A property with a beautiful view,
but was it worth all the problems?
If you are in the process of purchasing or selling a property our Independent Building Surveyors can provide you with help and advice. If you are buying a property with potential problems then we would recommend that you have a Building Survey carried out. We will give you expert, independent advice on how serious these problems are and how to solve them and also an estimate of how much it is likely to cost you.
We can carry out all types of surveys including structural surveys, home buyers reports, independent valuations, property surveys, Engineers reports, structural reports, defects reports. Please Free Phone 0800 298 5424 to speak with one of our surveyors.
Buying with your heart or your head?
We recently carried out a Building Survey on a property in a beautiful rural setting. Our clients who were repeat clients and originally from Poland, fell in love with the view over the fields and had to decide if this was enough to compensate for the problems that we found in the property, bearing in mind that we found quite a few!
The couple were looking for a property just outside of London as even though they both worked in London they found it too expensive to make their home there.
Rural setting with a view was a big
selling point for this property
A bit about the property
The property sits on a sloping site which was the cause of the first of the problems we came across during the course of the survey - dampness. We found both lateral damp and rising damp but our main concern was the condition of the concrete slab floor. This seemed to be hollow in areas and we think that water absorbing properties in the slab were drawing moisture into the slab much like a blotting paper effect. This slab was ultimately going to need to be replaced, costing thousands of pounds.
Sloping site
Lateral and rising damp
We believed that both the lateral and rising damp could relate to the slopping site and we suggested that a French drain be added around the property to reduce the amount of rainwater travelling through the property. Again this was another big expense to weigh up against the positive aspect of the view.
French Drain defined
A French Drain involves an area/border of pea shingle around the house, with a perforated pipe underneath that feeds into the drainage system which then takes away any rainwater.
French drain
Asbestos
The second serious problem in the property is Asbestos. We found this in the soffit to the garage and also noted it in the garden fence. The fascias and soffits to the building had been overclad in Plastic but we believe there was more asbestos beneath.
Asbestos externally
Asbestos soffit
Overcladding could be covering more asbestos
We also found thermo-plastic tiles below the vinyl flooring in the kitchen which can sometimes have an asbestos content.
Thermal plastic tiles in a kitchen
Asbestos internally
Commercial businesses as neighbours
The other consideration was that there were commercial properties very close to the property which is not ideal. However we did make enquiries as we had spotted CCTV cameras in operation but were told by the neighbours that they had never had any problems in the area.
The heart won!
After speaking to our clients after we had sent them their report they still seemed to be quite positive about the bungalow and even though the combined problems we had identified would deter many buyers the view that accompanied this property (which was stunning) seemed to have won the day,
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