtually impossible to find a house of that period that doesn't have a bit of damp somewhere, so I wouldn't think the buyer will be too shocked.

Andy

Sandra

Do you know anyone that can check out the things for you at all - reason I ask is that we just bought a house over here and I used possible termite activity and a couple of other things to drive the price down. So what I am saying is because you are keen to sell they may use the suryeyors report to ask for a drop.

If nothing else - get the free quotes where possible for getting it fixed, so as you know how much they may be asking to you drop and if it seems reasonable.

Forwarned is forarmed but don't spend loads of money at all - or any if possible at this stage.

Cheers

GetMeOutOfHere

Is this a surveyor instructed by yourselves? Can you give us background into your circumstances?

Damp and signs of woodworm will only delay the selling process, so it may be worth getting free estimates now so you have an idea of costs. Flat roof showing its age can be fixed up by yourself, paint any facia boards, clean guttering, and you can get chippings from a building merchants to put down to revamp it.

Woodworm treatemnt isn't that expensive and you get 10-15yr guarantees, the damp is the potentially expensive one.

cadman

You might as well get the relevant "specialists" round to give you advice/quotes IF work needs doing. (the surveyor always covers his ass by asking that anything like damp and or wood problems are checked by someone else so that he doesn't have to put his neck on the line. He'll say "evidence of damp, get specialist damp bloke to look at it, get timber specialist to check the floor that joins onto the wall with the damp in it")

If work needs doing, get quotes, then when people have the survey, IF their surveyor spots it (he may not!), then just show them the quotes and say "knock it off the price".
Might cost you a couple of grand but by far the easiest and quickest solution.

whisky

The survey has been done by the buyers surveyor and not ours.

The 'signs of woodworm in the loft timbers' may not be active but as we have no certificate he has recommended further inspection.

The flat roof has had some repair work done recently but the surveyor said 'It could be nearing the end of its life' and recommended further inspection.

Whisky.

GetMeOutOfHere

Have you spoken to your estate agent? Whats their opinion?

Your going to have to get estimates of the work now, then offer to reduce price to offset these or get the work done yourselve if required.
The house I currently live in had damp problem and I personally wanted the work completed before I continued with the purchase, your buyers should be ok as long as guarantees are in place for them.
The only potential problem is is your buyer's lender isn't happy with the valuation, your estate agents should deal with this, they should earn their money helping you sort this out.
The whole process can still continue as long as the work is carried out before exchange of contracts.

yafm

Don't panic and pay out good money unnbecessarily I worked for surveyors and these are standard clauses that they use to get them off the hook for any future problems There probably is not anything to have checked but it saves them money on their insurance if they cover themselves well.

I had one surveyor who said that the metal ties in the cavity walls were probably rusted and should be inspected .......on a solid walled house????????????

whisky

Thanks for your valued advice everyone.
We spoke to the Estate Agent this afternoon, and the advice was similar to most of you on here. 'Don't panic, and wait until the surveyors report has been put to the buyers'. Apparently, these are problems that arise all the time in house selling, and most of the time, it is to cover their backs.
Been to work tonight, and one of my patients partners is a roofer, and has said that he will come and check out the roof if I need him.
Cresta, might need your works number, as you live in the same area as us to inspect the damp at the front of the house.

Thanks again everyone. I will keep you all posted.
Trying to stay positive.
Whisky

cresta57

Hi Whisky,
No problem, chances are that it would be myself who carried out any survey/inspection on the companys behalf. Drop me a pm if you want a honest opinion sucks air in and shakes head

whisky

Thanks Cresta, I have sent you a PM

Whisky

smithone

Every building report I've ever read gives you the impression that the place is about to fall down so I wouldn't worry too much about this.

However as a prospective buyer I usually use the findings from a building report as a tool to try and reduce the price.

To pre-empt this I would get 2 quotes from reputable companies for the remedial work. This way when the buyer says that they want a 10k drop in price you can say well actually the cost is repairing all this is only 2k and here are the quotes.

Good Luck