Owning your own home

Also, it's only abouy £2k to sort

They might stump up 2k, but that'll take 2k out of any potential bargaining for something that might be more serious/urgent.

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Ah, obviously.

Looking at that map shitloads of places are "Affected Areas". I never remember it being an issue round me when I was growing up, don't think anyone had sumps or whatever.

meh, all* UK houses are damp. If it's so damp as to be a problem it should have been evident upon viewing. If the guy is a broker he will have seen this argument a hundred times and will tell you to naff off.

'*excluding forumenger passivhauses

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Does it not go through the chimney? Have llivewd in flats all my life.

Depends where the burner is. Folks have them in rear extensions which means they can't use the chimney, and they put a twin wall flue out through the wall instead. Ugly as fuck, but when you are using it, you don't have to look at it. Neighbours not so lucky.

Cam imagine a lot of folks take one look at how fucking ugly a radon sump flue is, look at the percentage chances, the cost and faff, and sack the thing off.

Maybe, to be fair the randon sump is probably quite an expensive intervention and migh not be necessary, some airbricks works too, but at the moment, withotu any test result, I am in the dark.

Radon should light things up nicely.

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Anyone have any recent experience with re-pointing?

We have builders replacing the roof at present, and they have suggested that carrying out re-pointing, which does need doing, would be efficient as the place is already scaffolded.

I've asked for a quote for the front elevation only, which has come back at 18sq m at a price of £3k plus VAT.

I'm struggling a bit to see how it's 18sq m; it's a 3 storey Victorian house, the top storey is tiled at the front and rear elevations so in effect it's two stories, the ground floor has a bay window and front door (obvs) and 1st floor has two large sash windows so there isn't that much brickwork.

Thoughts? I get that you don't get much for £3k in today's world but the maths seems wrong.

Is it that they're not taking the area of the windows and doors off? Two storeys = c.4m height. My victorian house is about 4.5m wide. Total area = 4.5x4 = 18sq m of the front.

I imagine the windows and doors should decrease that area, but on the other hand are slower and more difficult to deal with; i.e. the 'decrease in surface area' cost maybe evens out with the 'increase in annoyance' cost. That said, it'd obviously be worth questioning and getting further quotes.

Thanks; yes it could be that working around doors and windows negates the "blank" areas.

I'll try haggling with the current mob as I'm quite happy with the standard of their work and it will make it more complicated to get a second contractor in.

Thoughts? I get that you don't get much for £3k in today's world but the maths seems wrong.

One of my builders charges about £90/m2 + VAT including toothing in any new bricks.

Ah, these guys are £165+vat. That's quite a difference.

Seems a bit steep. Not London, but we paid about 3k for a similar sized area, but also included scaffolding, and the bigger job of taking down and re-building two of the walls in the backyard.

Would have though if the scaffold's up already, raking out and re-pointing wouldn't take them much more than a day's work.

It's my first time going through the house purchase process. I have no idea whether our solicitor's work is expected or they are just fobbing us off.

We received a letter via the seller's solicitor that the new neighbours are stating that work needs to be done on the house because a shared gutter was overflowing. I've asked our solicitor for some advice on the best way forward. I was expecting to hear some options e.g. that we could ask for some money off for the work / demand work was done before exchange etc etc.

Instead the solicitor (actually the paralegal) has told us to contact our surveyor (despite it having nothing to do with the surveyor).

How much advice should we be expecting from a solicitor and or are they just expensive form fillers? These were definitely not the cheapest solicitor, and we thought that by paying more we would get actual advice.

Misread, apologies.

Not your problem!!!

Did the letter come to you direct or via you solicitor?

Imo. Your solicitor should inform you, to inform them, via said solicitor to f off. What are you paying them for if not to deal with bullshit like this swiftly and effectively. My solicitor would bat that away with a solid front hand.

I read it as you're buying a house, and the neighbour of said house is saying to the current owner they need to pay for works, and that current owner is saying you need to pay. Lol.

Not quite that, probably didn't quite phrase it correctly.

Basically there's work that the neighbor is saying is needed. We've just got the letter from the neighbour (via the solicitors) about the work. No one is asking anyone to pay (at the moment), but this is where i'm asking for advice from the solicitor. Because we don't want to move into a house and then be expected to stump up a load more cash.

Okay so same as I understand but no demand yet just notification. I mean, to me an idiot, that's a solicitor issue to solve. They'll know the law on if you could even be liable once you buy. Or to tell the current owner to sort it.

It's not a survey issues as it doesn't matter if there is an issue that needs fixing or not to you, it's irrelevant, as either way it's not your problem as it's not your house! And once it becomes yours, the issue is from the past so you're not going to stump up for it.

As it's being notified now I think you'd would want to understand the works and ask your solicitor to arrange for a retainer from the seller to cover the cost, with any money left returned to them.

I'm not sure i entirely follow your read on things here. To my mind this seems more like the neighbour trying to ensure that an existing issue that impacts them is resolved and using the leverage of the sale to try and ensure it happens. It certainly will impact the buyer when they take ownership only to find out there's an issue and potential ill will with the neighbour. I'd also be slightly worried about the neighbour being a dick, although if they're just exasperated because the previous owner was a dick and this is materially impacting their property then that might not be unreasonable. I would expect this to be put to the seller to demonstrably resolve before the sale goes through.

I seems we agree, but you write better. I don't know the legal implications if it will affect the new buyer once they own it (if it was historic issue). But either way, its a solicitor issue to resolve, no? Either to resolve, withhold cash or else. It's not the new buyers problem, to pay for fixing. This is what you pay a solicitor for.

This is what you pay a solicitor for.

This is basically what I came here to find out. And looks like everyone is in agreement. Thanks.

Gotcha. Yep. Solicitor to resolve, but i wouldn't be telling anyone to fuck off, I'd be making sure the seller either resolved now or provided financial cover for the buyer to resolve.