Buying a house for cash

Kotek Besar

So, I'm helping my in-laws in their property purchase. They're potentially buying a 3 bed semi, three years old, for €120k. They have cash, so no mortgage required.

The internals of the house have been modified slightly. The current owner (who showed us round - he's not using an estate agent) told us that he knocked down a non-supporting wall, to create space.

Now, I wouldn't know a supporting wall from a non-supporting wall and, while he seems an honest enough chap, I think it'd be silly to not get a professional in to give the place a once over before we hand over any cash.

Do people agree?

Also, what sort of surveyor am I looking for? Not a valuation, no? Or is it? They seem to want €150. Does that sound about right, because to be honest I thought it'd be more than that.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

testicle

You need a Structural Surveyor.

RobAMerc

i would say yes , you need a structural engineer.

given that the banks won't loan people money to buy a house and you lot have cash I hope your paying 120k for a house that is being advertised at €250 !
I see things have got so bad here that some EA's won't even show you a house unless you have proof to have the finances in place already.

amdublin

Get an engineer / structural surveyors report.

Do not allow them buy without!

Kotek Besar

Many thanks everyone.

So what's the procedure, do I speak to our solicitor first and tell him that we're interested in buying this house and does our solicitor then arrange a structural engineer to visit and report, or do I arrange that myself? If myself, do I arrange it before or after our solicitor contacts the seller's solicitor?

Apologies if these are stupid questions - none of us have ever done this before and it's not my money, it's my in-laws - and it's all the money they have. If this all goes pear shaped I'm in the dog house big time.

pancakes rule

YOu organise the survey. Any bank or estate agent can give you the names of those they use.

A supporting wall is one which carries the load of a wall above it AFAIK. So you can see that easily enough - is there a wall directly above it upstairs?

Kotek Besar

No I think it's just the landing above it if I recall correctly, but it may be the bedroom doors / walls as well, if you can picture that.

We're hoping to be able to go for a second viewing maybe this evening, so I'll have another look then.

I do remember that there's a visible line on the ceiling, where the wall used to be. Is that normal (that a line is visible I mean)?

amdublin

pancakes rule wrote: »

YOu organise the survey. Any bank or estate agent can give you the names of those they use.

A supporting wall is one which carries the load of a wall above it AFAIK. So you can see that easily enough - is there a wall directly above it upstairs?

A bank survey will not be adequate.

Those surveys are not structural, they are valuation surveys.

Unrealistic

Kotek Besar wrote: »

So what's the procedure, do I speak to our solicitor first and tell him that we're interested in buying this house and does our solicitor then arrange a structural engineer to visit and report, or do I arrange that myself? If myself, do I arrange it before or after our solicitor contacts the seller's solicitor?

You'll need to talk to a solicitor anyway. If you have a good solicitor he/she might be able to put you in touch with a reliable engineer. Both process (solicitor on paperwork with vendor's solicitor and engineer on survey) can be going on in parallel.