Our Experience of Moving House

moving house

Independent Building Surveyors

If you are in the process of purchasing a property we can provide help and advice with regard to any property matters including building surveys, structural surveys, home buyers reports, independent valuations, property surveys, engineers reports, structural reports and specific defects report .

Unlike many surveyors we like to meet you at the property during the survey and we are more than happy to talk to you about our property reports. Please free phone 0800 298 5424 to find out more.

Free phone 0800 298 5424

Our reasons for moving house

Like many couples my partner and I had two properties so after selling my smaller property I moved into his larger property, which was a three bedroom end of terrace property in a pleasant village, which he had initially purchased the after relocating from Scotland.

How did we sell the house?

We instructed a local estate agent who appeared to be very active in the area and advertised in all the local newspapers. At the start they were very attentive and arranged several viewings and each week sent us a list of all the people that the property details were sent to. Unfortunately after several viewings the feedback that we obtained was that for the size of house the back garden was too small, which unfortunately we were powerless to change. The property remained on the market for a long nine months until eventually an older couple who weren't keen on gardening decided that the house was perfect for them. They were in a great position as a first time buyer after relocating back from Spain.

Our search for a house

It is always a Catch 22 situation whether you search for a house before you have sold yours or not. Our property took a long time to sell so we had lots of opportunities to look for properties during this time so were very aware of what properties were on the market. We wanted a four bedroom property with an en-suite and a driveway for at least two cars.

After our property finally sold we found a brand new four bedroom property in a nearby village with good sized rooms, which we felt would be a perfect family home.

moving house
Retaining wall to sloping site

On the day before we were due to exchange contracts we did an on site inspection with the Building Manager and were shocked to find that there was a main sewer in the back garden, which had a diameter of about 1m and projected approximately 1m above ground level. The Building Manager couldn't understand why we didn't like it and insisted that he would make a feature of it! As the inspection continued other issues came to light, which were not apparent on the site plans we had been given such as the owners of the house, which abutted ours would have to come into our garden to access one of their windows for repair/cleaning etc as they did not have a side alley on that side of their property. In addition the property was on a sloping site and the grassed area was over 1m above the patio, which again we felt would not be suitable or indeed safe for a future family.

It was with regret that we had to pull out of the purchase and had a protracted argument with the building company with regards to refunding our deposit but we did not want to go ahead with the purchase.

Other articles that may be of interest

We have written several surveying articles which may also help if you are looking to move house:

Estate Agents
Why are our surveys better than the competition's?
Building surveys, also known as structural surveys
Adding value to your property

Looking for a quick purchase

moving house
Modern detached property

Considering it had taken us so long to find a buyer we really didn't want to lose them but as fate would have it we found a property during a walk on the very same evening, which had literally had just gone up for sale that day so we were able to be the first viewers. The property was ideal for us and we immediately submitted the asking price as we didn't want to lose the property.

Unfortunately as the property had just gone on the market the vendor was weary that he had perhaps put it on too cheaply and advised that he still wanted other prospective purchasers to view it. We decided to risk saying that we would immediately withdraw our offer if this was the case and luckily they decided they would accept our offer and take it off the market as they realised we were a short chain and indeed the vendor was an end of chain as they were going to rented accommodation.

Did the house move go smoothly?

After instructing a local solicitor we advised that we wanted to proceed as quickly as possible and in fact we moved within a month of having our offer accepted, which was impressive as it was over the Christmas period. This took many chasing phone calls to solicitors and particularly the mortgage company.

Always have a survey

As well as having a mortgage survey we instructed an independent surveyor to carry out a survey as we felt the mortgage surveys didn't offer the detail that we were looking for. In this case there were no major problems with the property, which gave us peace of mind to proceed with the purchase.

Altering and extending

moving house
Extension

Since being in the property our family has extended to include two children therefore we have extended and altered the property to suit our needs such as building an extension to provide a play room for the ever increasing amount of toys and knocking the kitchen/utility room into one to enable us to have a family eating area in the kitchen.

Independent Surveyors

If you are interested in having a structural building survey why not call us for a friendly chat on free phone 0800 298 5424. If you are a landlord please contact us as we would be delighted to help you with Schedules of Condition or Structural surveys.

We would also be glad to email you several examples of our tailor made reports such as Structural Surveys and Property Reports. We also find that Specific Defect Reports can be used where there is one problem or issue that needs resolving between the landlord and tenant. As you can see from this article we use lots of sketches and photos in our reports as the feedback we have from our clients is that the sketches and photos help them understand the reports.

We trust you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you believe should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not pause to contact us (we are only human).

The content of the website is for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision. Why not free phone 0800 298 5424.

All rights reserved by 1stAssociated.co.uk

All rights are reserved, the contents of the website are not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of www.1stAssociated.co.uk.