Hi,

I have had an offer accepted on a property. The building society ran their survey and a box was ticked “Is there evidence of subsidence, landslip or heave in the property or in the immediate area.”

Our mortgage adviser spoke to the building society and they said it doesn’t cause them concern.

Question is should we pay for a full survey if so I believe there are different types at varying costs?

They have also listed some essential repairs:

1. Some of the ground floor walls are damp. Instruct a timber and damp proofing specialist to find out cause and cost of repair.

2. Update electrics.

This is the first house we have bought and I am a bit green. Our mortgage adviser seems to suggest not to bother with a full survey as the building society are still happy to lend the money.

All help and suggestions greatly appreciated.

Unless its a new built or recently renovated house you will get update electrics ……

Most sparkies have houses that would get tht box ticked

Is there evidence of damp ? Find a reputable dampproof and timber specialist or a good independant builder….. as with some specialists youll have issues even if you dont . The fact the building society aint bothered means i wouldnt be

More so alot of damp proofing is snake oil – look for causes rather than temporary patching up.

Our home buyers report told us the floor was of solid concrete construction with no cavity ……i found a 4 ft cavity underneeth once i threw the boiler out – hatch was under the boiler ! Oh and that i had woodboring infestation – i looked long and hard everywhere before phoning the boy and he said oh yeah i never went in the attic i just opened the hatch and there were bugs on it i couldnt identify so just said they were possibly woodboring bugs and to get it checked out by a specialist !

Homebuyers reports are shit.

Subsidence would worry me though – is the evidence on your property or another – it may be of different construction. Phone the surveyor !

The surveyor said it is inline with the other houses and not unusual for the age of the property. (1910 end terrace)

Unless its a new built or recently renovated house you will get update electrics ……

Most sparkies have houses that would get tht box ticked

Indeed, unless it matches the current regs exactly it’ll get a tick in that box. Mine got a tick in that box, but it does have a set of wire-wound fuses lol (must get round to replacing that soon!).

This electric issue. Anyone got any ideas about the costs?

Do you even need to do anything about the electrics? Unless there is a major concern about the installation then I wouldn’t necessarily bother. You might not need a full rewire, possibly just get the fusebox changed to a modern consumer unit. Just because it doesn’t meet the latest edition of the IET Wiring Regs, doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to do anything about it.

Hi David,

Yes, I think you are correct. It just need “modernisation” and the survey recommends within the next three months. So it sounds to me as though it is not essential for them to lend the money?

Thanks for the replys.

It depends if it is simply that they don’t meet the 17th Edition IET Wiring Regulations (which if it’s not a new build it’s unlikely to) or if there is a real problem. I’m guessing the former.

Speak to the building society and see what the score is. They’ll soon tell you if they won’t lend without remedial work.

If you then have any concerns then get a good sparky in and they’ll tell you what really needs to be done. It’s not something that would immediately worry me (although I’m an IET member I’m an engineer/project manager rather than an electrician so don’t take this as gospel).

you could struggle or end up pay a lot for building insurace if there is evidence of subsidence

I sometimes wonder if some surveyors actually visit the property they are surveying.
I thought something didn’t look right about the house but I though the surveyor would pick it up. It was only when I had moved in that I noticed that the blinds didn’t hang straight because the house had slipped at the front.
I got the surveyor round who said “oh I didn’t notice” – of course it was too late then and they cover themselves with so many get-out clauses that pursuing any claim would be difficult.
Anyway, the house had been under pinned and it hasn’t moved in the decade I’ve been there.
Its does cause some stress on the insurance form with the ‘evidence of landslip etc’ – certainly there has been none since it was fixed and in that case I tick ‘no evidence’ but I should get some advice here.

The building society ran their survey and a box was ticked “Is there evidence of subsidence, landslip or heave in the property or in the immediate area.”

The surveyor said it is inline with the other houses and not unusual for the age of the property. (1910 end terrace)

Subsidence, landslip or heave would concern me and I’d have a chartered surveyor look at it; your 2nd comment suggests ‘settlement’ and signs of settlement may not be unusual in a property of that age and would be less of a concern.

The BS survey is pretty much a visual tick-box assessment and the electrics box will always be ticked to cover themselves. Other regulars are the possible damp box, chimney pointing box, pretty much any box that covers something not obviously visual!

From the Building Society’s point of view their main concern is that there is enough collateral in the property to protect their investment in you/it.

[psling/retired surveyor 😉 ]

Thanks guys. Thats exactly what I was looking for and some has given me peace of mind. Others have pointed me in the direction of a proper structural survey. Any ball park figures for these? Are these different/covered buy full home buyers survey?

Thanks again.