Horrors of buying a house

[Uraeus]

Imagine the shock I got when inspecting why there are leaks..

The above damage is R30-40k, excluding having to replace several ceiling boards. Unfortunately duct tape aint gonna be a quick fix. It looks like that everywhere, apparently the plastic does not have UV protection.

I still remember thinking when I was buying "This roof needs a clean with a high pressure cleaner..", and that would pretty
much destroy the house as it would leak everywhere.

Sadly I also saw http://www.housecheck.co.za, but far too late I'm afraid. I wish I could've used their services, would have been the best R2k I'd ever have spent.

 

[Billy]

The CPA only applys to businesses.

A house sold by a Company would be covered by the CPA a private sale is not.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=56277

Known defects are not covered by the Voestoots clause.

The Voestoots clause can be inserted in a private property sale.

 

[FrankCastle]

Get the highest quote you can get.Lets the previous owners pay the 20%.Repair the damage yourself at a fraction of the cost and pocket the change.

Ignore the above if the lawyers want a piece of the action.

on a side note:
While Section 55 of the Consumer Protection Act stipulates that every consumer “has the right to receive goods that are appropriate to the purpose for which they are bought and that they should be of good quality, in working order and without defect”, the Act itself does provide adequate protection for home buyers. This is because private “once-off” sellers are excluded from the provisions of the Act. The Act only covers those who sell “in the normal course of their business”. This includes developers, investors and estate agents.

For this reason most estate agents’ agreements still retain a voetstoots clause. Most prospective buyers are unaware that they sign many of their rights away when they sign the Offer to Purchase agreement, which includes a voetstoots clause.

http://www.blawg.co.za/how-has-the-consumer-protection-act-changed-the-concept-of-voetstoots.html

Unless you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the previous owners knew about the defect you don't have much of a case.

 

[Billy]

Imagine the shock I got when inspecting why there are leaks..

The above damage is R30-40k, excluding having to replace several ceiling boards. Unfortunately duct tape aint gonna be a quick fix. It looks like that everywhere, apparently the plastic does not have UV protection.

I still remember thinking when I was buying "This roof needs a clean with a high pressure cleaner..", and that would pretty
much destroy the house as it would leak everywhere.

Sadly I also saw http://www.housecheck.co.za, but far too late I'm afraid. I wish I could've used their services, would have been the best R2k I'd ever have spent.

A belated tip. If you are interested in a property, before you make an offer. Go up into the roof and check for problems like no plastic, no geyser drip tray.

If the house has suspended floors, find the crawl space entry and go take a look. (Only works if you are slim).

Having a housing surveyor take a look is money well spent. In the UK there is generally a clause inserted in the offer to purchase that it is subject to a surveyors report. The price is then negtiated down to cover the repairs needed.

Please disregard this advice if you are looking to buy my house!

 

[Uraeus]

The CPA only applys to businesses.

A house sold by a Company would be covered by the CPA a private sale is not.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=56277

Known defects are not covered by the Voestoots clause.

The Voestoots clause can be inserted in a private property sale.

Problem is proof. Can a dripping sound every time it rains, or wet floors be evidence that they knew about the problem? Can rusted hinges on doors be proof? Can repainted ceilings be proof?

Get the highest quote you can get.Lets the previous owners pay the 20%.Repair the damage yourself at a fraction of the cost and pocket the change.

Ignore the above if the lawyers want a piece of the action.

on a side note:
While Section 55 of the Consumer Protection Act stipulates that every consumer “has the right to receive goods that are appropriate to the purpose for which they are bought and that they should be of good quality, in working order and without defect”, the Act itself does provide adequate protection for home buyers. This is because private “once-off” sellers are excluded from the provisions of the Act. The Act only covers those who sell “in the normal course of their business”. This includes developers, investors and estate agents.

For this reason most estate agents’ agreements still retain a voetstoots clause. Most prospective buyers are unaware that they sign many of their rights away when they sign the Offer to Purchase agreement, which includes a voetstoots clause.

http://www.blawg.co.za/how-has-the-consumer-protection-act-changed-the-concept-of-voetstoots.html

Unless you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the previous owners knew about the defect you don't have much of a case.

Problem is they are claiming to not know about the roof leaks, they are willing to pay for other unrelated damages, which
are a fraction of the total cost.

A belated tip. If you are interested in a property, before you make an offer. Go up into the roof and check for problems like no plastic, no geyser drip tray.

If the house has suspended floors, find the crawl space entry and go take a look. (Only works if you are slim).

Having a housing surveyor take a look is money well spent. In the UK there is generally a clause inserted in the offer to purchase that it is subject to a surveyors report. The price is then negtiated down to cover the repairs needed.

Please disregard this advice if you are looking to buy my house!

Thank you Billy I know this now, I really hope others out there take this advice, and not make the mistakes that the foolish make.

 

[Avenue]

do you have a larger image- this thing is coming out about the size of a postage stamp

 

[Uraeus]

do you have a larger image- this thing is coming out about the size of a postage stamp

Woops, I pasted the thumbnail. That might explain it.

 

[Billy]

Woops, I pasted the thumbnail. That might explain it.

Looking at those tiles, the house is not that old. Also roofing felt was used before plastic. I would still suggest looking for the leaks. Cracked tiles, tiles that have moved. Someone suggested looking at the ridge tiles.

A lot of house in the PMB area were built with nothing under the tiles and were pretty waterproof. The plastic is more a belt and braces approach.

 

[Avenue]

apparently the plastic does not have UV protection.

they are probably quoting to take off all the tiles and replace the sheeting. Do you have plans of your house to determine what the pitch of the roof is because if the pitch and the tile overlap meets the specification it generally isnt necessary to have plastic sheeting. Our last house didn't have any. The fact that its leaking may be one of those two things if its leaking everywhere. If its only in one or two places it may not be necessary to replace all the sheeting, or it may even just be cracked tiles

 

[Avenue]

This may help.
According to Brikor's double roman tile pamphlet:
if your roof has a pitch of 17.5 degrees, the tiles need a 100mm overlap
if your roof has a pitch of 26 degrees, the tiles need a 75mm overlap
so check out your plans to get the roof pitch, measure the tile overlap and if it falls somewhere in between these two, you should be fine without plastic sheeting.

if so wait till you have a few days of sunshine. Buy some fibreglass mats and paint, and plug up the leaks. should cost you a few hundred bucks.

I dont know, the building industry is in a slump. If someone can get a R40,000 job out of you, they will. eliminate all possibilities first.

 

[Uraeus]

This may help.
According to Brikor's double roman tile pamphlet:
if your roof has a pitch of 17.5 degrees, the tiles need a 100mm overlap
if your roof has a pitch of 26 degrees, the tiles need a 75mm overlap
so check out your plans to get the roof pitch, measure the tile overlap and if it falls somewhere in between these two, you should be fine without plastic sheeting.

if so wait till you have a few days of sunshine. Buy some fibreglass mats and paint, and plug up the leaks. should cost you a few hundred bucks.

I dont know, the building industry is in a slump. If someone can get a R40,000 job out of you, they will. eliminate all possibilities first.

Thank you for your feedback ave.

The roof pitch is 19 degrees, and the tile overlap is 80mm. Surely if you can see sunlight when inside your roof, through the tile spaces, that is a bad thing. If there is a driving rain, then water can get in. The plastic should be a last resort to sort that out, although it depends how it was installed, i.e. if the plastic was laid from bottom to top, then it would catch the water that gets through.

I can say there is definitely money in the building trade from some of the quotes I got.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback, it has cleared some things. I've decided to seek further council from several lawyers, and run with it if there is a chance of winning the case.

 

[SmartKit]

“Voestoots” clause

Voetstoots is a term derived from Roman Dutch Law which means literally “as is”. Prior to the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act, all property was sold voetstoots. However, the new Act changes this.

From 1 April 2011, developers, speculators, and investors with property portfolios who sell property in their ordinary course of business, cannot exclude their liability for defects by way of a voetstoots clause.

However, an ordinary once-off seller, who does not sell property in the ordinary course of business, may continue to rely on the protection of the voetstoots clause for the simple reason that the sale of this property does not fall with the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act, as detailed above.

http://johnlbradfield.com/business_...ion-act-effects-property-transactions-part-1/

 

[Avenue]

Thank you for your feedback ave.

The roof pitch is 19 degrees, and the tile overlap is 80mm. Surely if you can see sunlight when inside your roof, through the tile spaces, that is a bad thing. If there is a driving rain, then water can get in. The plastic should be a last resort to sort that out, although it depends how it was installed, i.e. if the plastic was laid from bottom to top, then it would catch the water that gets through.

I can say there is definitely money in the building trade from some of the quotes I got.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback, it has cleared some things. I've decided to seek further council from several lawyers, and run with it if there is a chance of winning the case.

based on that your tile overlap is fine.
yeah you can always see light coming through your tiles- that's not unusual.
The more I hear, the more I think its a small problem you're having like a cracked tile or two

Before you try going the lawyer route, maybe you should get a civil or structural engineer to come in and give you an unbiased opinion of what is going on and how to sort it out.

anyway good luck

 

[Knersie]

agreed, If you can fix the roof with lap en pap (Fibreglass with sheets) it is going to cost you R400 - R2000 at most, depending on the amount of leaks. Very easy Diy job, you can get a casual worker / gardener for R150 - R200 to do it if you don't want to do it yourself. 1 days work at most.