Surveys...are they really needed?

deffo

I'm buying a 30 year old house that I'm pretty certain is fine...much better than my own that I've sold! Is it worth dishing out a few hundred just to let someone else confirm this? The valuation will give it the once over for my mortgage and solicitors will do all their searching. It will obviously be insured as well to cover for anything that goes wrong. So surveys...are they really needed?

hobo28

For any house not covered by a guarantee, I would definately always get at least a homebuyers report done.

If nothing else then its peace of mind. My sister's report recently picked up issues with the boiler and the crazy way the pipes were plumbed. When I bought my house, my survey found some minor issues but at least I knew and factored them in.

The very first house I bought, I only asked for a valuation. BIG mistake. The heating didn't work properly, the roof needed work, loads of stuff which a survey would have picked up and I could have used to haggle with or in that case, I'd have probably walked away.

cattie

I've always had a survey done on older properties I've owned, but my previous property was 20yrs old when I bought it & very well maintained & my instinct told me a survey would be uneccessary & just to have the valuation survey done for the lender.

For me, using instinct & gut feeling regarding a property without too much age is something I would do again in the future, but I'd not risk it on an older property.

mrsbez_2

Hello

Always, always have a survey! it will uncover every little thing wrong with the house and cause you unnecessary worry, but if there are any major problems then they can be picked up on. If you love the house, you have to buy it faults and all, and so don't let it put you off.

Only advice is to get lots of quotes for the price of a survey, the homebuyers survey. Don't always go with your mortgage providers surveyor even if they are doing the survey for the mortgage.

find a surveyor through RICS and discuss a good price with them as they all generally do homebuyers reports. Also new legislation is coming in so that when you sell your house in future you have to get the survey done yourself so that buyers can see what is wrong before they buy.

deffo

Thanks for advice. Still erring towards not having one done, mainly because even if it found a few problems...it still wouldn't stop me buying. At this stage as well, with a chain involved, I wouldn't want to compromise the sale if some minor issues came up. What would worry me though would be something major, like subsidence...but wouldn't this be covered by my insurance? And if the survey missed something major like that, not sure how liable the surveyors would be anyway.

meadowcat

I thought you had to have a survey when there is a mortgage involved. As far as I know, the mortgage company have to be satisfied that if there is a default on the mortgage there will be enough equity to cover the loan.

distilled

Surveyors have more "get out" clauses than Santa! A valuation for mortgage purposes isn't worth the paper its printed on. Its not for you, only the BS. My advice for a house that old would be to have a homebuyers report. Even then, its a dodgy business. Let your head rule your heart on this one. Good luck

happyhunter

I had a homebuyer survey done 2 years ago, it's twice as much as a normal survey but you don't get much for your money. E.g. the boiler/plumbing not checked. So if you are really interested in finding out all the problems, you must go for a structural suvey.

Felicity

I would NEVER buy a house without a survey, never, never, never, never, never!

It could cost you an absolute fortune in the end.