Wood worm to fix is a spray then seal the floor if its in the floor with polythene sheeting to stop it getting in the carpets
Damp stop the wet getting in or and better ventilation
Tie failure thats like rebuild a wall
He needs a builder to look at it. by the sound of it the lender will require this as well, particularly the wall tie. My 1930s house had none of these problems when we bought it. 1950s houses are usually quite sound.
UK
These problems may be "normal", but that does not mean they do not need to be dealt with, or that fixing them will not be expensive.
The surveyor is not "covering" anything. He is paid to survey the property, and it seems that he has done so. The whole point of the survey is to highlight issues, so that you can ensure the price paid is reasonable. EG, if these issues will cost ￡10,000 to fix, then this house should cost ￡10,000 less than the one next door that has already had them dealt with.
Your friend should also bear in mind the level of survey he had done. If he has only had a valuation, then all the surveyor did was have a quick look around to assess the value. They will highlight possible issues, but will not have looked in more detail to confirm whether or not there really is anything to worry about.
If they had a homebuyer's report, or an even more detailed full survey, then the surveyor will have looked in more detail, and I would expect that the report should be looked at carefully, because if these things are highlighted, then they will be something to worry about.
If your friend is buying with a mortgage, then to a certain extent the lender will take this out of his hands, because they may reduce the amount they will lend, require work to be done, or even pull out - if the problem is deemed to be serious.
Either way, if the report does not give recommendation on the steps needed to fix the problem and likely cost (and maybe even if it does), your friend should ask a builder to look at the property to give a quote. They should then go back to the seller and seek to renegotiate the price.
Alternatively, they could ignore the advice of the professional they have paid for, and buy the house anyway. In which case they should not complain if it costs them a lot of time and money to fix, or if they have problems selling it later to buyers who DO listen to their surveyors.
If the house is being bought on finance by way of a long term mortgage, the lenders need to know of any facts that would prevent them from financing the property, so if the stated damp and other matters as exposed by the survey are not critical, then the lender will go ahead and finance the property purchase, however if the lender thinks the survey exposed serious problems with the property structure, then the financing will not be provided.
Good luck the market is **** as always
Hello,
My friend is in the process of purchasing his first house and has some concerns about the survey. The house was built in approx. 1950 and the survey states evidence of possible wood boring insect infestation, damp and cavity wall tie failure. Most people he's spoken to have said that this is normal for house that age and the surveying is just covering his back (especially the wall ties). Can anybody shed any light on this?
