Stressed even more after survey? Advice needed

sabinalee

Hi .

I hope someone will advise how to act next?

We sale agreed on the house last week.
The structural survey was finished and got report yesterday.

First of all - the EA sold us fake information about age of the house.
- instead of about 40 years old the real age is approximately 70 years old!! If we knew we would not go at all for the asking price.

- on the roof two of collar tie ( horizontal timber mid roof) supports the roof have been cut and removed to improve access to the boiler.
- chimney will have to be relined. Limited water ingress through the chimney is occurring and the timber in direct contact with the chimney is partly affected
- a roof light window and it's double glazing is badly cracked
- Did not realized heating boiler is approx 15 year old
- 4 windows must be changed as they not meet safety/ escape regulations
-electric meter is from 1973. Older Thank me even

To be honest, we do not know what to do...pull off, renegotiate price...

No house is perfect and we should know what we are getting yourself in for.

But we don't know....and so stressed

the_syco

sabinalee wrote: »

- instead of about 40 years old the real age is approximately 70 years old!! If we knew we would not go at all for the asking price.

sabinalee wrote: »

To be honest, we do not know what to do...pull off, renegotiate price...

Well, what is the area/location like? How much would it all cost to get fixed?

sabinalee

the_syco wrote: »

Well, what is the area/location like? How much would it all cost to get fixed?

Location : 35 minutes drive from Lucan. Rural.
Area of the estate is quiet, close to schools, shops.
Think about 10-12.000 cost of fixing.
Price of the house is 165.000 where last year same houses cost 130.000 plus in October 2016 new houses in same town where selling for 170.000

so so confused. Have to buy by the end of this year. Landlord want sell the house in November.

December2012

Are you willing to do the work to bring it up to scratch?

sabinalee

December2012 wrote: »

Are you willing to do the work to bring it up to scratch?

First thing to do will be exchange at least one window in each bedroom.
then replace old boiler. Fix two ties on the roof ....I don't know what is even most important. Lots of small issues not stated here, but in report.

ZX7R

The only thing you mentioned in your post that would be structural would be the collar ties in the roof and it would be an easy fix.why is there a boiler in the roof?
As regards to your Windows they would have been up to code when fitted and may only affect the b.e.r rating witch would be reflected in the price of house same goes for the boiler.replacing the chimney linings could be pricey labour ect, but that could happen in a new house if it had a bad chimney fire. The electric meter belongs to the esb get them to upgrade it, or if you mean the fuse board a good sparkie would change it in a day.i can't really see much to affect the sale price of the house to tell you the truth.
Don't forget with these reports, the house only has to meet the building codes of the time of construction or when renovations were carried out,not current codes.

sabinalee

I really appreciate every opinion. That really helps.

The BER was done only 4 days ago. Result E2.

The windows were changed in 2005 and they are pretty actually. Only worry about them is safety for my family and requirements for building insurance.

The house overall, the beautiful huge garden looks good. Only we did not expect to spend many extra for another 1-2 years. The plan was to buy a low engine car ☺

Would you think it would be good idea and try ask vendor to fix that collar ties on the roof? This disrupts the triangulation of the original roof and this my have contributed to isolated cracking of the timber roof purlin next this. This is structural issue.

? How much replacing affected collars and for repair purlin you think?

sabinalee

and.... the outbreak of woodworm in the timber is active. Is this structural issue? Surveyors said it has to be carried now, to prevent further damage to the roof timbers.

Is this costly to inspect and repair by a proffesional?

ZX7R

Cracks in the purlin could happen when the roofing material was attached ie the tiles or slate so could be hard to prove that cutting the cross joists caused it,also the roofing cover would have to be removed to replace them i would look at reinforcing them if possible. if your cross joists have woodworm and the timber is not badly invested you could treet it your self otherwise they would need replacing.
Windows that your choice to replace or not

I would not be able to tell you a price on repairs that would depend on a lot of factors

ZX7R

You're b.e.r rating is pretty bad .how much of that rating is to do with insulating ?

sabinalee

ZX7R wrote: »

You're b.e.r rating is pretty bad .how much of that rating is to do with insulating ?

not sure how much, but thought this was normal for nearly 70 year old house...not insulated, with no cavity.

I'm more stressed now 😑

ZX7R

External installation is the way to go not as expensive as you might think and very effective.

As far as the €12000 you have estimated always add another €5000 at least, something unexpected always crops up.
Try do as much as you can yourself don't be afraid to get family and friends to help.
Best of luck with the house things don't sound to bad to me ,first thing you need to sort is your roof every thing else can be done over time

davindub

sabinalee wrote: »

and.... the outbreak of woodworm in the timber is active. Is this structural issue? Surveyors said it has to be carried now, to prevent further damage to the roof timbers.

Is this costly to inspect and repair by a proffesional?

About 200 euros to treat for a Semi D. Get it done and ask for a cert. You can do yourself but no cert and if you sell the house it nice to have these things. Its a horrible job anyway to complete without the sprayers so buying those would eat into any savings from doing yourself. Dampstore and rentokill i think are the main Dublin ones.

sabinalee

ZX7R wrote: »

External installation is the way to go not as expensive as you might think and very effective.

If we get planning permission for this...
There is 6 houses in a row, our is terraced...and looks like no single one got exterior insulattion from the front.

ZX7R

You don't need full planning if you dont change finished covering and the building is not listed contact your local authority for full information

davindub

ZX7R wrote: »

You don't need full planning if you dont change finished covering and the building is not listed contact your local authority for full information

It is fairly hard to blend in though?

ZX7R

The insulation +the finish covering ,would stand proud about 120mm ,there is not a problem with that with the councils, good companies can even impress the shape of a brick finish and matching colouring to match The finish on most terraced houses or dashing wet or dry ect

sabinalee

Can I say that my main concern with this house is the structural damage that was carried out on the roof.
Can i ask vendor to get repair quotations for this work, to know it want run Into thousands?

sabinalee

Im not 100% sure on this and maybe somebody here will know more than I

There is a man hole on the property for gaining access to the drains. (usually its two houses that share one) and I heard I might be responsible for incurring any charges if there is a issue with them even though my neighbours will share the use of it.

Graham

You're tying yourself up in knots for nothing to be honest.

Did your surveyor tell you there was structural damage to the roof or did he just suggest the missing collar ties should be reinstated?
Ask your solicitor about the manhole cover/drains running across the property, it's usually not a very big deal.
As to the other items not being up-to code, as others have said codes are constantly updated. Most people wouldn't suddenly rush to replace windows due to a change in building regs so nothing unusual about older windows not meeting newer standards.

As a PS, try to stop framing todays property prices against those from a year ago. There's little to be gained other than upsetting yourself.

It is all very stressful, try and take today off thinking about it. Talk to your solicitor/survey tomorrow.

sabinalee

Graham wrote: »

You're tying yourself up in knots for nothing to be honest.

Did your surveyor tell you there was structural damage to the roof or did he just suggest the missing collar ties should be reinstated?
Ask your solicitor about the manhole cover/drains running across the property, it's usually not a very big deal.
As to the other items not being up-to code, as others have said codes are constantly updated. Most people wouldn't suddenly rush to replace windows due to a change in building regs so nothing unusual about older windows not meeting newer standards.

As a PS, try to stop framing todays property prices against those from a year ago. There's little to be gained other than upsetting yourself.

It is all very stressful, try and take today off thinking about it. Talk to your solicitor/survey tomorrow.

Yes, you right. Solicitor made lots of recommendations about replacing, reinstalling things . Probably we weren't prepared for all. Hope, bank will give us mortgage after reading the survey report.

And ...the true is ..Im disappointed that after so many years of saving, working hard, being in our mid 40 s we can only afford old old house...:(

Let's rest today.Thank you all for your response

The_Honeybadger

sabinalee wrote: »

Can I say that my main concern with this house is the structural damage that was carried out on the roof.
Can i ask vendor to get repair quotations for this work, to know it want run Into thousands?

I'm currently close to going sale agreed on a place with a few jobs to do as well. Personally I'd be inclined to try and get quotations yourself and try for a discount on the sale price.

Asking the vendor to get quotations or even do the work could result in jobs being half done, corners cut etc. Their only goal will be to get out of the process as cheaply as possible to force the sale through.

Why replace a working boiler regardless of age, why replace a fuse box that working, why replace perfectly good windows (come on most houses wouldn't meet modern fire safety standards and we don't all go worrying about that and upgrading windows that are perfectly good). Even the timber beams are probably in no rush to need replacement so if you want the house there is really no rush in spending a load of money straight away.

Moonbeam

I would go back to the sellers and re-negotiate price based on getting all the issue fixed,if they are not amenable then pull out of the sale.

C3PO

At the end of the day the seller will/won't work with you depending on how much other interest there is in the house! As I'm sure you know, it's a seller's market at the moment and, particularly if you're in Dublin, prices are rising so fast that the seller may just decide to let you go and wait for another (probably higher) offer! But no harm asking, you've nothing to lose!

krazyklown

Hi OP,
Just thought to chip in - we bought our house last July, and the survey threw up a couple of things - nothing quite as bad as what yours sound like but it did cause us some anxiety. We were stretched as it was with our budget, there wasnt going to be anything to spend on fixes for a while. I went through the report with my dad, he came up and we viewed it again taking each point one by one. He had worked on building sites three decades ago and I trust his opinion. I also sent the report to two other people, one who did some work as a builder, the other had more experience in buying houses. This really helped me get a grip on what the report was saying and that the issues were not immediate and could be worked on over time. Although i was never blinded by the quality of the house, my gut told me to stick with it, as did my wife. I think this was the key bit. Mentally, I had to ask myself whether I was prepared to deal with the consequences without being bitter or regret at having decided to push on. We could have tried to renegotiate, but we were not in a position to delay for reasons i wont go into here. So far it has been the right decision, and following a brief period of buyers regret, we are very happy and settled. The place needs redecorating, the outside is a mess, but we will get around to it in time.
Ultimately, you need to ask yourself if you are happy to buy at the price you have negotiated with the new information you have to hand.
A friend of mine bought a house two years ago which needed extensive work. He paid two different builders to go through the house and give opinions on how much work was required.
Best of luck with whatever you decide!

Lumen

Regarding "the EA sold us fake information", it's best to not accept any information from an EA. When I was house hunting I actually stopped reading the text in the ads and just looked at the asking price and photos. It actually isn't uncommon for the map location to be wrong, and the photos are often years out of date (in one case a pristine tiled swimming pool had degraded into a black-slime coated unusable mess).

You can assume that every house will throw up issues and need work. Take advice only from your surveyor, but even they can only make visual inspections.

pilly

Graham wrote:

You're tying yourself up in knots for nothing to be honest.

I agree with this poster OP. It seems you're looking for problems now.