Buying a vacant house

The Engineer

Does anyone have tips / pointers about buying a vacant property? I'm looking at a few different ones at the minute - nothing too bad, but have been un-lived in for about a year.

What are the main things to look out for when viewing the house?

Rew

Same as any house, once you find one your serious about get an engineers report done.

The Niece

I would second the advice above, just bought a house that was vacant for a couple of months and we asked a local handyman to come with us on our second visit as well in case anything was in doubt

Shemale

Rew wrote: »

Same as any house, once you find one your serious about get an engineers report done.

Yeah, get a plumber and electrician to check it out too, keep an eye out for damp (brown/ black) stains on the walls/ windows, it could be caused by anything and in some cases it can't be fixed.

Your engineer should spot them but before you get one be very wary of houses with cracks over doorways / around the stairwell, also check the doors close without sticking and don't swing by themselves.

I would also suggest finding out who the builder was and see if they have had any issues resulting from pyrite and make sure you know the concrete is pyrite free as you will have problems from pyrite and you insurer will most definitely have an exclusion on your policy.

seamus

Yep, got engineer in yesterday to look at one we're sale agreed on. He didn't find anything that can't be fixed with some supplies from a builder's providers, but it was great to get confirmation on what needs to be done immediately (bathroom replacement in our case) and what can wait, such as changing from oil to gas, and what maintenance work has been done in the past. Of course, not to mention confirmation that you're not buying a money pit.

tommyjin83

seamus wrote: »

Yep, got engineer in yesterday to look at one we're sale agreed on. He didn't find anything that can't be fixed with some supplies from a builder's providers, but it was great to get confirmation on what needs to be done immediately (bathroom replacement in our case) and what can wait, such as changing from oil to gas, and what maintenance work has been done in the past. Of course, not to mention confirmation that you're not buying a money pit.

Hi Seamus,

I am in the process of buying a house as well and was wondering if you are happy with the work done by the engineer? How much did you pay for him if you don't mind me asking? Also, if you were happy with his work, would you PM his contact details to me?

Thanks a mil.

seamus

€400 including VAT for us. Haven't got the report from him yet, but he did take me on a walk around the house pointing out everything he found as he reckoned that it's much easier to show you this stuff than it is to put it in a report, and he was right.

The bank valuer was charging the same amount for a survey including the valuation so we hmmed and hawed about using them, but everyone we spoke to told us to get our own surveyor separate from the bank's, so we reckoned it would be worth the extra €150.

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GerardKeating

The Engineer wrote: »

Does anyone have tips / pointers about buying a vacant property? I'm looking at a few different ones at the minute - nothing too bad, but have been un-lived in for about a year.

What are the main things to look out for when viewing the house?

I would also enquire why the house is empty, it could be owner emigrated or something innocent, or might flag an issue with the house, draft, damp, haunted?

Callanutd

Confirm the costs of getting your electricity/gas/water reconnected.
If the water has been off for a while I would have someone upstairs and downstairs to check for leaks while it is being turned on.

The Engineer

Thanks for all the replies folks. I'll be back here, no doubt, in time!

The_Morrigan

seamus wrote: »

€400 including VAT for us. Haven't got the report from him yet, but he did take me on a walk around the house pointing out everything he found as he reckoned that it's much easier to show you this stuff than it is to put it in a report, and he was right.

The bank valuer was charging the same amount for a survey including the valuation so we hmmed and hawed about using them, but everyone we spoke to told us to get our own surveyor separate from the bank's, so we reckoned it would be worth the extra €150.

We used <mod snip>

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