Freehold and movement?

Well I got a heads-up from Money-Man (an estate agent) today about the initial findings from the surveyor.

It seems there has been movement... I think this may be a nice way of saying a little subsidence. Obviously when house buying, the word subsidence is the equivalent of a swear word, and likely to scare a buyer away, so Money-Man was careful with the spin. Although this could be settlement over a long period rather than subsidence, it still needs the same remedies, but the longer term prognosis is much better.

The movement is "the maximum permissible" and responsible for the water damage to the living room. The surveyor was unsure whether the problem had been fixed (confusingly, I'd of thought it would have been obvious, but then I'm no surveyor I guess). So the vendor needs to determine if the problem has been recently fixed by the previous owner.

To fix this kind of problem, essentially the building can be secured from the inside, but in extreme cases it requires underpinning, which involves digging down to the foundations (and hence is extremely expensive). Underpinning is another house selling swear word, and it also means you have terrible trouble with insurance after the work is done.

So first I need to find out what needs to be done, and how much it is going to cost to fix. This needs a structural engineer's report.

Then I need to decide, whether I want the vendor to fix the problem before purchase, or whether they drop the price (plus another £10K, just in case the costs overrun) and I fix the problem.

On the upside the surveyor indicated that the property was definitely worth the asking price. So that's good.

Anyway the progress is... Money-Man will be approaching the vendor to sort out an engineers report. They will be paying for the report, although usually the cost is split, I'm not up for that, it's already cost me £675 to get this far with the survey, time for them to contribute I feel!

On the job front, a further technical phone interview today, went well, and I have been put in for another couple of positions. But still no definite job.

Although I'm now guessing, that with the engineer's report required and further negotiations based upon the outcome of the report, we may well be into next year anyway. From mid next week, I'm away until the new year, so bugger all is going to get done then obviously. Which is all fine by me, the longer I have to get a job, the better!

Finally, I made the mistake of mentioning to Money-Man that my solicitor seems to think that I'm buying the freehold and a leasehold, he was surprised and said "bonus for you, you're getting an even better deal". I should have been more careful, obviously his money is coming from the vendor not from me, if the news that its the freehold and the leasehold that are both on sale, they may put the price up, or use that to negotiate an offset on the cost of repairs.

Fingers crossed that Money-Man keeps quiet and the vendor remains unaware.

Gosh, isn't it getting complicated, and I'm only at stage 5 of 498,310! :)