Hi!

Just had a roofing survey done on a circa 1900 house we're thinking about buying in Scotland.

Good idea we did as the verbal on it is that we would need to replace the roof at a cost of around £15K.
The current owner has mentioned in the past that there was a grant for the roof however is now being cagey on that.

Can anyone advise on how we would go about finding out if such a grant is available?

Thanks in advance!

Well the normal route would be for your vendor to provide the information. If they have no proof tht a grant is available then they will have to reduce the price of the property to take into account the need for and cost of a new roof.

Ary.

The owner might be talking about the position about 20 years ago when it was possible to get all sorts of grants for your house from your local authority - central heating etc too.

I suppose the only other possibility is that some councils offer grants to improve home insulation but they tend to go only to the more needy.

You could ring up your local Council and check, but...

A possible scenario is that your vendors became aware some time agon that there was a roof problem. There used to be all sorts of improvements grants available, but they didn't get around to applying for one.

Now, they have belatedly found out that most councils either don't give such grants any more or means-test them or award about two per year on a first-come-first served basis.

You need to proceed on the assumption that there won't be any money available and adjust your offer accordingly. Show them what your surveyor has said needs doing, and how much it will cost.