We are sale agreed on a house which has a couple of issues that popped up in our structural survey:
- Issue 1: The roof does not meet current building regs. There should be ceiling joists in the lower one third of the roof slope (which I understand is to prevent the outward thrust of walls if excess weight pushes down on the roof e.g. a lot of snow). The house was originally built in the 1980s, before building regs were 'a thing' so unless we take the house apart and put it back together, there's no way to know if the house has alternative support in place to prevent this issue. BUT our survey report confirms that the roof currently only shows evidence of minor wear and tear due to the fact that it's c. 40 years old. In summary - there's no immediate risk, but nothing to give us assurance that nothing will happen say 10 years down the road. Also, realistically the resale value of the house will be affected if we need to sell the house again as any surveyor's report will flag this issue.
- Issue 2: The house was originally a bungalow but a significant part of the attic was converted to two bedrooms, an office and a bathroom. The stairs do not meet fire regs as the width is slightly narrower than it should be. So technically, none of the upstairs space is classed as 'habitable space'. This is less of an issue in our eyes as we can just replace the stairs at a relatively low expense.
We really really like the house, location etc. but the survey has made us uneasy. Pre-survey, our accepted bid was €55k above the seller's original asking price. We tried to renegotiate in light of the above issues but the sellers are only willing to accept a price reduction of €15k which seems low given the significance of the issues highlighted.
I may be too invested in the house to the point that I'm still considering going ahead with the purchase. Any thoughts on whether the above is likely to cause insurance issues, or issues with getting our mortgage?
Are we plain stupid for even considering going ahead with the purchase?
- Issue 1: The roof does not meet current building regs. There should be ceiling joists in the lower one third of the roof slope (which I understand is to prevent the outward thrust of walls if excess weight pushes down on the roof e.g. a lot of snow). The house was originally built in the 1980s, before building regs were 'a thing' so unless we take the house apart and put it back together, there's no way to know if the house has alternative support in place to prevent this issue. BUT our survey report confirms that the roof currently only shows evidence of minor wear and tear due to the fact that it's c. 40 years old. In summary - there's no immediate risk, but nothing to give us assurance that nothing will happen say 10 years down the road. Also, realistically the resale value of the house will be affected if we need to sell the house again as any surveyor's report will flag this issue.
- Issue 2: The house was originally a bungalow but a significant part of the attic was converted to two bedrooms, an office and a bathroom. The stairs do not meet fire regs as the width is slightly narrower than it should be. So technically, none of the upstairs space is classed as 'habitable space'. This is less of an issue in our eyes as we can just replace the stairs at a relatively low expense.
We really really like the house, location etc. but the survey has made us uneasy. Pre-survey, our accepted bid was €55k above the seller's original asking price. We tried to renegotiate in light of the above issues but the sellers are only willing to accept a price reduction of €15k which seems low given the significance of the issues highlighted.
I may be too invested in the house to the point that I'm still considering going ahead with the purchase. Any thoughts on whether the above is likely to cause insurance issues, or issues with getting our mortgage?
Are we plain stupid for even considering going ahead with the purchase?
