Appreciate some advice please re roofs

[SleepySlug]

Got builders report and

theres problems with roof, its 50+ years old
Has lots wrong with it on the outside, has tape thats been painted over and sealer and old nails etc

on the inside, theres a few damaged purlins, there are water stains on some other rafters, and underneath this stained bit is a container (to collect water leak it seems)
container is sitting on top of insulation which I was told the current owners had installed

I am annoyed cause agent said the house needed no work and thats why the higher price (they orginally wants X amount then decided they wanted more)

I asked about roof and was told she doesnt know about it and that builders report would show anything wrong........ lesson learnt

also builder noted some small areas painted on the ceiling which he cant say why (covering roof leak? at some point? ) Man he has amazing vision I did not see anything myself.

My question is, is an old roof like that, which obviously had a leak at some point where the current owners would know (cause who placed the container?) is this something they should have at least told me about? Or because they maybe fixed it then they didnt have to?Or maybe they did not know?

Also if it needs replacing, who pays for this?

I am annoyed and also thinking, blimey what else is wrong that only they know about, or am I being too suspicious?

I am asking a roofer to come look and give quote.

[Minz]

Did you get the builders report done before you went unconditional on the Offer? If the Offer was conditional on the report, then you could renegotiate the price, I did on one of mine as it was conditional on due diligence and had a significant issue with the Title drawing, we renegotiated, and another conditional on the builder's report - but we had already identified a need for roof recoating and had deducted the Offer price for that.

I can't comment on the legality of non-disclosure of the condition of the roof - she did direct you to a builder's report so maybe they have covered themselves....

Frustrating position you are in,
All the best!

[SleepySlug]

Thanks, yeah got it as a condition. Am glad got builder in but annoyed with myself for not asking more questions.

[Wayne]

So have you purchased this or are you still deciding?
Assuming you got the builders report before you purchased then you should have known about the issues and probably caveat emptor.

[orion]

So have you purchased this or are you still deciding?
Assuming you got the builders report before you purchased then you should have known about the issues and probably caveat emptor.

We're just doing a roof on a reno we purchased at tender. Didn't get a builders report as time was tight and we wanted to make it cash. We knew it may need some attention as there were a few leaks inside.
When we settled and got it checked, it definitely needed replacing. We had 6 quotes varying from $14,500 to $25,000 and ended up going with one for $16,000 which was replacing concrete tiles with concrete, rather than iron.

In your case, the agent should have mentioned it to you if they knew it needed replacing as it's their responsibility, but in all likelihood they wouldn't have known. The vendor may have know about it, but proving that would be a difficult one.

[SleepySlug]

I dont think agent knew

And maybe the owners forgot about it or did not know

IDK just bummed out and kind of off put now cause I wonder what else could be wrong

[Kbkiwi]

Personally I would walk away from the deal - using your builders report condition that it did not return a satisfactory result. Or use it to negotiate the price down substantially.

[Meehole]

Can only guess at the sorry state of the foundations????

[SleepySlug]

Its a nice place I just new to house buying and got a fright I think when builder said there was a container in roof and seems to be under some stains (so hoping they old ones).

I get my tits in a tangle easily.

But I am so glad got builders report because I want to know what getting ourselves into.

I wish I could remove this thread! I feel bad, I dont think anyone knew about it or maybe they had forgotten or something.

I am new to house buying and am too suspicious of it all!

[donna]

Hi SleepySlug,

Not sure why you say you want the thread removed - there's a lesson in here for everyone which is valuable and basically it's threads like this one that validate the very existence of PropertyTalk i.e. we learn from the experiences of other investors etc.

regards,

Donna

[SleepySlug]

Thanks
Got a roofer in and the roofer said nope it needs redoing

[ivanp]

What did you expect a roofer to say? That's his job - replacing roofs, of course he says it needs to be replaced

[SleepySlug]

Yeah I know, but the builder was not happy with it also and I don't have buckets of money unfortunately.

[Meehole]

Don't do anything until you get the ok that the foundations are good, if not you will need to sort them before doing ANYTHING else.

[jack2016]

Got builders report and

theres problems with roof, its 50+ years old
Has lots wrong with it on the outside, has tape thats been painted over and sealer and old nails etc

on the inside, theres a few damaged purlins, there are water stains on some other rafters, and underneath this stained bit is a container (to collect water leak it seems)
container is sitting on top of insulation which I was told the current owners had installed

I am annoyed cause agent said the house needed no work and thats why the higher price (they orginally wants X amount then decided they wanted more)

I asked about roof and was told she doesnt know about it and that builders report would show anything wrong........ lesson learnt

also builder noted some small areas painted on the ceiling which he cant say why (covering roof leak? at some point? ) Man he has amazing vision I did not see anything myself.

My question is, is an old roof like that, which obviously had a leak at some point where the current owners would know (cause who placed the container?) is this something they should have at least told me about? Or because they maybe fixed it then they didnt have to?Or maybe they did not know?

Also if it needs replacing, who pays for this?

I am annoyed and also thinking, blimey what else is wrong that only they know about, or am I being too suspicious?

I am asking a roofer to come look and give quote.

right there! Never trust anything any agent says, no matter how genuine they appear. Never. If your premise is everything they say is a lie, then you can go and research the answer yourself.
Ideally get all their words in writing.


As to who pays for the roof, the answer is whoever owns the house! Negotiate a handsome price cut. How big is the roof coverage area, complexity of roofing, and how many storeys - range would be from 15k-50k for replacement.