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denise
01-Jun-10, 19:29
I moved house on the 14th May & on the 15th I noticed a hole (size of my hand) in the bathroom floor. Phoned our solicitor on the 17th. Joiner round to tell us bathroom floor rotten and some of the landing foolr and the wall between will have to come down so the floor can be fixed. £1000 at least maybe more once they actually get a look at the joists etc. The 31st our solicitor is saying that as the seller didn't know the floor was rotten & the guy doesn't move anything when he does the home report hence it wasn't noticed. We basically have to pay to get it fixed!!!!!!!!

DeHaviLand
01-Jun-10, 19:48
I dont see what help you need. Hasnt your solicitor already told you the solution?

colingel
01-Jun-10, 19:53
I would not be happy.

Whats the home report for ?????

LMS
01-Jun-10, 19:56
Had something similar a few years ago when I bought my house. Paid for a survey and it came back saying there was an old water stain on bedroom ceiling. Asked surveyor for more details and I was told that it appeared to be from an old roof leak that had been satisfactorily repaired. He was quite convinced that everything was okay. Two bedroom ceilings came down a month later. No comeback at all as the surveyor called it 'a head and shoulders assessment'. I had asked for their professional opinion, got it, it was wrong and I was left out of pocket. Bottom line is most surveys will highlight something seriously wrong, but they won't highlight every problem.

Mik.M.
01-Jun-10, 19:56
Just goes to show you that the report is not worth the paper it`s written on. What`s the point of it if theres no come back on it if you find a problem like this?

LMS
01-Jun-10, 20:11
Had something similar a few years ago when I bought my house. Paid for a survey and it came back saying there was an old water stain on bedroom ceiling. Asked surveyor for more details and I was told that it appeared to be from an old roof leak that had been satisfactorily repaired. He was quite convinced that everything was okay. Two bedroom ceilings came down a month later. No comeback at all as the surveyor called it 'a head and shoulders assessment'. I had asked for their professional opinion, got it, it was wrong and I was left out of pocket. Bottom line is most surveys will highlight something seriously wrong, but they won't highlight every problem.

That said, I am still a firm believer in the principle of the Home Report as it gives all buyers the same info. If not, a buyer faces paying for surveys for houses that they might never bid on or have a bid accepted for. The only winner is the building surveyor, who may get multiple surveys for the same property. What I object to, is that someone, whether it is the seller or the buyer (maybe paying for a survey for mortgage purposes), is shelling out for surveys that are effectively useless as they have no comeback should a problem arise. (My survey was before Home Reports.)

Green_not_greed
02-Jun-10, 10:13
Isn't there a time period in your (now accepted) offer which stipulates a period that you can find and notify of any defects found? Certainly was when I last moved house - a month I think. Allowed me to be able to check out aspects of the house and put in a successful small claim against the seller, which was paid without any issue.

GNG

Anfield
02-Jun-10, 10:49
Was the survey a basic "Lenders Valuation" or a full structural survey?
If the latter you may have a posiible claim for surveyor failing to indicate problem
If it was just a basic valuation, tough luck you have to bear cost to remedy fault

The Angel Of Death
02-Jun-10, 11:21
Isn't there a time period in your (now accepted) offer which stipulates a period that you can find and notify of any defects found? Certainly was when I last moved house - a month I think. Allowed me to be able to check out aspects of the house and put in a successful small claim against the seller, which was paid without any issue.

GNG

Agreed when i sold mines i was specifically told by the solicitor that the buyer had 7 days to report any problems or faults with the property that i was liable for

As you pointed this out to your solicitor i would assume that the seller is liable for the repair as long as your within the time frames specified regardless of them knowing about the problem or not

achingale
02-Jun-10, 15:51
With us we had 5 days to check the likes of the heating system. A Home Report Survey is only like the 2nd level survey - a valuation survey tells you the value and major defects, 2nd level one tells you more indepth about the state of the house from what the surveyor can see, and the third one is a full structural survey which can run into hundreds of pounds but if it is an old property may be worth considering. Basically the Home Report is just to keep the mortgage lenders happy that the house will not fall down. However we all have the option still of getting our own surveys done if we do not feel happy with the seller's one. It sounds as though you may have no come back unfortunately and I know how you feel. It has happened to me too when a floor collapsed and we had to fork out to get it fixed but it had a floor covering therefore could not be detected that the boards were rotten where they were. I was not happy but there was nothing I could do.

denise
02-Jun-10, 20:57
Thanks for your posts bit of a mixed bag re if I have a leg to stand on.............
Our soicitor was on the phone the day saying he has had a letter from the previous owners solicitor basically saying they are awaiting instruction from him.............. So just have to sit tight and hope that he is willing to pay or even for half the repairs.
Going to look into the depth of the home report more though.
Thanks