We went for a full survey, the guy is RICS-registered
Yeah, they’re chartered surveyors, you’d be wise to get a structural engineer to look it over if you were thinking of having underpinning and they might spot other things. I stopped getting chartered surveyors and asked a structural engineer I know to do the surveys - they a lot harsher.
Someone else said that a reduction of 15k is almost unheard of.
Percentage wise it’s a big chunk of change but, depending on the amount of underpinning required, it might not be enough.
even then it’s going to be a shitload of hassle
If the underpinning is not accessible from outside the floors will have to come up. Cracks in the walls may have to be dealt with by removing the plaster and tying the bricks back together then replastering. Depending on where the damp is coming from you might need a new roof - did they get up there or use a drone?
I don’t mind roughing it a bit, but managing a project like this I would think isn’t really in my wheelhouse and will be very stressful.
And money aside, this should be your deciding factor.
I bought my current place a year and a half ago - it was the fourth one I’d had an offer in on and the previous three had major structural issues (turns out 100+ year old houses built on same are a nightmare), at least two had subsidence. I have friends and family in the building trade and they reckon they’d be wary - houses like a that reach a point where, to continue for another century, they either need to get snapped up by a builder who can get the work done and flip it or someone highly motivated who can take on a project like this.
Your mileage might differ but I’d just spent 6 months and 50 grand putting the previous house on a raft of concrete that would outlast the next I’ve Age which was then used as a stick to beat us down on the price. So I was not in the right frame of mind to undertake another building project. And that’s what you should ask yourself - are you the kind of person that thrives on camping in their new house for months getting work done (and getting builders is trickier after the pandemic and more expensive)? What’s your budget like because this is the stuff the survey found but tearing into the place could reveal more? It has clearly not been well-maintained for a long time and there’s likely to be all sorts of other issues.
What level of survey did you have done? Have you had a structural engineer look it over?
I certainly feel like if they’re not prepared to negotiate re repairs then I have to walk away as I could buy a well-maintained property round here for the total cost of around £100k!
You’re clearly up north! If they aren’t prepared to negotiate then everyone should walk, if they weren’t prepared to come down closer to £50-60k then I’d definitely consider walking, as the modest savings don’t outweigh the stress. To be honest, if it were me, I’d be long gone already. Just reading this is giving me flashbacks.
Wouldn’t chocolate-flavoured poop just be like a chocolate mousse with some sweetcorn sprinkled in? I’d definitely eat that rather than the thing that tastes like actual shit.
To be honest I was quite surprised to find out the original Blob was colour, but I decided to leave it on the list. The mind plays funny games with us (or mine does anyway).