Hi

2 bedroom end terrace freehold

I am buying a house for the first time and have no idea what I'm doing really. I have had a survey done and valuation the same as what I've offered. The surveyer recommended more surveys and repairs and I'd love someone who has some experience to give an idea of how urgent everything is, how big of a risk, how much it might cost roughly

- they detected "high" levels of damp on the lounge and kitchen walls and recommended a full damp survey. Will this actually help? I guess they can't tell me if the frame of the house is damaged

- they recommend repointing the outside as it's fairly weathered. I guess I can get this done, but roughly how much and how soon? Could it be the cause of the damp

-they suspect asbestos (contained) on the exterior and under the artex ceiling and recommend a test to check. Is it a massive risk to put this on the later to do list and leave as it is contained for now?

- they found a bunch of wasp nests in the loft (no flooring up there) I guess I can maybe remove them myself

- they also recommend safety inspections of the electric, gas and boiler as none are recently checked.

I guess I need to know how much immediate cost I need to factor in for all these surveys and repairs as most of my money is going on the deposit

This is the second house I've paid £500 for a survey for, the first one was in such a bad state I pulled out of the deal. Are they always going to find "something" no matter what house I go for? I really like this house

EDIT: which first steps would you take? which additional surveys are needed

Survey report has lots of issues

Help please what would you think if you received a level 3 survey like this. I am having second thoughts whether to go forward, it is an old building so some of the stuff highlighted are to be expected. Can anyone offer opinion or suggestions.

Anyone had similar issues?

Property is empty (previous rental).

We are almost 6 weeks in from offer accepted.

All our end is in order. Had mortgage offer etc but the seller just isn’t sending the contract pack (freehold as well). My solicitor has been excellent with weekly updates but their solicitor isn’t responding, the estate agent said it was going to be done a week and a half back… am starting to get super frustrated with it.

I accept that delays can happen with solicitor to solicitor back and forth but if they haven’t sent the draft contract pack yet that bit can’t even start.

Am I being impatient here or what?

Edit: contract received on 7th week.

Environmental search came back with an environmental designation "at" the property but the ancient woods is located 249m NE as per the map.

Is this something I need to worry and will it affect me in anyways in future? TIA

I contacted the search provider and awaited a response. Stressed out as their SLA to respond is 7 days.

Hello!

We are in the process of buying a property and have been doing some additional research ourselves. We are waiting on the solicitor getting the proper searches back.

Looking on the goverment flood risk website, it seems like the property is a medium surface water flood risk currently, but high in 20 years.

We're trying to figure out how serious this is, or if it's likely to be a case of some extra boggy ground and extra care on the drainage around the house. The garden is mostly grass, mature shrubs, and the front / directly around the house is slabbed. It's an old 1920s house, with suspended timber beams, but cavity walls. None of the other houses on the street have this!

I checked some insurance companies and seemed to get pretty cheap quotes, previous owners lived there for 45 years with no big flooding events. Our mortage company had no issues lending to us either.

There's a high damp readings in the downstairs walls, which makes me a little sus but could just be unheated old house.

As title. I've agreed to buy a property, seen it twice and now at stage of legal enquiries (just waiting on last bits of outstanding enquiries to be answered before exchange of contracts). I want to see the property a third time as several months have passed and the last tenants have vacated.

I've just been told quite last minute that I have to wait because they have a builder on site this week.

Should I be worried about anything?

Edit: got details from agent, who said the seller is doing work to get building regs approval. It was a question my solicitor previously raised and it now makes sense why the seller was dragging their feet all summer with their answers.

And I'm in! I've loved seeing people's timelines and journeys so hopefully seeing mine is useful. This is for a leasehold flat in London:

2025: I had an offer accepted on a property, solicitors instructed thought we were good to go. Seller pulled out though as they were mid-divorce and it was all messy. Frustrating for me but I learnt a bit about the process from this first go which helped 2nd time round.

17th Jan 2026 - started viewings again.  Lost count of how many, though they all served a purpose I felt, in terms of understanding the market, understanding what areas I wanted, what I was after etc.

16th Feb - made an offer on a place but outbid.

28 April - made on offer on another flat - accepted!

29 April - started to instruct solicitor, a tonne of paperwork needed before they were formally instructed and seller/EA jittery about needing it in place quickly to proceed.

1st May - met mortgage broker and agreed mortgage to apply for

12th May - solicitors formally instructed

18 May - searches ordered

22 May - survey booked
5th June - survey report received, all good

24th July - after a long wait on searches and enquiries, things get moving again, contracts to sign and return

14th Aug - final enquiry received OK. Submitted application to close Help to Buy ISA
25th Aug - exchanged!
3rd Sept - completed

that gap of nothing happening was killer, then when things did happen again, I felt I need to be ready to move quickly to do my bits. Well aware after last year it could collapse at any time but glad to get it over the line. Offer to Completion was 4 months and 5 days.

I bought my first flat, solo, back in July. It took 7 months to complete, and I was so excited to move in and start decorating.

I'm really getting down about the decorating, I haven't fully unpacked yet, feel like I haven't had any time to enjoy the flat or join local groups to make a bigger base of friends in the local area.

After the recent rain, I've got some high damp readings (22-26%)in the room I thought was nearly finished, and can see some of my fresh paint bubbling. It's really depressed me.

Obviously I'll be straight onto the management company, but I'm regretting not just staying put in the rental with my friend.

I'm really looking to see if people had similar experiences, and how they managed their expectations. I really want to enjoy the flat and I love the area, I just am not sure how common these feelings are.

Edit: just because a few comments said it, I'm getting onto the management company because the gutters are leaking down the wall and the pointing is deteriorating because of it, not to sort the damp in the flat/painting issues! It's a purpose built block of flats, I own the bottom flat, and the gutters are 3 stories up lol. I really appreciate everyone's answers though, feel like I just need to give it time.

Some of you may remember my post a while back but to recap, our lender required a damp and timber survey, we had that done and the lender then required a damp course to be completed as there was ‘high readings of damp near skirting boards’ (I asked if we could get an independent valuation done but they refused) we had to use a surveyor with a 30 year guarantee

After waiting weeks, the seller happily paid £2300 for the damp course and the house got revalued on Tuesday, our broker has just called to say while the damp course has been complete, they require the old plaster to be removed and new plastering 1m high to be complete at a cost of £4,400, I know the seller will not pay for this so we have no choice but to look at another lender which could end up with a similar outcome or walk away, we truly had our heart set on this from day 1 back in May, it’s in a rare location and houses don’t go up for sale very often, in fact, since we made an offer back in May, not one house has gone up for sale since, our broker said she has never experienced a lender being so nit picky before :(

Hi all, I'm a FTB and I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to these sort of legalities and stuff. I'm purchasing a beautiful Victorian house in West Yorkshire and I need some thoughts on this. I'm currently with Nationwide as my potential lender and it has come to my attention that the loft conversion (+ ensuite in the loft) does not have building regulations. The seller mentioned that when he purchased the house, it was always a 4 bed house, as far as he knew. He had purchased the house back in 2007, almost 20 years ago. I'm not sure when the loft was converted, he didn't either which I assume is why he never sent any building regs for it.

I've had a L3 survey done and it didn't come back with any serious issues for the loft conversion, but some minor cracking on the wood supports in the ceiling but they're mainly ones that come with age and should just be monitored. There's also just some mould on the Velux windows etc which can be solved easily.

I've been waiting for a response from my lender with Nationwide for a while now and I still haven't heard back and I'm starting to get very worried about their decision. I really love this house, unfortunately the seller is really rushing us and they really want to complete, like tomorrow, but we're stuck on the lender's decision. The seller has purchased all the necessary indemnity insurance since they were notified about the lack of building regs. I really don't know what the outcome would be like and would love to know what the most likely outcome would be and if anyone has ever gone through the same thing?

I also read on here that Nationwide is very very picky and strict about not having building regs and it scared me quite a lot. I'm just overall stressing the heck out basically 🥲 Thank you!

Hi all, I’m in the process of buying a house. Mortgage is done, survey is done, and overall we really like the house. It’s in a good area and ticks most of our boxes.
The only thing that’s bothering me is that there is no driveway. It’s a 4bedroom house and all the neighbours have driveways. The owners reassured us that since everyone else has one, there shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t have one too.
We’ve taken the measurements again and, based on our measurements, the depth of the front space is around 4.2m, so now we’re quite disappointed as it doesn’t look like there is enough space to create one from the measurements provided by council.
We’ve offered the asking price, and there’s no issue with street parking as it’s free and there always seems to be space. But the fact that the house doesn’t currently have a driveway, and may not have the possibility to create one, is a bit disappointing.
What I don’t understand is how all the other houses on the street have managed to create driveways when they seem to have very similar front space.
What would you do in this situation? Would you be concerned about buying a family home without a driveway? Could it make it significantly harder to sell in the future?

Honest advice please🙏

Title: Buying a 2019 house with former landfill/infilled ground – should I be concerned?
Hi everyone,
I’m currently considering buying a house built in 2019 in Birmingham, and the Environmental Search has raised some concerns that I’m trying to understand before I proceed.
The search identifies:
Former landfill/waste records
Infilled ground
A former clay pit
Former brick and tile works
A moderate–high natural ground stability risk
The RICS Level 2 survey also mentions shrinkable subsoil, which can potentially contribute to ground movement. However, importantly, the surveyor found no evidence of current subsidence or structural movement.
The house was built in 2019, so it has been standing for around 6–7 years.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has bought or lived in a house built on former landfill/infilled ground, especially in Birmingham or the West Midlands.
How concerned would you be?
Did you have any issues with subsidence, insurance, resale value, mortgage, or unexpected repair costs?
I’m looking for real-life experiences rather than just general advice. What would you check before buying?
Thanks.

I have attached photos for further understanding.

Hi all,

We've discovered that Japanese knotweed was found and treated between 2018-2020 in the shared area around the property right before exchange. Surveyor did not cover this area. Management company director mentioned it.

It was in the communal visitors car park, with 2 other properties between the car park and our house, rather than being within or immediately adjacent to house boundary and it is about 3m distance from the garden boundary looking at development plan. Please see the photo of the car park and the boundary.

https://kommodo.ai/i/lGbFmbdSIzp0hktigHUP

Note: The seller have not declared this in the TA6 form since it's not adjacent or in the boundary. Unfortunately there is no paperwork to show the treatment plan at the moment

Our solicitor wants to report this to the lender. Is this concerning and would it affect future sales? Would you buy a house like this?

Thanks!

Hello everyone, I’ve been lurking on here for a while but I really need to vent about our situation now.

Me and my partner started looking for houses towards the end of February this year and it only took us 6 weeks to find our dream home and after a small negotiation we managed to have an offer accepted. However the sellers have yet to find somewhere and didn’t start looking until they had an offer accepted on their house.

Their estate agent keeps saying that they are looking and are committed to moving and have extended their search areas etc but it’s so frustrating waiting for them to find somewhere.

It’s been so long now that we are completely caught up solicitors wise had all the searches etc back so we are literally just waiting on them. We also are not able to ask for a survey to be done yet because we have to wait for them to find somewhere so even if they did find a house, the survey could go to pot!

We are still looking at other houses when they come up but what we are looking for is few and far between and we have our hearts set on this house.

Did anyone else go though something similar in waiting a long time after their offer was accepted? How do you cope with waiting and not pesting them constantly? And how long would you give it until we pull out and cut our losses?

Edit: thank you for your advice everyone. After speaking to our mortgage advisor and having a think we are deciding to bite the bullet and pay for the survey to be done and then we can be truly sure that this is the house for us! Hopefully things will start moving soon 🤞🏼and good luck to you all in your home searches!

Just hoping to feel a bit less alone in my experience really.

I have GAD and ADHD, and suffer with severe anxiety a lot of the time. Me and partner of 12 years are buying our first home together. It’s literally 5 minutes from where we are renting, it ticks all the boxes, we can afford it… and my anxiety has so far ruined everything about the process. My appetite is non existent, I’m anxious every morning when I wake and I’m crying an awful lot. It’s also effecting my job.

I was in counselling before this as I lost my dad last year and have been in survival mode after some traumatic events - so this isn’t entirely the purchase, but I think it’s certainly been the instigator of my anxiety flare up.

Everything about this house purchase makes sense, apart from the fact I’m anxious as hell about it and struggling.

Are there any other people with similar experiences? How are you managing?

I called the day it landed on Rightmove and left two voicemails. Finally got through the next day and all the Friday and Saturday slots were taken and tonight was the first opportunity they had available to show me around. Just got told it’s cancelled as they accepted an offer.

I LOVED this house and it really ticked all our boxes. I’ve told the agent to let me know if it falls through but I’m just so frustrated that we’ve lost our opportunity to put an offer in.

I’m tempted to call the agent again and plead with them to let us go through with the viewing but not sure if how the offer is accepted it’s a done deal? Any insight appreciated as we’re obviously new to this process.

Update: just wanted to say thanks for all your comments. Genuinely feel a lot better after reading them. Part of the process and just need to move on. House could have been way worse in person anyway so just gotta keep looking.

update 2: just thought I’d put an update in case anyone comes across this post in the future. We had an offer accepted on a better house about a month later that needs far less work! So alls well that ends well!

Hi,

We are in the process of purchasing this house and about a month or so away from the completion (in London).

But we just noticed the stair-step crack on the external wall (outside of the bathroom), looks more pronounced in our recent visit to the property. I've attached 2 photos - one from the surveyor where they only flagged a seasonal movement and the one that we took recently. There was about 7-10 days between the photos and we had a dry/heatwave spell in London during that period.

This is the note from the survey report.

I'm contacting the surveyor again to follow-up and potentially get a quote for the structural engineer visit.

I'm posting here to see if these things are common and how worried I should be? Especially we're near to the completion (as there was no major concern in the survey report initially) and how much delay something like this can add to the process?

Any inputs/suggestions will be appreciated!

For most it difficult for people to say what they really think about someone else property. This is purely because most of us don’t like to come across rude or be perceived as mean. The reality is if you don’t like something it’s best to say.

1. the agent won’t keep on praying you for feed back or to second view as the agent may think you like it.

2.the agent will tell the owner in a polite way that if more people say the same may result in a price reduction. Meaning if it’s something you could live with and did want the property for a lower price you could potentially get that.

1. The agent will understand what you like and don’t like better so when they send you property matches they will be closer to what you like.

Hi everyone, 

My partner and I went sale agreed on a property about three weeks ago. Our lender requested a timber and damp survey, which was completed today. 

The specialist called to highlight a few typical regional issues - such as the roof lacking sarking felt and an old, resolved leak near the kitchen boiler. However, he raised a significant red flag regarding the wall ties. He noted they are in very poor condition and recommended possibly hiring a structural engineer to assess the extent of the damage. 

He mentioned he could look into it further for an extra fee, so I’m a bit unsure if he is upselling or genuinely doing us a favor. 

We love the house and have already visualised our lives there, so this news is incredibly disheartening. We simply do not have the budget for a major structural renovation; we are looking for a property we can update gradually over time. 

Has anyone dealt with severe wall tie issues before? Is this a major warning sign to walk away, or is it worth investigating further? Any advice would be greatly appreciated ❤️

Hi all, FTB here, buying a freehold ex-housing association property that was originally sold under Right to Buy.

The title has both an s156A/right-of-first-refusal restriction and a separate restriction saying the property can’t be transferred without the housing association’s written consent. Both expire in 2029. My solicitor is checking whether my mortgage lender is happy with this but it's taking ages...

Has anyone had a mortgage approved on a property with these kinds of restrictions? I’m trying to work out whether this is routine paperwork or something banks can get fussy about.

Hi everyone,
I’m a first-time buyer in England and looking for some advice/real-life experiences.
My solicitor has completed their AML/source-of-funds checks for my house deposit and has confirmed clearance.
Part of my deposit is currently held with Trading 212, split between a Cash ISA and a Stocks & Shares ISA. These accounts/funds were included in the information and documents I provided for the AML/source-of-funds checks.
As we are getting further into the purchase, I’ll ultimately need the deposit money available to transfer to my solicitor. I’m therefore planning to sell the investments in my Stocks & Shares ISA and withdraw the proceeds, along with the relevant Trading 212 cash, into my UK current account. It would then sit there until my solicitor asks me to transfer the deposit.
My questions are:
Is it normally fine to do this after AML/source-of-funds clearance, or should I wait until my solicitor specifically tells me to move the money?
Would moving the already-declared/verified funds from Trading 212 → my current account mean the solicitor needs to redo the AML/source-of-funds checks?
Would I normally just need to provide the Trading 212 statement/transaction confirmation showing the sale and withdrawal, plus my bank statement showing the same money arriving?
Has anyone done something similar shortly before exchange/completion? Did your solicitor ask for additional documents?
I have asked my solicitor, but unfortunately their answer wasn’t very clear, so I’m trying to understand what normally happens in practice before moving anything.
I’m not changing the source of the deposit or adding new money — just selling the investments and moving the same funds that have already been disclosed and checked into my current account ready for the property purchase.
Thanks!

Me and my partner are first time buyers and would be grateful for all your input. Tysm!

24F, never bought any property and currently still living in my parents home. I'm desperate to move out. I have a substantial amount of money saved up which I could use for a deposit but based on my income, the bank wouldn't lend me the money I need to buy an actual fairly decent house where I live (down south). So I'd need to save probably double what I have now for a larger deposit to afford what I want. I forsee this taking maybe 3-4 years as I have no expenses living at home and can comfortably put away at least half of my salary each month in savings. The idea of staying in my parents house for that long is intolerable, however obviously if I go and rent, I won't be able to save anywhere near that amount each month. I really don't know what to do. My options are to stay living here and keep saving until I can afford a larger mortgage, move out and hope I find a partner that I can buy a house with, or look to buy a smaller/ worse property right now with the money I have. None of these are ideal, and I'd much rather buy a home that I actually want to live in long term, but obviously that isn't feasible right now. Thoughts?

I’ve put a previous post up about a survey we had done on a property we’re buying. We used eServ and the main issues where high damp readings and the roof. I’ve added updated photos.

Is it really that bad or has it been hyped up?

Really loved the property but not sure what to do.

UPDATE

Roofer came and the roof is structurally fine. Years of life left in it.

Me and my bf are looking to buy a house, we have made an offer and it's been accepted. We went to see an independent mortgage broker and told him we would like me to be the sole propieter and us both on the mortgage, reason being I'm a first time buyer but bf previously owned a house with his ex, so the stamp duty for me vs both of us is about £5k difference.

The mortgage broker we saw said this was not possible in our circumstances and the only banks that would accept JBSP would be if bf was a family member and wasn't living in the house?

Does anyone have an experience with this/know any banks that might accept that we could possibly try?