Just had an offer accepted on the house we’ve been after (see previous thread!). Need to decide what type of survey to get – I had assumed get a full one (1930’s semi detached) but a few people have told me there are so many caveats and get our clauses in them it’s pointless?

Thoughts?

I have always got in specialists to just look at their respective elements. Electrics, boiler/heating, structural engineer, drains surveyed, damp and wood worm.
Overall price is about the same but you get a lot more detailed information about the building.

We went for a full survey and am quite glad we did. We didn’t buy the property due to the survey finding two bad structural defects.

I have always got in specialists to just look at their respective elements. Electrics, boiler/heating, structural engineer, drains surveyed, damp and wood worm.
Overall price is about the same but you get a lot more detailed information about the building.

This +1. Surveyors know jack shit and will just tell you to get a specialist in.

First time we went for the full-monty…the result was a load of “caveats and disclaimers” suggesting we got every specialist under the sun in…unfortunately the building society then insisted we did just that. Total waste. If I wanted the reassurance next time I’d consider getting the simplest valuation for the mortgage company and then arranging my own full survey / specialists without involving the mortgage company so I could make my own mind up.

How do I track down specialists? The simple valuation is included with the mortgage.

we got a full building survey and TBH it didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already and I wished I’d have saved the money and got in some builders to have a look around.

I’ve bought two Victorian houses and didn’t bother with surveys on either of them as I could see that they both needed loads of work (new windows, floors replastering throughout, rewiring, new boiler, bathrooms moving, new roof on the second etc etc.) They’d both been stood up for over 100 years without any obvious structural faults beyond a few cracked bricks and some damp, so what was a survey actually going to tell me?

Also, back in the day, I don’t think my parents ever had surveys done on houses they bought – it just wasn’t done then.

OTOH, if you’re risk averse and won’t sleep at night unless you’ve got one, then you’d better fork out your £600.

What I would recommend though, if you happen to know any builders, or someone else with a dispassionate point of view and some relevant experience – get them to have a look and point out anything that looks untoward, and if you find anything you may want to revise your offer downwards.

Electrician and gas were checked by mates or from recommendations. Most electricians will do a verbal survey for £50 ish. I just wanted to know if I was due for any big bills for stuff and that it was safe.

Damp from Yellow pages.

Drains from asking here. Survey of the drains is always a good idea. Easily missed and often very expensive to put right.

I think it depends on the property. With a decent surveyor a homebuyers should show up any major problems. First time around in 30s 40s properties, the homebuyers was enough to avoid a money pit and find a good un.

Second time around, I had the advantage of a job where I get to meet a lot of people and spent about 6 months asking all the surveyors and builders I came across who they would get to survey a house if it was their money. 90% of them gave the same name – advantages of living in a rural area – and when I decided to buy a 200 year old listed building he got the gig. It was essentially a homebuyers done in some detail and spotted all the main issues. Caveats related to the fact that it didn’t test all the services fully – in fact the house was empty and they weren’t on – and although he stuck his nose in everywhere he didn’t make any holes in the fabric. He pointed me towards further specialist opinions as necessary and between them saved me about 10 times what they cost.

The valuation report done as part of the mortgage will most likely be very basic, no real use to you and is more about whether the lenders will get their money back ( but not your money back ) if it all goes belly up. In one case on a remortgage valuation the surveyor didn’t even enter the property.

If you know someone in the building trade/ have regular workmen who you trust then fine although the homebuyers may still seem a reasonable compromise if it makes you sleep better as someone has already said. Otherwise my advice is to try and find a decent surveyor and take his/her advice as to what needs to be done.

I bought my house in May 2007 and paid well over the odds. Once we moved in we then had to replace the boiler, all the windows and doors, the garage roof is on its last legs and the driveway is past its best. I would advise you to take another viewing yourself and pay a plumber £50 to check the boiler/central heating out. Take a notepad and write down anything that needs replacing then ask for a suitable deduction from the price to cover it. A three bedroom semi has cost me £5k to replace all the double glazing! The boiler and pipe upgrade was £2K 4 years ago. A normal survey will not tell you anything you can’t do yourself. If the building is quite old then its worth getting a structural survey as well. HTH.

Just as an example of crap surveying, the first house I did up I re-plastered myself with lime mortar in a very “rustic” style to suit the old brick and flint cottage.

When the next people moved in the surveyor commented that it had the original plaster.

Do not get a damp ‘specialist’ to do a survey. they will invariably recommend the most expensive remedial work possible for a problem that requires nothing more than a bit of ventialtion and warmth!

if you do get one in take their advice with a massive pinch of salt and always get a second opinion!

He pointed me towards further specialist opinions as necessary and between them saved me about 10 times what they cost.

How?

DId you haggle the price down the cover the deficiencies?

Is the homebuyer’s part of the mortgage requirement BTW?

Last time I bought I just had to have a valuation.

What did you pay in the end Ewan?

Any damp specialist who uses a two prong moisture meter on the wall surface is not worth the effort. Proper damp investigation is quite destructive.

Glad you got accepted fella !

Did you haggle the price down to cover the deficiencies?

Absolutely.

Survey cost around 400ukp IIRC, work needed was around 14k – mostly re roofing. Vendor went rather better than halves, it was a relocation company and they were getting desparate, and for a further 200ukp the surveyor then went onto project manage the work, deal with the planners/listed building officer including negotiating a grant for some of the work from the council. Without him the builders would have probably killed me on the extras, they continually grumbled that he was being unreasonable and in the end we got the house, with all the major structural repairs done, for within a few hundred of what we originally agreed. The house was immediately worth more than that because all the major stuff had been done.

Ah, a buyers market, those were the days.

Is the homebuyer’s part of the mortgage requirement BTW?

Last time I bought I just had to have a valuation.

Homebuyers survey isn’t part of a mortgage. they do their own ‘drive by the house to see if it’s standing’ valuation which you pay for generally. anything else surveyed is at your request and wont affect the mortgage offer.

Homebuyer’s report isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. I had one done once, never again… it picked up nothing, missed loads and was carried out by someone who I suspect wasn’t competent or bothered… most likely both, and I told him so. Either go the full whack or figure it out for yourself.

HSBC included a homebuyers report but if it wasn’t taken, it gave us that amount towards a full survey. We went for the full survey and insisted of an electrical test certificate. There was nothing significant on the house survey but we used to electrical test that failed to bring down the asking price further

Don’t make any assumptions and don’t wing it. Go on money forum and ask for a recommendation for a Survey. Then get a Gasman round to check etc.

If you are stretching yourself financially (big deposit etc) the last thing you need to find out that there’s constant and immediate jobs that you need doing.

Fine if they are longterm investment vehicles but its not worth the stress for your own home.

600 wasted or 600 to not cut any corners? It might hilight something that you then renegotiate on price.

Trust me. I recently gutted a house out and found so many things that mean I now drive a 900quid car.

I’m inclined to go for the full survey – nationwide will do it for £528 which sounds ok ish.

So is this a sound plan:
– Get nationwide survey
– Pay for a gas inspection (£100?)
– Pay for a drains inspection (£50?)

Guess option B is get the homebuyers and then get the separate people in as above. My primary concern is that they had the floorboards ripped out and replaced due to woodworm – I’ll be asking for the certificate but it’d be good to get it all confirmed independently.

The buyers’ survey on the last place I sold was done without the guy entering the property…

Ah, a buyers market, those were the days.

Surely that’s exactly what we’re in at the moment?

Had a homebuyer survey on a 1915 house that said it was damp. Used a local “old boy” damp man who to his credit came round and had a llokk. He reported that the damp in the back interior wall was not rising or anything to worry about but more likely where a previous back door had leaked and the water had soaked into th plaster.

He then went round and suggested a few more air bricks to vent the underfloor and while we were at it to rake the cavities. Total cost was about £200 including the survey. No issues with damp and no hacking off of 2m of plaster and injecting of DPC…

I think common sense with these things, assess the house, does the roof look okay is it obviously leaning, large long cracks etc…

purchase the survey that will give you greatest peace of mind on that particular property…

Ah, a buyers market, those were the days.

Surely that’s exactly what we’re in at the moment?

no no and no …..

maybe if you live in an undesirable area …. all that we have on the market in aberdeen is dross with only 1 maybe 2 houses coming on each day – usually in such delights as mastrick/northfield or kincorth !

its a buyers market if your looking for a flat – markets saturated with folk jumping ship from their property investments !

Fair enough.

I suppose I meant that, given the slowness of the housing market at the moment, a prospective buyer is probably in a better position than a prospective seller.

inh – i think the big issue atm is folk cannot afford to sell due to many being in negative equity with themselves so its better to sit tight and ride the storm than take a hit – erstwhile taking the benifit of the really low variable rate mortgage they probably got ….

so all your getting on the market is repos , death/care sales and desperation sales for downsizing or relocation

so you see some propper bargains (repos) some propper minging houses with potential (death/care sales) and quite a few hopefuls looking to minimise the damage from negative equity with prices somewhere with a moon made of cheese.

but there is ALOT of competition for those that are availible.

but there is ALOT of competition for those that are availible.

That is what we’ve found. If the house isn’t cack or overpriced it goes within a week or so.

yep i missed out on an absolute corker by listening to my solicitor …. back to waiting and watching

I had a full survey and they missed that 80% of the roof needed redoing (the joists had been patched with batons) and all three chimney stacks were blown and needed rebuilding, that and dry rot…… So that’s 25K I didn’t budget for ……

Nothing I can do about it as they have so many opt out clauses that you cannot sue them for the money back, and the surveyors were a nation wide chain with a very good reputation, and weren’t cheap.

Downside with getting a builder in, is again they can only give there opinion on what they can see, so they can (and will miss stuff) as you need to open things up and lift floor boards to find the really expensive stuff to fix.

Basically if its an old house, leave some cash for repairs

It’s 1930’s nationwide suggested that it wouldn’t need a full survey, as it’s not ‘old’. I am risk averse so i’m filing that advise under b for b0llocks.

How about a home condition survey?

HCS

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