Owning your own home

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Any pointers for life insurance that doesn’t cost the earth?

Historic woodworm is just that. Historic. The holes are where the lava have burrowed out and flown away
If the timber is not damp they will not survive.

The damp specialist will invariably find multiple areas of "damp" likely by sticking a moisture probe into the plaster - which are designed to measure moisture content in timber so the readings are meaningless. They will then tell you it needs an injected damp course (which doesn't work).

The suggestions from the surveyor on dealing with any damp are much more sensible.

I would tell the vendor about all 3 but concede that you will ignore the damp and woodworm but that they should give you a reduction for the roof (as that will need doing). Conceding the other 2 items makes you seem reasonable and I think you are more likely to get them to reduce the price if you don't try and chip them on everything.

This. 100%.

I think we all know a roofer would come back to say get a brand new roof

Nope. A builder will do that.

Roofers get their money from fixing shit.

Roof service and chimney fix / repoint will be £2-3k inc. scaffold - as long as it’s watertight now and just needs servicing m.

If the roof doesn't leak you don't need a new roof. I'd tread fairly carefully about trying to use that as a point of pressure to renegotiate. My house has a roof from 1982 and it doesn't leak. The surveyor said strictly speaking it's old and would need to be renewed in due course, on the phone he said it's got at least another 20 years left in it if not more.

Reads like a lot of standard CYA stuff, I reckon. How old is the house?

re: damp - find a surveyor that specialised in damp, not a self-appointed damp expert that will try to sell you snakeoil. IIRC a PCA accreditation is what you are looking for.

After just finishing help on my parents house i would probably have a roof without underlay as a priority! At the end of the day a roof is what protects the majority of peoples main asset. One big storm and all hell can break loose in minutes.

If they are concrete marley style tiles that are 40 years old you will need new ones for sure, a lot of them become quite brittle with age and will not withstand the removal process. plus it would add a hell of a lot of extra labour to place them all down carefully i doubt any roofer would be happy doing that

I am amazed its not leaky without an underlay, it must be one sharp pitched roof you have!

Get in lots of quotes, we had at least 6 people come round and had one chancer go as high as 42k (total final cost ended up more than half of that) i can only imagine the cost in london though...

Start too finish in 8 days, no rocket science just lots of calorie burning

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If the seller was upfront telling you that there is probably a reasonable chance that they'll say that the possibility of a new roof at some point was priced in to the selling price.

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Adding an underlay to a watertight roof is not necessary, the roof is working as intended, it’s kept the house dry without one for 90 years. Leave well alone. The odd tile may fail one day but they can be replaced, the whole roof won’t suddenly implode in 10 years. If a load of other houses on the street had new roofs it’d be a sign the lifespan is nearly up, but if they’re nearly all original I’d not be worried.

I agree with danb on the woodworm and damp, ignore the historic woodworm, repair the cause of the damp as the surveyor suggests, don’t call a damp proofing company.

I’d say that’s a great survey for a 30s house.

My brother lives in an old house that has never had felt under the tiles and still has the original roof. He has never had a leak and has no intention of changing the tiles.

You need to work out your requirements first and take it from there.

Right now with 2 young kids we are under-insured.

E.g. Our policy is ~£30p/m and pays out £300k. At the time we took it out or mortgage was ~£320k. So the idea being it would provide a lump sum that would pay off the house.

However, now with young kids, inflation, cost of living, and the fact that the survivor would probably have to change jobs to look after the kids resulting in a massive decrease in income that would mean that £300k would no longer pay off the house.

If you're not sure where to start speak to an IFA. It's there bread and butter.

Somehow the conifer is even bigger in real life.

I sent a picture to my cousin, who's a tree surgeon, and he estimated around £1,000-1,500 to remove it.

Another possible expense to go with the other joys of this place - falling-down garage, asbestos tiles, what seems to be polyester under the wallpaper. It's still expensive, and still a contender - what a market.

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The issue with any old house will be the discovery of bigger problems if you start lifting floors, etc.

It's actually not such a big deal to repair/replace structural wood in that kind of scenario, but you have to be ok about living with the potential issues in the short term.

Out of sight, out of mind?

French drains are the little grills that can carry water in a 2" rectangular tray to other areas. We installed them around the front of our bay window to redirect water that was entering the front of the property.

French drains

French drains are little trenches filled with gravel that may or may not have actual trays or pipes at the bottom, usually installed around edges of buildings to prevent build up of water and allow the wall to dry out.

In my experience people also use 'French drains' to mean ACO channels, which is what we installed to stop water pooling at the back wall of our house, which has been great at reducing damp

You need to work out your requirements first and take it from there.

Exactly. It's a bit morbid (and a bit like the considerations in writing a will) but what would happen if:
a) you die
b) your partner dies
c) you both die

In all situations we would want to make sure the mortgage can be fully paid off and there's the equivalent of a few years income (after tax equivalent) that would take a lot of the burden off the next couple of years for whoever is left. Slightly easier for us as we only have one kid and she's already a teenager.

Through Life/CI policies taken out with the mortgage, Life Cover through current job and an extra policy to top up, if I carked it then Mrs GB would have the mortgage paid off plus she'd get ~10 years of my after tax income as a lump sum.

It's not quite as good the other way, but with a new job for her coming soon we'll reassess and make sure the majority of the gaps are covered.

When doing your life insurance calculations don't forget to add in any pension you might have that probably pays out as a lump sum if you die before retirement.

And any death in service benefits from your employer (often paid out of a discretionary trust).

And any Ts&Cs in your insurance that reduce the payout if you have any of the above.

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