Going against Homebuyers survey report...

[ASB]

- how do you get several layers of paint off internal sandstone without wrecking the wall?

Soda blasting?

[chopper]

On the house I just bought, the Homebuyer's report came up with a '3' for gas and electrics, simply because the surveyor had not had sight of a gas safe inspection or a suitable electrical inspection from within the past 12 months. We proceeded without further investigation as the house was 20 years old and pretty obvious nothing would have changed in relation to the electrics, and the vendor told us the boiler had been replaced in the past six months (a lie as it turns out, it was replaced 2 1/2 years ago).

Homebuyers surveyors are not qualified electricians or gas engineers, the Homebuyer's report probably shouldn't even refer to the gas or electrical installations.

[SueEllen]

My Homebuyer's report said

- Kitchen needed to be done. But that was obvious.

- Electrics were OK. Don't know how the guy knew. 2 electricians checked later and they agreed.

- Boiler could not comment even though there were service records.

- There was damp. It was condensation due to where previous owners had put fitted furniture. Removed the furniture, cleaned the walls, months later got it replastered and no problems since.

[WTFH]

The damp problem was a design feature of a very old house mixed with the incorrect use of modern non-breathable materials.

Oh yeah, forgot about that one - previous owners had used non-breathable masonry paint on the interior stone walls. It's great when it's new, but after a few months the damp seeps out of the weak spots. They'd done a similar thing on the plastered walls in the living room.
In the end we re-plastered the living room and painted it with clay paint (seems expensive to buy, but you don't need much of it).
The stone walls are a project to be tackled - how do you get several layers of paint off internal sandstone without wrecking the wall?

[darrylmg]

Homebuyers survey for our house:
1. New boiler.
2. Damp problem in some of the walls.
3. Rewiring.


I think they just trot those out when they get paid to write a report for the buyer.


1. The boiler has lasted a further 5 years with no problems (Two services in that time, and pipework in place ready to replace it in a couple more years)
2. It's a 200 year old stone built house with no damp course and next to no foundations. What do you expect?
3. The wiring colour code might not conform to the colour code for wiring in 2015, but there's nothing wrong with the quality of it. i.e. most of the cables are black & red. This means they are pre-2004. Your surveyor will tell you they need replacing to meet the current building regs/IEEE guidelines. What they are saying is the colour of the plastic sheath is not the current colour.

Exactly the same for me.
The roof also needed "attention". So I saved for 8 years then got it replaced because it was looking seriously tired by that point. Not because it was faulty.
The damp problem was a design feature of a very old house mixed with the incorrect use of modern non-breathable materials.
The surveyor just covered his behind.

[Sausage Surprise]

Why is this not in General or on a Rightmove blog?

[tvr450]

I have not bothered with a home buyer's survey these days, I just have the mortgage valuation survey. After all, if the property is too big a risk then the lender will not mortgage it. Boilers last 10 years, wiring 25 years. My current place, the wiring is 30+ years - I just replaced the fuse box with a modern RCD unit and everything is Ok so far. My electrician took photos before and after to add to his worst-of-the-worst album.....

Mind you, I am selling up and moving to a house three doors down with new wiring

[WTFH]

Homebuyers survey for our house:
1. New boiler.
2. Damp problem in some of the walls.
3. Rewiring.


I think they just trot those out when they get paid to write a report for the buyer.


1. The boiler has lasted a further 5 years with no problems (Two services in that time, and pipework in place ready to replace it in a couple more years)
2. It's a 200 year old stone built house with no damp course and next to no foundations. What do you expect?
3. The wiring colour code might not conform to the colour code for wiring in 2015, but there's nothing wrong with the quality of it. i.e. most of the cables are black & red. This means they are pre-2004. Your surveyor will tell you they need replacing to meet the current building regs/IEEE guidelines. What they are saying is the colour of the plastic sheath is not the current colour.

[saptastic]

When I bought 3 years ago one of the priority/urgent action points was replace boiler.
3 years on and it is working fine (fingers crossed).
The report partly just highlight areas that they think could (but not 100%) be a problem just to cover themselves I think.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I am speaking to guy who performed the survey today but I am assuming that the current state of the wiring would not meet the current electrical standards/certification, ditto the boiler, hence why it was listed in survey as a Category 3 = urgent attention required.

I very much doubt the electrics in my house, or the vast majority of people's houses, would meet current electrical regulations - the 17th edition only came out in 2008. That doesn't mean they are unsafe or need replacing. If you want a house that meets current wiring regulations, buy a new one.

I think you'll find electrics and gas are almost always listed as Category 3 in a Homebuyers Report - this is because the surveyor is covering his arse. You need to have a proper electrical and gas inspection done - a homebuyer survey will not indicate any problem with these things and a Category 3 certainly doesn't mean you need a rewire or new boiler. "Urgent attention required" = "I'm not qualified to give a professional opinion on these matters so you should get a professional to look at them".

My surveyor actually put the electrics down as Category 2 in our survey but that was ONLY because the electrician doing our EICR happened to be there at the same time and he was able to tell the surveyor that there were no major issues.

You need to get an EICR for the electrics and if the owners have had one done you need to ask to see it. Likewise you need to have an inspection of the boiler and heating done by a Gas Safe registered plumber/heating engineer. Only then can you make a judgement.

If the house wiring is very old (wiring colour is not a good indicator as the new colours have only been mandatory for fixed wiring for about 10 years I think) - e.g. no earth present, or the house has an old style fusebox without RCD protection then you will seriously need to think about a rewire. In fact I don't think you'll be able to do any major electrical work on the house (say you had a new kitchen for instance and needed a new cooker circuit) without the CU being upgraded to meet current regs so you should make it a priority.

[quackhandle]

We told the incumbents EA about the survey report and they came back and said the owners are sorting this, by that we assumed (okay, never a good thing) they were getting quotes done. I am speaking to guy who performed the survey today but I am assuming that the current state of the wiring would not meet the current electrical standards/certification, ditto the boiler, hence why it was listed in survey as a Category 3 = urgent attention required.

Since we don't live locally to the property were happy for owners to get quotes but now we will be doing this ourselves.

qh

[northernladuk]

The surveys I have had done on houses seemed to be very much a case of the surveryor covering themselves so they dont get sued.

On our last house purchase we had similar comments about the wiring and the boiler. We got someone in ourselves and turned out the boiler was in fact only a couple of years old and we only needed to rewire part of the house.

We were also told the roof needed to be replaced immediately but since had two builders both check it and confirm there is nothing wrong with it.

So the survey can be a good way to try and negotiate some money off but wouldn't necessarily trust it 100%.

Exactly this. When I queried my last one the survey company said they are points for further investigation and NOT a definitive problem report. I then sent in my guys for a look. In one case it wasn't a problem even though marked as red but the second issue was regarding damp and it was a problem with the gap between the floor and the rubble below which was pretty serious so I backed out. The report gave the indication it was a pretty basic damp issue.

Take it as guidance and then action any area with your own guys. Don't take the word of the sellers contacts.

[hatter]

The surveys I have had done on houses seemed to be very much a case of the surveryor covering themselves so they dont get sued.

On our last house purchase we had similar comments about the wiring and the boiler. We got someone in ourselves and turned out the boiler was in fact only a couple of years old and we only needed to rewire part of the house.

We were also told the roof needed to be replaced immediately but since had two builders both check it and confirm there is nothing wrong with it.

So the survey can be a good way to try and negotiate some money off but wouldn't necessarily trust it 100%.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Can they legally do what? Get some reports done? Why couldn't they?

You're free to ignore either the survey or the homebuyer's survey and continue with your purchase or pull out if you're not happy and cannot arrange a reduction in price if you feel that it's warranted.

Why did the surveyor think it needs a rewire? Are there any obvious signs that it is dangerous or very out of date (really old consumer unit or fuse box, no RCD protection, no earth wire in lighting circuit etc.). What is the report that the owners have given you? Is it an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)? If so what does it say?

Come to think of it, what exactly did your Homebuyer's Report say? As far as I'm aware, and it was certainly the case with ours, surveyors do not survey the gas or electrics as they are not qualified to do so. They may make a comment if its obviously dangerous but they will generally just state that both should be inspected by a qualified person. I'd be surprised if the surveyor had looked in depth at the wiring so I don't know how he came to the conclusion that it needs a full re-wire.

Why does he think it needs a new boiler? How old is it? Has it been regularly serviced? If its more than 10-15 years old then you should certainly be budgeting to replace it at some point in the near future. When we bought our place it had an 18 year old boiler which passed its initial service and was actually running quite efficiently for its age but the gas engineer did note some signs of a leak and sure enough 1 month later it was kaput (cracked main heat exchanger). We knew we'd have to replace it at some point (was hoping it would last a bit longer) so it wasn't exactly a surprise and now we have a brand new efficient combi with a 10 year warranty.

I don't understand why you were asking the owners to obtain quotes for the work. Its your choice if you want to buy the property and as such its up to you to arrange any surveys or quotes for work that *you* want to have done. A buyer may make a contribution towards these costs if it helps move a sale along (especially if you're unable to proceed if the issues have meant a retention on your mortgage) but they don't have to.

[quackhandle]

Okay so maybe wrong thread but anywho...

Had a Home buyers survey done on house we looking to purchase. Comes back flagged with basically needing a full rewire and new boiler.

We tell incumbent owners to get some quotes for this work. Instead they get a certified sparky and plumber to write a report and say all is fine.

Have contacted my solicitor about this but can they legally do that? Anyone had this same scenario before?

qh