Single-family house from 1987. Evaluation of the price and the "necessary" work

I'm glad you "appreciate" the summary so much. But for me, it was important (setting aside the outcome of the story) to give you the final feedback here, because a lot has already been written over many pages and help has been given with advice and support.

Then congratulations! And please report about the renovation etc. (if you have time for it)

So I definitely plan to keep you updated. If only because I will surely have one or the other question.

Hello everyone,

haven't reported in a long time because there has simply been a lot to do. But things are steadily improving. The move is on 2/25. The condo must be handed over by 3/1.

I'll still provide pictures etc. I actually thought I would have more time for some kind of photo story -> thought wrong.

But the reason I'm writing: I have a question or rather a "problem". Maybe there are experts here in this area or fellow sufferers who have already dealt with this topic.

We had extreme heavy rain here a few weeks ago. It rained for days. In this process, water got into the basement. About 4 liters. I noticed it the next day and removed it immediately (I should have taken pictures though).

It came in through the masonry in the area of the tile baseboards. In this context, we also saw that this wall area is discolored and there is also some mild mold present. This could not be seen at the handover because there were shelves there. Well, of course some panic set in right away - HELP WATER -. Since that day, however, there have been no more water problems. I wrote to the previous owners about it. The only response was that during the "flood of the century" in 2021 water did get into the basement, but it supposedly wasn't much. I have that in writing.

Now we’re already at the point. Shouldn't they have told us that beforehand? How does this behave now -> issue of fraudulent concealment. Something definitely has to be done, digging out from the outside or whatever. Those are huge costs.

I already have a building surveyor on the line. But he’s dragging his feet. Meaning a real professional hasn’t looked at it yet. Based on the discoloration etc. it should be provable that it has been damp for a long time.

I mean between us: the house is 35 years old, I buy it now, and exactly then water gets in for the first time? Now the question is, what to do? Am I really out of luck here and stuck with all the costs? Does this still concern the old owners? Lawyer? etc. etc.? Does anyone have experience?

Thanks in advance.

Here are some more pictures. It’s a small storage room under the stairs

What kind of opening is that on the right? Where does it lead to? It couldn't have come from there?

The opening leads to the adjoining room. It's just an opening :-) no idea what it's for. But the water definitely didn't come from there. It came from the wall

Well, it is what it is. The cellar is just not made for standing water in that spot, so if it rains a lot, a little bit gets in. Probably the sealing layer was not done properly or it just became leaky at some point. But if it really only affects that area under the stairs, it's not nice, but in the end not really bad if it gets wet once every few years. The structure doesn’t really care, you can see that too, it’s been like this for 35 years and just a few water stains as a result. Don’t store anything there that can’t get damp, and that’s it.

Hello friends of the sun,

haven't written here in a long time, there was a lot to do. I will post some pictures in the next few days and add one or two texts. Definitely, a lot has happened.

Soon, one can almost speak of "finished" when it comes to how it looks inside. Basically, we were able to implement everything as we imagined. Financially, everything worked out very well too. But now it is time to save money to then tackle the outdoor area around summer. More on that will come in the next few days.

However, I would like to throw one question into the room already.

Topic -> sealed surface. (I am currently collecting information on this, but would still like to ask here as well)

So far, I have not found anything about this topic in all the documents. Certainly no floor area ratio. Is this topic even relevant for us? The background is, the terrace is to be enlarged by about 15m² and the driveway area of the house is additionally to be sealed by 30-40m², because a carport is to be placed there.

Is there even such a regulation for "old" houses? So far, I have found the following statement for Remscheid:

Here you will find - sorted by city districts - information on all development plans of the city of Remscheid that have become legally binding since 01.01.1999.

Maybe someone here is already familiar with the topic-

Thanks in advance

Was out for so long now :) Does it make sense to continue here with pictures and reports? Or is it better to start a new thread elsewhere?