House Valuation and Survey

[dazraz_uk]

I'm in the process of buying my first house and have had the survey and valuation back...........

It reccomends a retention of £1k on the mortgage subject to a timber and damp survey being carried out!! Is this likely to be the surveyor being overly cautious or a genuine issue?

They also say that due to the age of the property it may suffer from cavity wall tie failure and may contain asbestos material, although neither of these relate to the mortgage retention.

Anyone clued up on this sort of thing?

I know it gives me some leverage to negotiate on the price, so if I get the price reduced are the mortgage company still going to enforce the retention??

Any advise would be appreciated!

Cheers

[IDGM]

The asbestos risk should be in the HIP in the form of a survey. Cavity ties failing are not unusual for homes of a certain age (certainly where they aren't stainless steel), but probably 60s beyond. The timber and damp survey should be done, but again I'm surprised there's nothing in the HIP about timber and DPC works if done.

I wouldn't worry about it. See if the selling agent will sort the missing surveys out (ie pay for your assesments), in this apparently doom laden market, they should be able to keep the sale for the sake of a few hundred quid.

[bossjohnc]

This is the thing that gets me about house surveys - they're pretty much obligatory, you pay loads of money and a bloke comes and pokes around for a little while, then tells you what buildings of that age might suffer from - something you could pretty much find out for yourself on google.

I expect it's very much standard, and they want you to have the inspection - preferably with them.

[IDGM]

True. The survey that was done for our current house stated that he couldn't gain access to the ground floor extension roof to inspect the felting. If he had looked out of our bedroom window, he'd have had a really good view of it. Needless to say, it sprang a leak within a month of us moving in.

[Linz]

We got a grand off the purchase price of our house to carry out damp course works and wood worm treatment. We were stripping everything back to bare walls anyway so got a friend to do it as a homer, but it wasn't definatley needed. He said that it is stuck in the survey for every old house.

[dxg]

1) I would have thought 1k wouldn't be enough

and

2) In the current market, why the pressure to move quickly? Why not wait for the results of the survey before proceeding?

and

3) Aesbestos isn't a problem unless you disturb it.

and

4) Cavity wall tie failure is pretty serious. If you're using a retention for anything it should be that. Get an endoscopic survey done of all the walls at several points if you think this is a genuine concern.

Edited August 14, 2008 by dxg

[Putney]

Have you got a solicitor? If you use martins solicitors and quote that you're a member on here they will beat any quote.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Putney

[dazraz_uk]

The asbestos risk should be in the HIP in the form of a survey. Cavity ties failing are not unusual for homes of a certain age (certainly where they aren't stainless steel), but probably 60s beyond. The timber and damp survey should be done, but again I'm surprised there's nothing in the HIP about timber and DPC works if done.

I wouldn't worry about it. See if the selling agent will sort the missing surveys out (ie pay for your assesments), in this apparently doom laden market, they should be able to keep the sale for the sake of a few hundred quid.

Cheers for all the advice people, basically the estate agent has agreed pretty much as above and is getting the vendor to get updated surveys etc and to pay for any work that needs doing i.e. a cash advance to be made on completion so we can get any work required carried out!

The searches in the HIP are due to expire so good job they're going to pay for them or else it woudl have been another £250 on top of costs already paid for

[dazraz_uk]

1) I would have thought 1k wouldn't be enough

and

2) In the current market, why the pressure to move quickly? Why not wait for the results of the survey before proceeding?

and

3) Aesbestos isn't a problem unless you disturb it.

and

4) Cavity wall tie failure is pretty serious. If you're using a retention for anything it should be that. Get an endoscopic survey done of all the walls at several points if you think this is a genuine concern.

I think you may have miss read my post, the survey states £1k retention and it relates to the Timber and DPC nothing else, the surveyor mentioned that property of this age may have cavity wall tie failure not that it actually has it!

Not sure what you mean by using my retention for that purpose, do I get a say in what a retention is used for??

I'm not in any rush to move, of course I'm going to wait until I find out the results of the survey........you wouldn't buy a boat with holes in so why would I buy a house thats not structurally sound???

Edited August 14, 2008 by dazraz_uk

[Mitchell]

meh

surveyors ,

money for nothing but no chicks for free.

[dazraz_uk]

meh

surveyors ,

money for nothing but no chicks for free.

hahaha too true!

[dxg]

I think you may have miss read my post, the survey states £1k retention and it relates to the Timber and DPC nothing else, the surveyor mentioned that property of this age may have cavity wall tie failure not that it actually has it!

Not sure what you mean by using my retention for that purpose, do I get a say in what a retention is used for??

YES!!

The surveyor only makes a recommendation - your mortgage provider may choose to enforce it, but you can ask your solicitor for what ever you want.

If I were in your shoes and the possibility of wall tie failure has raised its head, I would be getting a specialist surveyor out now to investigate and report with a budget for remedy if required. That way you're covered by that surveyor's PI insurance and you know how much money to hold back from release from the mortgage.

One thing you don't mention is how long the retention will run for.

The other thing worth considering is just revising the offer in light of what you find and absorbing the risk that the retention represents yourself.

Edited August 14, 2008 by dxg