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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A woman who recently bought a house with her family was shocked to discover several alarming issues with the property.
Lynn, from London in England, has made a name for herself on TikTok with videos offering money-saving tips under the handle @lynnsaves. However, in one of her most-recent clips, Lynn was left seething after noticing several potentially expensive issues with her new home.
In the U.K., it is standard practice for a buyer to have a survey conducted on a potential property purchase to identify any hidden issues that, if deemed significant enough, could lead to a renegotiation on price, or cancellation of the deal altogether.
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According to data from Legal & General Surveying Services, damp is the most-common issue that can go unnoticed without a survey, just ahead of asbestos and a lack of building regulation approval. Yet even these issues, and others besides, can get missed by the most eagle-eyed of buyers.
Lynn told Newsweek she "spent one year looking" before settling on the property in question and moved in only last February. "These issues became apparent within a week or so," she said. "Some of these things I missed; others were things the seller purposely hid."
Lynn was "annoyed by all the issues" uncovered so took to TikTok to create a video warning other homebuyers to be vigilant. "There are so many people who buy houses with issues that have been covered up, and then we are lumbered with these incredibly expensive problems to sort out," Lynn said. "I just wanted to highlight the importance of really looking at everything when doing a house viewing."
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In the video, Lynn outlines three major issues with her new home. First, there were the patches of damp found on the wall, which the previous owner had been able to mask by applying some "fresh paint" just prior to listing the property.
The second was an area of exposed brickwork that Lynn found at the top of the staircase. Arguably the biggest issue of all, though, came in the kitchen where, after moving in, Lynn discovered the floor was completely uneven. "Kick myself for missing this," she wrote on the video.
Lynn has said that the problems require substantial fixes that come at no small cost. "We thought it would just be decorative things costing us money, but we are having to fix things," she added.
The roof of the property requires additional ventilation as part of a reroofing project that could set her back somewhere in the region of $7,000. The issues with the kitchen floor are another headache. "The floor needs to come up completely and be leveled as it is so uneven. My fridge-freezer has to sit on a plank of wood to not tilt back. The washing machine is also unbalanced," she said.
Though the experience has tainted her enjoyment of buying a house, Lynn said she hopes her video will encourage people to "look at the small details" when buying a property. "I would view multiple times, look beyond the obvious, not get too caught up in the pretty aspects and look at the finer details," she added.
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