Posts Tagged ‘Grouting’

HIPs are dead. A new Government is in place. Power to the People seems to be high on the agenda. The Economy is stuttering forward. Our football team ….. well, enough said! What now?

Over the last few months I have helped and overseen my Parents sell their home of 48 years standing and buy a home down-market. The key areas I want to talk about include —-

1. Choosing an Estate Agent
2. Deciding what information, and in what form, we could produce to help speed a sale through.
3. The Solicitors and dealing with buyers in the chain.

Being a local Surveyor/Valuer all the Agents wanted my Parents instruction. I advised my Parents after considering who would be buying their home and matching that “profile” to the sales record and “typical profile” of each Agency. A sole agency was agreed and a marketing strategy and what advertising would be completed. That was fairly easy but it did emphasis to me that all Estate Agencies are different and use differing tactics and skills to package themselves in order to obtain selling instructions. We ignored those tactics and looked under the surface to see what real skills each Agent had. We were not displeased with our final choice – in fact the Agent was simply brilliant throughout.

Next my Parents and I sat down and filtered through vast amounts of paperwork collected over 48 years. We defined several key documents that our own Solicitors would need – Planning Permissions and related Building Regulation Control Approvals with original Plans, Guarantees etc…. Again, this was easy.

Legal FORMS duly arrived and my Parents had to tick boxes for this and that and decide what was staying and what was to be taken away with them (not always easy to decide).

Eventually, and quite quickly because we had the price right to achieve a disposal, a buyer was found: in fact the whole chain was only three properties long and the top end was “empty”. Simple? No, not quite.

The chain was assembled quickly. What then did not happen was all three Solicitors meeting to decide a plan to achieve a simple and pain free transaction and to then inform the home owners of that plan and what to do if things became problematic. Instead a date was set for exchange and only at that point did all documents get a thorough scrutiny. That scrutiny revealed that elderly Parents had missed ticking that their home had mains gas and electricity (heating was via mains gas and the utility room is dominated by a floor standing large gas boiler and flue plus the Estate Agent details state all mains services are connected + the home has light fittings and power sockets for electrical gear). My Parents buyer and legal adviser could not accept the risk that my Parents home may not have these services and exchange was delayed until they could tick the boxes and return the Form.

Next came the Tree.

Now this is a fairly massive Wellingtonia that pre-dates the house by about 100 years. It is well within “influencing distance” of the house and drains and because its roots were causing damage to the public road outside my Parents house I declared that problem to the buyer whilst also pointing out the only cracking (minor) to the house.

The buyer chose to not have any private survey completed because the house was going to be adapted, expected and very significantly refurbished after detailed Planning Permission and Building Control applications were passed.

My Parents had no knowledge of buying and selling and were highly nervous of what to expect with each solicitor delay the degree of stress increased. The delays experienced were for many causes, including some via my Parents lack of knowledge and understanding.

The house my parents were buying was empty and when exchange of contracts was finally agreed they wanted to get Builders in to complete fairly minor works such a new Sink, one room to be redecorated, minor re-wiring, etc…. but the sellers only gave us a few days to arrange and complete this. This meant that when my elderly Parents actually occupied they went into a bombsite rather than a nice interior adapted to their medical needs.

I am not ranting here: this is not a witch-hunt. Instead I am trying to square the actions and needs of many people and comparing this with the service levels we received from several sources and attempting to ask and answer “is this how people should treat each other in this new century?”.

I have not mentioned the story of how one Agent nearly sold my Parents another home only to see that Agent shot themselves in the foot and those actions costing my parents several hundred pounds is abortive fees. Indeed, the above overview only details main events – many tales of delay and outright stupidity staggered me then and now.

HIPs were poorly designed and lacked the one thing that could have added true value to data exchange – a seller survey that the buyer could rely upon and sue if found to be bias or inaccurate.

In my simple, humble opinion, many changes are needed to regulate buying/selling and to put service levels and common sense at the heart of things.

Buyers must prove they have approved/sufficient funds available before any sale can be agreed. Yes, this means Mortgage Certificates need to be introduced coupled with a professional assessment of what value that persons existing home may achieve shortly. By this method an Agent and Seller could assess the real, effective buyers.

Agent Details should be of greater detail and anything printed thereon should be guaranteed (honest errors excepted) by that Agent before they can market any home. HIPs had a high legal content but the data was presented in a gooble-de-gook way. Environmental Data was similarly presented such that at one stage my own business was getting multiple phone calls each week from buyers asking for a translation service! If the usual legal Forms were also prepared by sellers, and checked/verified by solicitors, BEFORE the home reached the market then the period between “offered accepted” and “exchange” would greatly shortened and both hassle and red-tape would be reduced.

I do not hold to the view that this causes unnecessary costs and delays to marketing homes. Of course I am biased in favour of seller surveys but the over “greater good” is served if such changes were made. It just cries out to me that the existing selling system we have reverted to simply panders to the Agents rather serving the client, the great British Public, buyers and sellers.

Mortgage Lenders and Solicitors plus my own controlling body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have a great deal to answer for in turning the defunct HIP opportunity to achieve real social change into a farce that was eventually scraped. If the public truly believes our current house buying system and both Agency and Legal service standards are adequate then, like Diego Maradona, I will run naked through the streets of my home town.

I would love the hear your views if you have recently bought and/or sold your home and especially if you had problems that required solutions to be found.

Watch out for PCBs (POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS)

Watch out for Asbestos

Watch out for Lead Paint.

Watch out for …………………..

PCBs are mixtures of up to 209 individual chlorinated organic compounds. Due to their valuable technical qualities (softeners that make sealants easier to apply and extend their durability) they have been used since 1929 and since used as a compound is many forms of insulation within Buildings (as well as being used in coolant systems, grouting and plasticisers in paint).

Since the 1970’s we now know that such PCBs have real Health & Safety risks associated with them: Environmental and Human health risks as they are very difficult to dispose of safely. PCBs have multiple ways of causing long term human health problems – one of the reasons that the Government introduced regulations that don’t allow us to simply take an unwanted refridgerator down to the local Tip.

PCBs will pass straight your skin and fibres will easily be breathed in if they are released into the air.

In Sweden, the use of PCBs was banned in 1972, with minor exceptions. A total prohition was later introduced in 1995. Home owners in Sweden are under a legal duty to audit their homes and decontaminate PCBs in all types of building erected between 1956 and 1973. This means that owners must arrange for inspection and testing using specific reporting templates. Each Buildings’ template should have been submitted to a Supervisory Authority before 30th June 2008 if an Injunction was not to be served on them (to perform that inspection and audit process and/or receive a later Fine).

PCBs in Sweden were used in Building elements such as compounds to seal movement-joints, flooring compounds, window seals and electrical capacitors (including in many fluorescent lights). PCBs are often found is fascade joints, around window and door frames, hidden underneath door thresholds, balcony junction seals, floor finishes/tiles, seals within double glazing units.

Surveyors would typically need to use gloves, protective glasses, breathing–filters etc… and any tools used to expose risk areas/element would have to be cleaned with acetone.

Early surveys revealed that PCBs had contaminated other materials in close contact and remedial works would be more extensive than at first expected.

The decontamination works have a legal deadline phased until 2013.

IN ENGLAND WE HAVE SIMILAR BUILDINGS AND SIMILAR PROBLEMS BUT WE HAVE NOT TAKEN SUCH STRINGENT ACTIONS AS IN SWEDEN.
However, we do take Health & Safety seriously and the following regulate PCBs

• The Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1994
• The Environmental Protection Act 1990

So: how can a House Surveyor help you identify and reduce these risks?

Let me be blunt – a Surveyor undertaking an ordinary home inspection, even a full Building Survey, will not be completing the degree of forensic inspection required to report meaningfully on such issues. PCB building inspections are a very specialist area of expertise, similar to Asbestos or Lead Paint Surveying, and should be arranged as an extra precautionary measure in advance of your property transactions.

In respect of identifying lead paint this is not as easy as you would first think.  Approximately 70% of UK Buildings pre-date 1970 – abt 18.5 million homes and thousands of public, school and workplace buildings – and many will have had lead-based-paint systems at sometime in their history. The problem is that if where all paint has been stripped away much of the lead will have migrated into the sub-strate (often timber) awaiting later dispersal.

In respect of asbestos PROinspect remind you that although some asbestos-containing-materials (ACMs) are “obvious” to visual means of inspection most ACMs are embedded or screened from viewing. This means that detection is a hit-and-miss affair.

Like a lot of surveying, it is the experience of the Surveyor that is the key factor. Don’t expect a Loan Valuer to identify such problems, don’t expect most House Surveyors to identify such issues. Chose your Experts wisely and after due diligence – TALK TO ACTUAL SURVEYORS (not an intermediatory or secretary) TO GET ADVICE.

Regards from Stuart Parrett at PROinspect

And finally …….

1. Knight Frank research suggests 2010 will see house prices, nationally, fall 2%.
2. Planning Application for 800 ECO Homes at Newport, IOW, has been submitted. All heating will be supplied by a Biomass centre.
3. The UK is currently producing enough electricity from wind power to serve 2.3m homes.

The lesson to be learnt is TAKE ADVICE before you commit to any property transaction, preferably from an experienced Surveyor. If you are in southern England call me or use the CONTACT FORM above. Stuart Parrett +44 (0)1489 897 164.