Sale Agreed on House - Asbestos tiled roof and structural issues

John_Mc

Hi,

We're sale agreed on a 1930's house which is in a great location. It was in demand and the bidding brought us up substantially over asking.

The survey report has highlighted that the roof tiles are cement asbestos and need to be replaced in the next 5-10 years.

The house is a semi-d and 130 sq. metres in size. The report said that the cost of disposing of of the roof tiles will be "considerable".

The report also highlighted major structural issues with a bad extension job done in the 80's.

There are also issues with the the suspended timber floors which will need to be replaced as they have shrunk and there is likely dry or wet rot.

Does anyone know an approximate cos of replacing the roof?

Given all of this work, is it reasonable to negotiate with seller as these will be substantial costs.

We're first time buyers and unsure of how to approach this. Any help will be appreciated.

Mark1916

Have you got a structural engineer in to review the property? This should be your next step being honest then once he does his report you can start to go about getting costing for it. Sounds like it will be an expensive venture.
Was any of this flagged at the time of bidding?

seamus

Get yourself a quantity surveyor to review the report and give you a full estimate of costs.

Until you have that, you don't really have much to go on; you could end up bargaining them down by €10k but still have to sink ten times that into the house.

John_Mc

Mark1916 wrote: »

Have you got a structural engineer in to review the property? This should be your next step being honest then once he does his report you can start to go about getting costing for it. Sounds like it will be an expensive venture.
Was any of this flagged at the time of bidding?

We got the survey done by an engineer. Is that a structural engineer?

He flagged the roof to us and said there was no sagging on the joists up there so it appears to be ok structurally but the tiles are old, they have moss on them which means they are absorbing water and are near end of life.

We're going to be knocking the extension out the back and replacing it but it still has serious structural issues with cracks that are serious. There's actually vegetation growing through in some parts.

You're right about it being expensive. We're hoping to negotiate money off the sale price to contribute towards it.

Alkers

John_Mc wrote:

We're sale agreed on a 1930's house which is in a great location. It was in demand and the bidding brought us up substantially over asking.

This is your problem, if you start to renegotiate, the sellers can simply talk to the next highest bidder who may have a less diligent surveyor and you could lose the house.
You're right to be as informed as possible as to the cost implications of the findings but then your strategy has to also depend on the number of other bidders and how hard it was to outbid them. Delaying things a bit may result in the competition moving elsewhere which may work in your favour.
You should be able to get a few quotes to remove the roof tiles with just pictures and a description and engage a structural engineer as opposed to a surveyor in relation to the extension.

enricoh

A near 100 year old house is always going to have a few issues. No harm taking floors out and putting insulation n concrete in, it'll make it a lot cosier. As regards the roof redoing the ridge tiles might get you out cheaply

John_Mc

Simona1986 wrote: »

This is your problem, if you start to renegotiate, the sellers can simply talk to the next highest bidder who may have a less diligent surveyor and you could lose the house.
You're right to be as informed as possible as to the cost implications of the findings but then your strategy has to also depend on the number of other bidders and how hard it was to outbid them. Delaying things a bit may result in the competition moving elsewhere which may work in your favour.
You should be able to get a few quotes to remove the roof tiles with just pictures and a description and engage a structural engineer as opposed to a surveyor in relation to the extension.

There were just two of us going toe to toe in the final bidding. With holidays and all it took a month for us to receive the contracts from their solicitor and another month to get the survey done and get the report. So it's been 2 months now.

I believe the seller is sale agreed on another house so that might work in our favour.

Our surveyor is a structural engineer and we'll be sitting down with him soon as we need him to fill out a form for the bank with cost estimates for extension etc.

Good idea with calling around to get an idea of costs for the roof.

How does it work with a semi-d though? What happens if the adjoining house doesn't want to do theirs?

seamus

Simona1986 wrote: »

This is your problem, if you start to renegotiate, the sellers can simply talk to the next highest bidder who may have a less diligent surveyor and you could lose the house.

If you send the survey and any estimates to the estate agent unsolicited, they are obliged to disclose this information to any other bidders...

Just sayin'

That said, another bidder may not care, they may be aiming to throw €200k in renovations at whatever they buy anyway.

John_Mc

seamus wrote: »

If you send the survey and any estimates to the estate agent unsolicited, they are obliged to disclose this information to any other bidders...

Just sayin'

That said, another bidder may not care, they may be aiming to throw €200k in renovations at whatever they buy anyway.

Hmm... didn't know that. I sent the report to the estate agent last night and said we were looking into costs.

So I should withhold those costs from him?

John_Mc

enricoh wrote: »

A near 100 year old house is always going to have a few issues. No harm taking floors out and putting insulation n concrete in, it'll make it a lot cosier. As regards the roof redoing the ridge tiles might get you out cheaply

Yeah we will be doing that. The engineer estimated 5-7k to replace with concrete.

What do you mean by ridge tiles?

seamus

John_Mc wrote: »

Hmm... didn't know that. I sent the report to the estate agent last night and said we were looking into costs.

So I should withhold those costs from him?

When I say "obliged" I mean any new bidder who comes along. Anyone who has already bid and dropped out doesn't have to be sent this info.

It basically comes under the code of practice for estate agents that oblige them to reveal all material information that they're aware of, to a potential purchaser. If a survey has been carried out, regardless of who carried it out, the estate agent cannot hide the detail of that from a purchaser.

Alkers

seamus wrote:

It basically comes under the code of practice for estate agents that oblige them to reveal all material information that they're aware of, to a potential purchaser. If a survey has been carried out, regardless of who carried it out, the estate agent cannot hide the detail of that from a purchaser.

Most surveys will include a clause that they are for the eyes of the original client only and you may even be going against the terms of the survey by sending it to the estate agent. Is be very surprised if the surveyor concented to their report being circulated to all prospective bidders unless paid for by the seller

Rew

If your mortgage backed Bank may not lend against it or may hold back money till issues are remedied.