Stressful situation; to buy or not to buy?

Philope

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

I think the actual attic conversion is more a cosmetic matter (perhaps I am being naive) but is is a modern house. We could remove the stairs, up to the attic conversion and move the partition wall back to its orginal position, if we intended to sell the house as a three bed. If you read my OP , the other issue is "eaves-gate", as we call it. This we have no conrol over. From a nuisance or asthetic point of view you wouldn't notice it at all but our Solictor is obsessed with it.

Emotion versus reason? I think its impossible to disregard emotion completely when you are buying your first home. I know I'll be very emotional if I end up being completely priced out of our location and pushed out to areas of less demand. If we have children, the house is less than 10 minutes walk from shops, primary & secondary schools and 25 mins drive to our workplaces.

Thanks for all the input. However, I am getting conflicting advice which is confusing me even more!

I would talk to your surveyor again about the attic conversion issue, he will confirm your thinking on that one, or give you more advice.

As for "eves gate" , your solicitor might, from experience, be able to foresee a likely future problem you can't at the minute. Ask him to explain what could happen. From a practical point of view, if their gutters block and they don't/refuse to clean them, you could have water spilling over and damaging your property/wall and causing endless damp issues, and it would be very hard to stop. Again talk to the surveyor.

Worse than that, perhaps what the solicitor sees is undisputed occupation of the space below the eves, and therefore the neighbours could in theory claim / block that on you at a later date, .e.g it may already be a narrow entrance / path to the back of the house. Again I would talk to you solicitor / surveyor again. The neighbours might be grand now, but remember next door can change hands as well at any time.

Sometimes, as much as you might like it, a house may not be meant for you, and it's just meant to be, that that you don't buy it. Problems are a lot worse when you end up OWNing them.

On the other hand, the seller might be able to sort out / clarify the issues before you buy to your solicitor and surveyor's satisfaction.

But if your solicitor still advises you not to buy . . . walk away. The right house will come along sooner or later.

Good luck whatever happens.

Glenbhoy

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

1. Withdraw and lose out on our location, which is my main priority. Face the possibility that we may have to go back to the bank for more funds. We are both over 34, I don't know if the bank will give us similar terms again.

Your slight increase in age will not make any difference to what the banks will give, they knew you were going to get older when you applied, they may not increase what they're willing to lend, but that won't be the reason.

For what it's worth, personally, I'd walk away, but I'd definitely consider asking the vendor to make the property compliant or reduce the cost by the amount required.

Btw, has the bank property valuation been cariied out and if so, was that sufficient for the bank to authorise drawdown?

angel eyes 2012

Glenbhoy wrote: »

Your slight increase in age will not make any difference to what the banks will give, they knew you were going to get older when you applied, they may not increase what they're willing to lend, but that won't be the reason.

For what it's worth, personally, I'd walk away, but I'd definitely consider asking the vendor to make the property compliant or reduce the cost by the amount required.

Btw, has the bank property valuation been cariied out and if so, was that sufficient for the bank to authorise drawdown?

Thanks for your response. The bank's valuation was indeed carried out. They actually valued the property at €5,000 more than what we paid, although I think this was an oversight on their part. They did not mention the 2 bed/3 bed issue. They excluded the attic conversion completely from their valuation as it is not strictly habitable space. They noted eaves-gate and stated that our Solicitor is to investigate this matter during searches to contract. The cheque is ready for us to drawdown.

runawaybishop

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

Thanks for your response. The bank's valuation was indeed carried out. They actually valued the property at €5,000 more than what we paid, although I think this was an oversight on their part. They did not mention the 2 bed/3 bed issue. They excluded the attic conversion completely from their valuation as it is not strictly habitable space. They noted eaves-gate and stated that our Solicitor is to investigate this matter during searches to contract. The cheque is ready for us to drawdown.

The eaves protruding is a big deal really. It means in the future that site will have issues with any sort of extension or rebuild which will affect its sale value - unless its sold to someone who doesn't realise this The issue should be resolved before it becomes your problem.

The_Conductor

So- resolve eavesgate- and off you go.