SPA Modeler

Just got the survey report today on the house we were buying in Wales (we were hoping to move in next month), it turns out it has a dodgy extension that probably wasn't built to building regs and is in the process of falling down - cracking and bulging on the first floor (one crack is inside as well as out letting damp through) and cracking on the ground floor support pillars...



Looks like we're going to have to pull out of the purchase, which sucks to say the least, it took us months to find that house. The houses in the area of Wales we're looking at are pretty shitty.

To make matters more complicated, our sale is still proceeding which, whist being good news, also means we may well be homeless by the end of the month - trouble is, if we pull out we may lose the sale and it's taken us a year to get this far...

Man, sorry to hear this. That’s worse than expecting a chocolate chip cookie and getting ab oatmeal raisin cookie!

Were you not able to inspect the house earlier in the deal? Must be different than her.

How big is this extension? Is it something you could get a significant price reduction from the sellers for?

Wow. Sorry to hear this. I’m with Lyle on this one. Inspection prior to purchase would have been a wise decision. What are the new housing purchase rules in Wales?

Bummer - can live in a rental until you find a house? That's what my wife and I are doing (except our house is being built)

Sorry to hear that Stuart. Hope you find something soon.

Sorry to hear,but it's better finding out before time rather then later.

Is it worth continuing with the purchase but renegotiating the price to allow some extra in the pocket to fix or rebuild the add-on?
Thats a really crappy situation to be in. Sorry to hear that. I hope it works out well.
Stay positive, keep the positive vibes flowing and they'll come back to you.

Thanks Gents!

Sorry, I should have pointed out that in England and Wales, once the offer is accepted we have about three/four months of legal crap including the engineer's surveys etc. before the deeds are transferred (and it becomes legally binding) and any money changes hands - so yeah, this guy has saved a real load of hassle and money - because whilst the vendor can possibly* claim any work etc. on their buildings insurance, we'd have to pay for it ourselves if we continued with the sale as the insurance companies wouldn't insure us on a known defect.

*that's assuming the extension/building work was legal, which is increasingly looking like it wasn't, as the seller can't produce any paperwork to say otherwise - so their insurance may not cough up either and they may well also be prosecuted by the local council. The stupid thing it, if we bought the house, we'd actually be liable, even though we didn't do the work!!!

So we're having to back out of the sale which is annoying, but not as much as having our new house falling down around us! We have love about £4000 in legal payments and surveys etc. which we can ill afford - but what can you do - the house buying system in this country sucks.

The real pain in the arse is we were hoping to get there sometime in September, so my son can start the new school year in his new school, but now even if we like one of the houses we're going to see over the weekend, it's going to be November or December before we get there - As John pointed out, we're probably going to have to rent for a while to bridge the gap, although again this is going to cost money we haven't got, as you can only rent over here for 6 months minimum in most case. Tbh hones we might end up living in a caravan (Trailer or camper van) for a few months as it might be cheaper.

It's all very good fun....

Yikes.