Problems With A 1890's Cottage

[khaleesi]

I am considering buying a 1890's, 4 bed detached cottage that needs to be extensively renovated. Two builders were going to buy it, and decided not to have a survey, but pulled out as a boundary dispute was taking too long to sort out (this has now been rectified) Anther buyer has just pulled out after reading the results of the survey, as he decided having the work done would be too disruptive. I haven't read the report yet, but the estate agent has told me that the roof needs replacing and the battens in the wall need replacing as they have completely deteriorated. He has assured me that there are no structural nor foundation problems. My question is, do you think there could be any other problems with the house that that the estate agent may not want to admit to/has forgotten about? The people that commissioned the survey have offered to sell it, but they want a couple of hundred pounds for it. It's already at the top of of my budget, and i know that i won't be able to afford it if anything else is wrong with it. I wondered, if the wood in the walls has deteriorated, is there not a high chance the wood in the floor would need replacing too?

[khaleesi]

thank you for such a detailed answer, bakers dozen. It's really nice to hear that you put your heart into something and made a good return in the process.
You were all right. From the moment i steeped into the house i could smell the damp, the walls were so uneven, and it looked like it was falling down. It was being sold as unmortgageable apparently because burgers had stolen all the pipe work,(which was a lie as there was loads of it in the airing cupboard still) I was so annoyed. Thanks for all your answers though