Financial Times, September 6/7, 1997
Some homeowners discover woodworm in the floorboards and rapidly sweep the dust under the carpet. Then they nail the carpet down and refuse to lift it for prospective buyers and their surveyors.
It’s naughty and nasty, but they do it.
And docile or desperate buyers let them get away with it.
Such cover-ups can be entirely innocent. Some lofts are genuinely inaccessible, and some owners worry, justifiably, that the lifted carpet will not resume its pre-lifted position. Most carpets cover perfectly sound timber.
Whatever the motive, the result is the same for a concerned buyer: an obstructed view. So how worried should they be, and what can they do about it?
Faced with a stubborn vendor, you need not buy either their excuses or their property, suggests Edward Bliss, residential property solicitor with Maples Teesdale, of central London.
“I’ve seen many survey reports which say, ‘I’ve only been able to survey so many feet: the access door to the roof was battened down and couldn’t be opened, or no one was around, or it was otherwise inaccessible’.” Like many lawyers, Bliss counsels caution.
But to chartered surveyor Malcolm Hollis, an inaccessible loft or immovable carpet is just one of the many surveying barriers. Hollis notes that “even where we do have access, large parts are hidden. Surveyors can only estimate, and true knowledge is a luxury.”
No property yields all of its secrets even to the most expert of surveyors, who don’t move grand pianos or elephantine wardrobes, and who can’t see through stone or plaster. All surveys are imperfect. Blocked from actually observing a defect or problem, surveyors make the best of a bad deal by looking for the conditions that might cause a problem.
When Hollis confronts a fixed carpet, “I bounce on the floor. Is it sluggish or springy? “For woodworm or a fungal attack, I check for dampness. Are there any nearby pipes? I look outside for evidence of damp, and at the ceiling in the room below and at exposed timber in the remainder of the property. You examine other things and draw assumptions where you can.”
These assumptions can be uncannily accurate. “I often conclude that dry rot is likely, and afterwards it is indeed found, although not necessarily where I had surmised it would be,” says Horns.
Kew Gardens estate agent Antony Roberts has seen many surveyors in action, and he confirms that nailed-down carpets are not the end of the matter. ‘With very bad woodworm, you would fall through the floor if you bounced on it’
“Surveyors can normally inspect sufficient floor area by looking into cupboards, under stairs and other little accessible areas where timber is exposed.”
So buyers are rarely completely in the dark.
How do mortgage lenders feel about advancing tens of thousands of pounds on property that might be riddled with beetles and mushrooms and other house-destroying flora and fauna?
Chris Rispin, a Halifax valuation officer, who is also a chartered surveyor, says that “we don’t expect carpets to be lifted. It is a major task which could involve carpets being restretched. Even if a valuer lightly pokes at the edge with a screwdriver, some vendors become upset.
“These survey limitations are reasonable. But with very bad woodworm, for example, you would fall through the floor if you bounced a little, and it would probably appear elsewhere in the property, where it would be seen.”
If the lender accepts a limited survey, should the buyer be reassured? Certainly not, is the answer. Lenders carry less risk than borrowers. “If the valuer is uncertain, he will call for a specialist survey. We are covered anyway,” said Rispin. “If the loan is for more than 70 per cent of the value of the property, we have indemnity insurance.” And if the loan is for less than 70 per cent, it is also probably secure, as defects are unlikely to reduce a home’s value that much.
“Woodworm is minor, and the more serious dry rot is generally detectable even if invisible. You can smell it,” said Rispin.
Assuming that the average buyer can smell a rat, can he then persuade the seller to lift that carpet and open that loft?
Solicitor Bliss says: “It depends entirely on your bargaining position: how badly do you want the house, and how many people are queuing outside the door waiting for you to turn it down?
“The only proper way to deal with a seller’s refusal is to insist that the carpet has to come up. If the seller refuses, you inform them that you won’t buy the house. They may get another buyer. End of story. But if they do not have a queue of people, they will probably let you take the carpet up. It’s relative bargaining strength.”
Estate agent Roberts notes that if a surveyor indicates that a specialist survey is required, “most vendors agree at that point that the carpets really need lifting and will allow it”.
And if the vendor still refuses? “We are not in the business of telling people to take risks,” says Bliss. “On the contrary, it normally pays to be cautious.”