Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Apr 16, 2009 10:36 am Morning Renovator Comrades ! Found your site last night and decided you guys are the ones in the know. Just bought a 1950"s fibro 3x1 in original condition, subject to building and termite inspections. Building report shows shower is leaking down into the floor (house is on stumps with boards), tiles have come away from the shower etc, all the drains are blocked and there are leaking taps etc throughout the house. Also discovered there are rodents and mice throughout due to the current tenants who are feral, filthy and unhygienic. and of course all guttering, downpipes and fascia boards need to be replaced. inspector said these are serious problems he's concerned about ( me too!). As I have made the sale subject to the inspections, and the settlement date is not for another 4 weeks, can I ask the owner to fix the problems / reduce the price? I'm more concerned about the shower problem than anything else, and what kind of reduction would I ask for in price? if he says no am I still obligated to go through with the sale? I see the shower, blocked plumbing and rodent problem as standard OHS / duty of care responsibilities that any person selling a house should be responsible for to ensure that the new owner has a liveable standard....what do you guys think? Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 2Apr 16, 2009 10:48 am with all due respect it looks like you were expecting to by a 60 year old house that had no problem. I think that is the first problem. I looked at all the problems you mentioned and i said to myself to me they would be expected, for a house of that age. If i was to by a house like that I would definatley be sure there is money in the kitty to fix up major problems. It would be like someone buying a 20 year old car and then bad mouthing the owner saying he sold you a lemon because it burns oil and looses a bit of water. I think you need a new house with warrenty, but be warned even new houses have problems. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 3Apr 16, 2009 10:58 am I can see what Borg is saying but still that's why you get an inspection done. I guess the question is do you still want to buy it if the owner says he won't fix anything? if not then pull out that's why you have subject to. If your willing to spend a bit of extra money then start organising quotes and go ahead with the sale. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it. W.C. Fields Brought Established. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 4Apr 16, 2009 11:02 am What do you want to do with the property? If it was to actually live in - then you have the options of getting the vendor to fix or asking them to significantly drop the price and DIY. If it's for KDR (knock down rebuild) - then you could still try and haggle on the price. Is the house in a particularly good area? After 4 years - we're in! Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 5Apr 16, 2009 11:17 am I'd say you probably have grounds to ask for a reduction in price due to the plumbing issues, as even though the house is old - this is still a costly repair problem. The rodents, guttering and fascia are things I think you would have to expect when purchasing an older house (ok, maybe not the rodents but you could still expect to pay for pest control). Good luck! Renovating a post-war house in Brisbane | On the first rung of the property ladder Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 6Apr 16, 2009 11:53 am cheers, sorry, so what I didn't mention is that I chose to buy a fixer upper knowing it would need to be fixed up, and I have funds to do that, and an open mind in what problems to expect. A 50 year old house is a 50 year old house and will obviously need to have serious work done and I take responsibility for taking on that situation and challenge, that's the deal when you buy something old, just not sure where the line is drawn about natural justice. I guess I'm looking for info on the process of how to handle what I find in terms of the building report, rather than trying to expect someone whose selling the house to do all the work for me before they hand it over. Not keen on ending up just accepting it and then being up for $100 K worth of work, but hey that's the risk you take. It's encouraging that some are saying just buy it,fix it how I want it done, and enjoy living in it, while others are saying make the existing owner responsilbe for their role in handing over a (fairly) "safe" house. Be keen to know if others in similar situations have been successful in reducing the asking price and also if others have just taken it as is and what they were then up for down the track.... Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 7Apr 16, 2009 2:15 pm With a house that old you probably have to expect plumbing problems. At least if you know about them you can budget for it and there are no surprises. Maybe have a look at other houses in the area that are for sale and check out what the asking price is. It may be that the house is already good value based on it's current condition. If not then you may have some room for negotiation. I guess it also depends on how much interest there is in the property. If you made the sale conditional on the inspection report I guess you could always say that the house is not fit to be habitable and as you can't just move in and live there you no longer want it. I'm no expert on that so you may need some legal advice or just someone on Homeone who knows more about that. I guess serious problems depend on whether they can be fixed and how much it may cost to fix them. As you have already had an inspection report done, why don't you get a builder or quantity surveyor in to give you some costings for the work that needs to be done and how much work may be involved. That's what the lady on Property Ladder recommends, those that do it have very few surprises once they start work. Those that don't, they get some nasty surprises. It also gives you an idea of what it would cost to bring the house up to what you want and whether that is still less expensive than buying another house in the area in much better condition. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 8Apr 16, 2009 2:41 pm If you are buying the property to do a total reno then use the faults as means of negotiating the price a bit lower. If the vendor won't come to the party then decide if you still want it especially if it is still a bargain at the current price. At the end of the day, you are most likely going to rip out the shower and tiles anyway and the rodent problem is quite easily fixed. I see it as a no lose situation really, and if you can get a bit more knocked off the price well that's a bonus. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 9Apr 16, 2009 2:53 pm If you put in your offer "subject to" this means in some way you are giving yourself the option to reconsider based on your new information. So you an inspection is going to give you what is wrong with the property not what is right. Now use this information to make a more informed decision of what you are prepared to offer to fix these issues. Do you want these things fixed to the owners satisfaction or do you want a discoun t for you to do as you please. I would decide how much you want to pay and what amount up to that you are prepared to walk away from. Also remember that once owners find out the extent of a properties problems they may be prepared to accept your new offer just to offload and not have to try and fix. Goodluck with your decision. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 10Apr 19, 2009 3:08 am considering the age of the house these are all problems that you would expect to find. As far as the plumbing is concerned, you could probably insist that the pipes be unblocked but it wont solve the problem for long. our 30 year old house had many of the same problems and one of the first things we needed to attend to were replacing all the rusted outlet pipes in kitchen, laundry and bathroom, having the sewerage pipe from the toilet done again to remove a 90 degree bend which was causing the toilet to block, leaks in laundry and bathroom cupboards, replacing some of the p traps etc. After 50 years the pipes will be in very bad condition unless they have been replaced at some time so you need to budget for these things. Rusty gutters and downpipes and the damage in the shower would also be obvious when you put the offer in, but if you buy now your are going into it with your eyes open. It's also very possible that the house itself may have very little value at all and the price is mostly based on the land value so you may not have that much room to move with the price. if the house was all in great condition then chances are it would have been priced higher so you just need to consider if it is worth buying now knowing that it will need quite a bit of work and money. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 11Apr 19, 2009 4:56 pm thanks everyone for your replies. I've asked for a reduction in price, we'll see what happens, he's got 5 days to get back to me and if its a no I can withdraw my offer and the contract fails. I do want that house but...sigh...heehee..got my heart set on it now....I'll let you know what I end up doing. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 12Apr 19, 2009 5:02 pm eurekarainbow thanks everyone for your replies. I've asked for a reduction in price, we'll see what happens, he's got 5 days to get back to me and if its a no I can withdraw my offer and the contract fails. I do want that house but...sigh...heehee..got my heart set on it now....I'll let you know what I end up doing. You did the right thing by getting the report done, but it does sound pretty bad 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 13Apr 20, 2009 12:58 am good luck! you'll be plenty busy if you get it but it can all be done If you are willing to do as much of the work yourself as possible you can save a considerable amount of money on fixing it up Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 14May 18, 2009 7:47 pm i have just got off the phone with building inspector and he gave me run down on some things, the house im interested in is brick and tile roof home, has all new carpet and has just had bathroom retiled and splash back in kitchen retiled, dunny and laundry yet to be done still older tiles, inspector has stated and will be more in the report that gutters need to be refixed and some spots like down pipes ect, some rust and cleaning etc, most washers in taps to be replaced and basin in bathroom to go, taps are locked on, its a old basin so that ok i suppose, (plumers job i think ) . he said i will need to clear garden away from base of house to keep pest away for future, eg termites !! also one wall came up on his speacial machine they use haha i think he said it could mean moisture or even pest , will find out after pest inspection, i think any sign of termites and ill pull out, but im trying to find more info on moisute and if its the reason bathroom has been retiled, the shower it self has not been retiled , so maybe there might be a little problem there, im new to this and its a lot of money , was exciting times now stressful, lol. i would have a go at doing gutters and fascia myself if any advice . i already got tips on replacing washers and re seating taps etc , this site is very helpfull. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 16May 28, 2009 9:27 am yes still buying it, i signed contract added up all the cost in the little things and only need to hire pluber for one thing, the other stuff i can do my self, which is great. pest control guy gave the double thumbs up so the moisture was from the shower that had leaked of time, its been retiled and fixed so hope all goes well there. Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 17May 30, 2009 10:03 am photogirl With a house that old you probably have to expect plumbing problems. At least if you know about them you can budget for it and there are no surprises. Maybe have a look at other houses in the area that are for sale and check out what the asking price is. It may be that the house is already good value based on it's current condition. If not then you may have some room for negotiation. I guess it also depends on how much interest there is in the property. If you made the sale conditional on the inspection report I guess you could always say that the house is not fit to be habitable and as you can't just move in and live there you no longer want it. I'm no expert on that so you may need some legal advice or just someone on Homeone who knows more about that. I guess serious problems depend on whether they can be fixed and how much it may cost to fix them. As you have already had an inspection report done, why don't you get a builder or quantity surveyor in to give you some costings for the work that needs to be done and how much work may be involved. That's what the lady on Property Ladder recommends, those that do it have very few surprises once they start work. Those that don't, they get some nasty surprises. It also gives you an idea of what it would cost to bring the house up to what you want and whether that is still less expensive than buying another house in the area in much better condition. Excellent answer! Re: the building inpsection report is bad...what happens now? 18May 30, 2009 10:08 am bayboy78 yes still buying it, i signed contract added up all the cost in the little things and only need to hire pluber for one thing, the other stuff i can do my self, which is great. pest control guy gave the double thumbs up so the moisture was from the shower that had leaked of time, its been retiled and fixed so hope all goes well there. Well done! The house is probably cheaper than others in the area due to it's condition and with a bit of TLC you'll make a heap of money fixing it up! Good luck and don't let it get on top of you! The concreter will take and reuse. In my case I bought structural LVLs and scraped them back and used them as joists. 1 5160 https://form.jotform.com/240284569218058 Please spare a moment to fill out this survey form for a project. You stand a chance to win a digital gift voucher. Legitimate… 0 2828 You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16148 |