B&P Report - Concrete Cracks

[BillyGoat]

I have a contract on an IP. The previous contact fell through and I am not sure if it was due to finance or building and pest issues.

The B&P report came through today and reads:

"Slight cracks are evident to various concrete panels due to movement in the structure."

It also says:

"Differential settlement has caused cracking to the block panels in areas"

I have no background in building to know what this really means. My gut instinct says "run a mile" but I do really like the property. How can I work out if this is a serious issue.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ed Barton]

Call the building inspector for a chat. most reports sound like the place is falling apart when the inspector is just covering their bums.

 

[Jamie M]

Hi billy

Welcome to the forum.

Going back one step - how do you not know whether finance fell through due to the application or the valuation?

Ask your broker/banker to explain why the first application was knocked back. You may have other issues to deal with before worrying about the building/pest report.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[JWR]

Write the vendors a letter saying:

'Issues with report, need compensation of $xyz'

You may get a further discount

Doesn't seem too bad to me - but speak with inspector - ask him how much it would cost approx to fix and if he would still buy the house if it were his?

Also - was it a bargain price you agreed to or market price?

Also - ask agent why the contract fell thru

 

[BillyGoat]

What a fantastic forum, thanks for your comments!!

JWR - I called REA on the day the previous contract was due to go unconditional. He told me the vendor had given purchaser a 2 week extension. I asked if issue was this finance or B&P and he said both.*If I ask the agent specifically why it fell through do you think he obliged to tell me?

Ed, I agree, that's the hard thing. It's hard to tell if things are minor or more serious. The report I looked at was ordered by the previous buyer so I'm not sure if inspector will be willing to answer my questions about the severity of the cracks? Perhaps I should pay to get my own inspection done.

JamieM you make a very valuable point which I had not considered. How do you think I could find out? The previous buyer could have used another bank and my banker probably doesn't have access to that info. So perhaps it's also worth getting a valuation done that i can also use for my application? I have done this before.

 

[JWR]

Well its worth a shot asking why exactly - and yes you are obliged to know imo - just say you won't buy if he doesn't tell you - but ask in a nice way

You should of course get report down - but tell agent that you have just learnt of the issues of cracking etc... and would the vendor be prepared to go lower based on this. If he says 'well that's why its this price already' - tell him that your first offer was based on not needing to spend any amount of money on the property and now that you know about this issue you will need it for a lower price to compensate.

A B&P will tell you of any other potential issues - and give you an idea to what extent the cracking is.

 

[wylie]

Our son and partner have just bought a house that failed a building inspection paid for by the people wanting to buy it, and who pulled out. There is a very obvious crack in the brickwork. They knew they could have had a building report done in their cooling off period but chose not to. (The price it was being marketed for was such that there were people all over it at the OFI and they wanted to move quickly, so opted for a cash contract with enough room to allow for some underpinning.)

One reason they chose not to get a building report was that two different sources told them the crack had been there at least ten years. They were hoping it was "old movement" and wouldn't need anything, or much done to stabilise it.

The other thing was that they knew that a building inspector would fail the house but would not have the knowledge or expertise to make a judgement on what it might cost to fix. This would be the job of an engineer.) That was not going to happen within five days, and they feared missing out.

I had a few sleepless nights. This is the first brick house "we" have bought so it was a risk, but one they were prepared to take.

So, perhaps it would be more suited to being inspected by an engineer than a building inspector?

 

[MKP]

We have jut gone exactly through the same experience recently. The inspector called us to discuss and said that the 'crack/movement' under the house has been prviously fixed, but it was not correctly done. If we purchase, the future buyers will ask for big discount on the price. When I asked about the cost of fixing the problem, he suggested that it is a job of an "engineer" to assess. We don't think we can tolerate the problem, so we told our solicitor of the adverse building report and the deal was off. It does cost us B&P fee, but it is better to loose littel now than have a house with problem in the long run.
MKP

Our son and partner have just bought a house that failed a building inspection paid for by the people wanting to buy it, and who pulled out. There is a very obvious crack in the brickwork. They knew they could have had a building report done in their cooling off period but chose not to. (The price it was being marketed for was such that there were people all over it at the OFI and they wanted to move quickly, so opted for a cash contract with enough room to allow for some underpinning.)

One reason they chose not to get a building report was that two different sources told them the crack had been there at least ten years. They were hoping it was "old movement" and wouldn't need anything, or much done to stabilise it.

The other thing was that they knew that a building inspector would fail the house but would not have the knowledge or expertise to make a judgement on what it might cost to fix. This would be the job of an engineer.) That was not going to happen within five days, and they feared missing out.

I had a few sleepless nights. This is the first brick house "we" have bought so it was a risk, but one they were prepared to take.

So, perhaps it would be more suited to being inspected by an engineer than a building inspector?

 

[Jtkumnick]

I have a contract on an IP. The previous contact fell through and I am not sure if it was due to finance or building and pest issues.

The B&P report came through today and reads:

"Slight cracks are evident to various concrete panels due to movement in the structure."

It also says:

"Differential settlement has caused cracking to the block panels in areas"

I have no background in building to know what this really means. My gut instinct says "run a mile" but I do really like the property. How can I work out if this is a serious issue.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Did the B&P inspector refer the cracks to a structural engineer? The general rule is, if you can fit a credit card into the crack- it goes to a structural engineer. Sounds bad, but the real reason is most inspectors insurance doesnt cover enough to completely rebuild the property- a structural engineers does, so they can afford to get it wrong.

B & P reports are 98% *** covering, and i havent seen one yet anywhere that doesnt put the fear of god into a buyer.

I would be concerned that the previous contract fell over though, ask the agent, if it was finance, he will be happy to tell you. If it was the B&P, he wont want to say.

With regards to having it fixed, what are they going to do? underpin the property? Depending on what its made out of, where the cracks are etc, will determine whether or not its even relevant. All structures move and settle initially (putting tonnes of concrete onto dirt will do that) what you need your inspector to determine is: "has it stopped moving/settling?"