I hate house buying :(

[lewis s]

Afer months and months of looking for my first house, i am almost at the point of exchanging contracts on the perfect place and have just had my survey back saying that it need all new roof coverings as well as a few other bits doing to it

I'm really fed up and just want to give up on this whole moving out malarky, its just been a pain in the arse start to finish

[StevieBee]

Stick with it. The joys outweigh the pain........eventually.

[GreenDog]

The only thing worse than buying a house is selling one. Mix that with buying the next house at the same time and life is a joy .... NOT !

Edited by GreenDog on Wednesday 11th May 14:17

[hornetrider]

Look upon it as a bargaining chip

[Mr GrimNasty]

Take the survey with a pinch of salt. I'd be surprised if he even went up a ladder and had a proper look. Get some roofers over for an assessment/quote which will either be a bargaining chip or dispose of the issue or something inbetween.

My survey (15 years ago) said the same thing - they often just look at the age of the property and cut and paste an appropriate (ish) comment. The roof has required not even minor maintenance and it is still perfectly sound and not deteriorating.

[Aviz]

I only had a valuation survey on mine, but i know for a fact he didn;t get out of his car! I suspect that since google streetview has been invented , they rarely get out of bed nowadays!

[lewis s]

Thanks for the encouragement

The survey was quite thorough actually and the problems were seen from the loft. The main points about the roof were that the main structure was sound, but the batons that the tiles are nailed too are cracked and the nails holding the tiles were corroded. There are even pictures in the report of the damage. It says that the roof has 'reached the end of it servicable life' and is recommended to remove all the tiles, replace batons and re-tile.

The people at work have said much the same and that he could possibly just be covering himself. i have a local roofer going to see it at the weekend

[wolf1]

Get the roofer to give it an honest appraisal and if it does actually need a re roof or just new felt and battons etc then re adjust your offer on the house to take in account the work required or ask the vendor if they would like to have it done prior to exchange etc.

[Mr GrimNasty]

lewis s said:

Thanks for the encouragement

The survey was quite thorough actually and the problems were seen from the loft. The main points about the roof were that the main structure was sound, but the batons that the tiles are nailed too are cracked and the nails holding the tiles were corroded. There are even pictures in the report of the damage. It says that the roof has 'reached the end of it servicable life' and is recommended to remove all the tiles, replace batons and re-tile.

The people at work have said much the same and that he could possibly just be covering himself. i have a local roofer going to see it at the weekend

It's all a question of degrees of deterioration. Wood is a natural product and in the roof space it suffers extremes, is it just a few harmless splits or serious decay? All nails corrode eventually, galvanised, copper, alloy, and after a few years they won't look pristine, so again how far advanced is the 'sickness'? If there's no actual slippage of tile courses now, then it could last another 10-100 years, only an experienced roofer seeing it in the flesh could hazard an estimate.

[Scott330ci]

I am confused as to why you would be "at the point of exchange" when you are only just having a survey?

My survey was the first thing that was done.

I do feel your pain though, my solicitor has raised a few points and has had dribs and drabs back from the questions 3 weeks later. The majority is still outstanding.

13 weeks since I had my offer accepted.

[davidd]

We are at this point, selling and buying and renting a new office... Never again!

[lewis s]

The survey was done through the bank, and i have only had the mortgage accepted 2 weeks ago. Its only been 4 weeks since i had my offer accepted.

Roofer is going to look on Saturday so i will report back then, but from the pictures close up it does look like a couple of tiles may have slipped

Ahh well will have to just wait until i hear back from the roofer

[98elise]

lewis s said:

The survey was done through the bank, and i have only had the mortgage accepted 2 weeks ago. Its only been 4 weeks since i had my offer accepted.

Roofer is going to look on Saturday so i will report back then, but from the pictures close up it does look like a couple of tiles may have slipped

Ahh well will have to just wait until i hear back from the roofer

If it was a mortgage survey, then its most likely to have been a drive by. As has been said above they probably didn't even get out of the car (seriously), or many no even have visited the property at all.

A couple of slipped tiles are probably just that, most of a roof is just laid in place anyway. My roof is quite steep, and we have had to push back one or two tiles in the past 10 years.

[Bill]

Mr GrimNasty said:

Take the survey with a pinch of salt. I'd be surprised if he even went up a ladder and had a proper look. Get some roofers over for an assessment/quote which will either be a bargaining chip or dispose of the issue or something inbetween.

My survey (15 years ago) said the same thing - they often just look at the age of the property and cut and paste an appropriate (ish) comment. The roof has required not even minor maintenance and it is still perfectly sound and not deteriorating.

This. We got a roofer around who said "I wish my roof was this good". Fret not, and if the roofer agrees then use it as a bargaining chip.

[NiceCupOfTea]

If the survery shows you need roof work, the seller can rest assured every potential purchaser will find out the same, so he will have to drop the price accordingly. Get a couple of quotes, and contact the agent advising them of this and adjusting your offer accordingly. Be prepared to walk though.

[anonymous-user]

NiceCupOfTea said:

If the survery shows you need roof work, the seller can rest assured every potential purchaser will find out the same, so he will have to drop the price accordingly. Get a couple of quotes, and contact the agent advising them of this and adjusting your offer accordingly. Be prepared to walk though.

+1

[Mr GrimNasty]

NiceCupOfTea said:

If the survery shows you need roof work, the seller can rest assured every potential purchaser will find out the same, so he will have to drop the price accordingly. Get a couple of quotes, and contact the agent advising them of this and adjusting your offer accordingly. Be prepared to walk though.

Doesn't HAVE to do anything. They might be happy/prepared to gamble for the sale to fall through.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Mr GrimNasty said:

Doesn't HAVE to do anything.

Well, no. Not if he doesn't mind it not selling

[Mr GrimNasty]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Mr GrimNasty said:

Doesn't HAVE to do anything.

Well, no. Not if he doesn't mind it not selling

The buyer has already incurred costs and emotionally committed to the purchase. In my experience most go through with the purchase regardless. Unless the roof is actually collapsing or it's a serious lender issue, the replacement cost can be postponed for decades with a few running repairs.

[lewis s]

98elise said:

If it was a mortgage survey, then its most likely to have been a drive by. As has been said above they probably didn't even get out of the car (seriously), or many no even have visited the property at all.

A couple of slipped tiles are probably just that, most of a roof is just laid in place anyway. My roof is quite steep, and we have had to push back one or two tiles in the past 10 years.

No it was from an independant surveyor organised through the bank, and after talking to the vendor last week when i saw the house again apparently he was there for over 3 hours, so that coupled to the 30 page report + photos i am convinced he did a thorough job (maybe too thorough)