@tntcoder
Thing is a lot of those things you must expect on a house that age. I don’t think you can try and re-negotiate because of the bathrooms as you’ve seen them and must’ve been aware of the fact they need changing.
Same with the kitchen. It’s been advertised and valued with an old kitchen. So again you must’ve known and been aware of the cost of that.
Also, as for the roof and damp. I’d get advise from someone who isn’t a surveyor. Our survey said the house were buying needed pretty much a whole new roof. I got a roofer I know to go round and he said that £1500 would keep the roof in a good condition for another 20 years.
Yeh I kind of agree here. A 1700’s house will have many issues.
Asbestos garage roofs are exceptionally common. It’s not a big deal. Just get a professional to remove it. Don’t try yourself.
Kitchen and bathroom would obviously need changing. You can’t negotiate on that. It’s not fair and would have been obvious.
It would also be obvious a rewire is needed. One look at the board should have told you that.
Damp - very very very common. High ground levels, bridged damp proof courses, blocked or a lack of air bricks, moisture passing from solid floors to associated structural components, penetrating damp through roof, through faulty flashings, uncapped chimneys, sulphate attack, dry rot, wet rot..... I could go on.
All are possible in any house but especially one this old. In fact, I would have been beyond surprised if there had been none found. Can’t comment on the costs but you need a PCA recommended contractor to quote - not the surveyor or some local man in a van.
It’s scary but get some dialogue with your surveyor and just have a black and white conversation with him.
If you are going to negotiate then you will have more luck doing so on things you couldn’t have seen - not the obvious things. That will put the owners noses out of joint and quite rightly so.
Good luck mate
Best offer I could get was 5k under asking and full survey has found signs of damp, 5-10k of roof repairs needed in next few years and not re-wired since 1980s. Both bathrooms need renovating as well as new hot water tank and the kitchen needs drastically modernising. Plus garage roof is asbestos. It's a lovely 1700s house though with lots of character so I guess some of these issues are inevitable. I fear the maintenance costs of such an old building might be too risky to take on though even with 30k aside for initial renovation.
