FTB with roofing issues

miller745

miller745

miller745

Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
634
Location
North East
Hello folks,

I'm in a bit of a situation with a house I've had an offer accepted on, in regards to the age of the roof. The house was built in the 30s

The home buyers report (by countrywide) states;

The main roof covering is double pitched and hipped with a covering of asbestos cement tiles. No excessive deflection was noted in the roof slopes. This does not have a secondary waterproof barrier (roofing felt). The covering is at the end of its useful life and should be replaced now. Because of the possible asbestos content, you should get advice from a contractor experienced in this type of work or an asbestos specialist before the covering is disturbed in any way. Renewing the roof covering will require Building Regulation approval and, depending on the type of tile selected, strengthening of the roof structure may be required.
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Now the vendors have a letter from a local building services company which says;

After examining the roof, the only repair required is a small amount of pointing on the hip ridge tiles. This repair could be rectified for £175
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This got rejected by Accord, the mortgage company for going against what the home buyers report said and also having no date on the letter ! (not to mention the address was incomplete)

Accord say I can't get a mortgage until they have a quote for the roof replacement work, even then there will be a retention on the mortgage until the work is done.

Estate agent has been less than helpful, I'm trying to get a roofer who came recommended to me to have a look at it and give a quote.

Anyone had this before? Would my solicitors be able to help?

Cheers!
 
The roof needs changing, your mortgage company won't lend against a house that needs a new roof and the vendors have a quote to replace a few tiles.

You're talking about different things.

Get a roofer to quote, he should be able to quote without having to go inside.

Knock the price off the agreed price.

If they won't play ball you'll have to weigh it up yourself if you want to pay for it.
 
maccapacca said:
The roof needs changing, your mortgage company won't lend against a house that needs a new roof and the vendors have a quote to replace a few tiles.

You're talking about different things.

Get a roofer to quote, he should be able to quote without having to go inside.

Knock the price off the agreed price.

If they won't play ball you'll have to weigh it up yourself if you want to pay for it.
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Thats the problem, I'm telling the estate agent the situation (even sent them the home buyers report) they are contacting the vendor and look at what the vendor has provided..

Wondering if the solicitors would have more power to convince the vendors of this problem, rather than the estate agent (who actually denied knowing the letter was rejected even though I told them so a week before...)
 
D.P. said:
Walk away, now.
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Behave. For all you know he's getting a bargain on his dream property. If the roof needs doing and he can convince the vendor to knock off some more money, then no reason to walk away.

The difficulty is that home buyer's surveys are notorious for picking out everything to help the purchaser get a lower price. The agents and the vendor know this. In the same way, their letter also sounds less than helpful though.

When people chuck surveys at me for discounts, I just tell them that the price already takes account of the problems they identify. If they walk away then good luck to them.
 
maccapacca said:
Get a roofer to quote, he should be able to quote without having to go inside.
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I wouldn't quote for new roof without a visual inspection of the inside, rafters might be ok, or you may have a few with rot,especially at the eaves, until you strip off, you have no idea of the condition.

Also what are you going to replace asbestos tiles with, you need to consider the loading,whether the roof can stand the extra weight if concrete tiles are used, slates a bit lighter,but again you need to be careful.

Seen roofs sag, twist, etc, due to them not able to safely support the load.

EDIT:As you got to have a new roof, seriously consider installing some roof lights at the same time, being a 30's house, attic should have loads of usable space for storage or future rooms, so think about locations.
 
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Not going to run away just yet, unfortunately (for me) the property is in a perfect location..

The way I see it the vendors will have this problem with the next buyer who needs a mortgage so it's in their interest to get it resolved.

Going to phone the estate agent again, then email straight after so what needs to be done is in black & white. As well as arrange a roofer to go around, liaised with the vendor so they can have a look inside.
 
Little update if it helps anyone ever in the same situation.

Found the problem: the estate agents.

All it took was for me to arrange a roofer to go around, get a price for the job with a list of the works to be carried out and send this to the estate agents. Who very quickly started to pay attention and phoned the surveyor, who told them in no uncertain terms the roof needed replacing and they would reject anything else. Bear in mind I sent the estate agent two documents in early December both stating the roof needed replacing...I should have got on the case earlier myself.

Here's the end result in progress anyway...

photo3s.JPG


As for the old roof, the home buyers survey was well worth paying £185 and has saved me a lot of bother. The old slates were knackered, after last nights hard frost the underside of them was damp, luckily the roofer said there's no other damage. The new slates are designed as a direct replacement, as in exactly the same weight so no need for strengthening. My solicitor suggested we get the works done between exchange of contract and completion, so I have a mortgage with no retention, which is what's happening.
 
Well it'll be nice to know you have a brand new roof over your head.
Electrics and heating all okay with the hom******s (edit really really needed? 'home buyers' starred out) report?
 
fonzee said:
I assume you got a knocked down price then if your paying some?
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Got some knocked off, but not all of it. Had weigh up the options of paying or walking away and when you take into consideration the money I'd have thrown away in solicitor and mortgage fees it was best option.

Hikari Kisugi said:
Well it'll be nice to know you have a brand new roof over your head.
Electrics and heating all okay..
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I certainly think of it as a bonus for me having a new roof on a house that I may only be in for a handful of years (depends on work). Most of the street still haven't had the roof replaced yet so that will be a selling point for me, the rest of the house has been really well looked after.

Electricity, gas and heating all came back as a "3" (red) score on the home buyers report. But the report stated "The visual inspection cannot assess the services to make sure they work efficiently and safely, and meet modern standards." So they just assume it's dangerous. I've had paperwork through via the solicitors saying the house was re-plumbed and rewired in 2010, the boiler has been serviced every year.

Can't wait to get moved in now, it's been a nightmare buying a house :D
 
miller745 said:
Got some knocked off, but not all of it. Had weigh up the options of paying or walking away and when you take into consideration the money I'd have thrown away in solicitor and mortgage fees it was best option.
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For future reference - we were advised to add our mortgage fees to the mortgage so that if the house didn't go through we wouldn't have already paid them (£400.00). Once we'd completed and moved in we just paid them straight off the mortgage.
 
Peerzy said:
For future reference - we were advised to add our mortgage fees to the mortgage so that if the house didn't go through we wouldn't have already paid them (£400.00). Once we'd completed and moved in we just paid them straight off the mortgage.
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Yeah, my mortgage fee is £845, which got added to the mortgage. But a 'Mortgage Initialisation Fee' fee of £130 and the £185 home buyers survey and ~£900 solicitors fees would have gone.

If anyone needs an excellent roofer in Darlington, get in touch.
 
Can't believe how cheap your survey was! I paid (Countrywide) £475 for the home buyers survey. I did end up getting the entire amount refunded and £200 compensation however as they were completely useless.

Equally as a FTB my Solicitor charged a fixed fee of £500+VAT.
 
My survey was though Countrywide as well :D

Mortgage company (Accord) covered the cost of a standard valuation (£175) and I paid £185 to bump it up to the home buyers report.

Had to add £80 to the solicitors fee, due to them adding my name on to the land registry. Just to ensure the sellers can't back out now I will have paid for some of the roof. I think we got their price down to £820 ish, the only difference being the results of searches took a week or so instead of a few days.
 
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