At last, the survey...
As I write, the friendly surveyor is downstairs filling out pages of his pad with information about the house, none of which I can see! It feels slightly nerve-wracking: I anticipate negative comments about the state of the windows at the back of the house, the poor condition of the back door and cracked plaster in the basement... I can also guess that he'll find that there's no damp course in the basement and that there's a patch of penetrating damp appeared on the window wall in the basement bathroom. But are there other things we haven't thought of?
Interestingly, the requested survey is a basic 'Homebuyer's Report' rather than a defects survey. I looked on the website for a local chartered surveyors and the comment was that this kind of report is suitable for a modern house without much need for maintenance but wasn't suitable for an older property! This surveyor, who's nice enough, commented that he just wouldn't buy a Victorian house: he likes right angles, proper corners and steel frames, so our wattle-and-daub ceilings, stone lintels and odd-shaped walls won't appeal! He believes buildings have a 'shelf life' of between 60 and 100 years, after which point they should be knocked down and rebuilt. Not something I've heard from anyone else, and an interesting counterpoint to my own idea that re-occupying an older building is the biggest and best sort of recycling that the average family manages to do in its lifetime!
Anyway, our dear buyers are coming round this evening - there will be slightly more froideur than the occasion of their last visit, owing to the amount of recent mucking around. I don't think we'll be offering them a glass of wine this time. But I'm waiting to see what extra items they would like to make an offer for - the more we can 'get rid of' the better, especially since we may well end up taking Patrick's other bookshelf with us, as well as Dad's single bed frame and mattress (since Ella appears to have almost grown out of the cot bed we thought would last until she's 6...).
Interestingly, the requested survey is a basic 'Homebuyer's Report' rather than a defects survey. I looked on the website for a local chartered surveyors and the comment was that this kind of report is suitable for a modern house without much need for maintenance but wasn't suitable for an older property! This surveyor, who's nice enough, commented that he just wouldn't buy a Victorian house: he likes right angles, proper corners and steel frames, so our wattle-and-daub ceilings, stone lintels and odd-shaped walls won't appeal! He believes buildings have a 'shelf life' of between 60 and 100 years, after which point they should be knocked down and rebuilt. Not something I've heard from anyone else, and an interesting counterpoint to my own idea that re-occupying an older building is the biggest and best sort of recycling that the average family manages to do in its lifetime!
Anyway, our dear buyers are coming round this evening - there will be slightly more froideur than the occasion of their last visit, owing to the amount of recent mucking around. I don't think we'll be offering them a glass of wine this time. But I'm waiting to see what extra items they would like to make an offer for - the more we can 'get rid of' the better, especially since we may well end up taking Patrick's other bookshelf with us, as well as Dad's single bed frame and mattress (since Ella appears to have almost grown out of the cot bed we thought would last until she's 6...).
posted by Sara Bowen at 11:09 am
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