During the latest episode of Homes Under the Hammer, presenter Martin Roberts couldn't help but express his apprehension about one semi-detached property up for grabs at an auction with a starting bid of £115,000. The popular TV personality took viewers on a tour inside the house before bidding commenced. Although he noticed some positive aspects at first, the more he delved deeper, the more issues he started to find.
As he climbed the stairs, Martin's attention was abruptly drawn to an alarming crack which he found travelling across the ceiling and wall down to the floor. Noticing the crack, he commented: "That's a bit of a worry, loads of cracks on this wall." Wondering what could be causing the damage, he looked outside the nearest window: "That's not good.
That's weird , I didn't see anything on the way in, I have to check that out." With a sense of unease, Martin retraced his steps downstairs to investigate the cause of the problem as he went to the exterior of the house, reports Wales Online . After a brief inspection from outside, Martin acknowledged that the issue wasn't immediately noticeable upon his first glance due to it being very subtle.
He commented: "I mean, the drain pipe is slightly at an angle and if you look there is a bit of a bow in that wall but not much. The only thing that concerns me, is that here and there you have these manhole covers." Martin then shared with the audience his suspicion of an underlying drainage issue, speculating about the connection between the manhole covers and the slight distortion in the building.
The BBC star said: "There is likely to be some kind of a drain linking those two, it is suspicious it is exactly where this potential slight subsidence has occurred." Martin detailed that the new owner would have to bring in experts to inspect the drains and ensure there's no leakage. Whilst outside, Martin immediately spotted another problem, although this time it was with the garage.
He remarked: "The major concern is the roof, to me definitely looks like an asbestos roof, so you need to have that taken away by a professional and specialist company." Eventually, a man named Tim snapped up the property for £116,000, aiming to renovate it with a £25,000 budget within six months. Returning to the home eight months later, it was revealed that Tim exceeded his budget by £7,000 due to necessary surveys.
After a real estate agent evaluated the refurbished house, it emerged that the property could fetch around £230,000, potentially giving Tim a hefty profit. Homes Under the Hammer is available to watch on BBC iPlayer..
