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Attention hive-mind. In a nutshell we are one of a number of owners in a tenement. The roof has been professionally assessed as needing approx £250k of repairs - really a full reno - which has been known about for years but is only now progressing (applying for grants etc.), although works have not been instructed.
One of the other owners is selling. We suspect they will not disclose the above and we'll be left with a new neighbour unable - even with the best of intentions - to foot the bill.
Is there anything we owners can do?
Put up a sign
Should that sort of thing not come up on the survey?
If you told the agent would they be obliged to declare it. I.e. if they know but don't declare then likely they would be liable or they declare as they should so the buyer is aware.
Wouldn’t the home report mention a shared roof ? They mention everything bar meteorite strikes as likely to happen ?
Should that sort of thing not come up on the survey?
If you told the agent would they be obliged to declare it. I.e. if they know but don’t declare then likely they would be liable or they declare as they should so the buyer is aware.
Do you mean the home report? If so, no. They're not worth a damn. A full survey would reveal it but 99% of buyers don't bother. It has crossed my mind to write to the selling estate agent by recorded delivery to notify them, and hopefully motivate them to make buyers aware or at least ask the sellers about it.
I would imagine if a house was sold and in need of (known) repairs the seller would be wide open to legal action from the buyer IANAL
Mrs bob does this for a living ( residential conveyancing)
She says if you have a property factor then they should notify the estate agent. If no factor then The seller will have to complete a questionnaire which would ask about this kind of thing. The surveyor doing the home report will see that survey so if it’s been disclosed there then they will investigate.
If the seller doesn’t disclose and the surveyor doesn’t pick anything up on the survey, then the new buyer could chase the surveyor for liability but ultimately it’ll end up back with the seller if they’ve deliberately withheld info
Have a friend view the property and prompt the question?
'kin stupid forum, typed a log reply but got logged out.
Short version
extracts from HR from house my son recently purchased, HR is a complete waste of time
That sounds like an expensive repair, I suppose depends how many flats involved but imagine if you have only been in 5 years and knew nothing about total lack of maintenance
Mrs bob does this for a living ( residential conveyancing)
She says if you have a property factor then they should notify the estate agent. If no factor then The seller will have to complete a questionnaire which would ask about this kind of thing. The surveyor doing the home report will see that survey so if it’s been disclosed there then they will investigate.
If the seller doesn’t disclose and the surveyor doesn’t pick anything up on the survey, then the new buyer could chase the surveyor for liability but ultimately it’ll end up back with the seller if they’ve deliberately withheld info
Thanks BoardinBob, this is interesting. We do have a factor but their position seems to be they will wait to be asked but will not be proactive. Is it law that they should notify the estate agent, or just a code of conduct type thing?
It's not a legal requirement, but it's in the factors best interests as they don't want a battle with a new owner who knew nothing of what's going on.
I wouldn't trust the estate agent to be honest. They'll say anything to get a sale. Any potential buyer should be told and I'd be pushing the factor to take control of this. At a bare minimum they should tell the surveyor so it gets stated in the home report.
I had a friend in a similar-ish position in Glasgow. Communal rough needed substantial repairs. One resident refused to agree which meant no one in the block could sell until it was resolved. Took years😬
I went through this when I sold my flat. Basically as Bob states, you are asked to fill in a survey and you must disclose anything that is needed done. And if you withhold then you can be held liable I believe.
As for the 250k quote...ours was well over 100k as I recall. But when we challenged them on that about half of what they were quoting for was not required to make the roof structurally sound. A fair portion of cost was full scaffolding for the entire building, which they insisted was required for the job but upon challenge they admitted tower scaffolding and a cherry picker would suffice. In the end the cost was less than 50 k. So basically..be wary of builder quotes..
This exact situation happened to us, and everything you think should happen didn't.
Bought flat in 2006. Had a full survey which picked up roofing work x2 required totalling about £800/flat (estimate). Sellers never mentioned anything to us at all. No home reports back then, but as above they're not worth the paper they're printed on.
Fast forward a couple of years, we get a letter saying that as the roofing work hasn't been carried out then it's being sorted by the council. Except there were actually 8 separate repair jobs and the total bill was in excess of half a million pounds.
Never mind, we thought, all the notifications happened before we even lived in Scotland, never mind in that flat. The previous owners will sort it. Not the case. The rules are that whoever lives in the property when the final bill is prepared has to pay and then claim back from previous owners if needed.
Fast forward to now and we are £21k out of pocket(after the council were found to have carried out work unnecessarily as well as dodgy accounting practices and were forced to cut the bill by more than 50%) and the previous owners, surprise surprise, are giving us the run around.
Due your due diligence and ask every single question you can think of. Instruct the surveyors to specifically investigate outstanding and notified repair works. And be prepared to be dry humped a few years down the line.
We bought our flat and were informed by vendor and factor (another flat owner) of the roof needing replacement.
The £12k estimated share of new roof was deducted from the purchase price.
Just put some big signs up in the close reminding everyone about the upcoming roof repairs and what their share will be.
That'll scare off any potential buyers!
Any competent buyer should be asking about the factor and following up with them about any outstanding repairs. Who the factor is, can influence some buyers.