7 year old house - not sure about survey

beckstrous

Could anyone offer any advice, please?

My boyfriend and I are buying a 7 year old house, and it has a structural guarantee of 3 years left on it. Because it's new, we are tempted just to go with the mortgage lender's basic valuation, but want to make sure we're making the right decision.

I spoke to our lawyer about this and he said he recommends that everyone gets a structural survey, but I guess lawyers do want to have everything as watertight as can be.

The basic valuation costs £250 and the homebuyer's report (from the lender) is £465. I don't know what a full structural survey would be but if we chose that, we would still have to pay the £250. If we chose the lender's homebuyer's report we would have to pay £465 only.

My only slight concern is that there might be lots of smallprint in the guarantee and the estate agent was a bit wooly about whether it had 3 or 4 years left to run as he wasn't sure which year the house was built (it's on a large development and the houses were built in different years). We would obviously get the guarantee when we have completed but I get the impression we won't be able to see it beforehand. It's with the vendor's solicitor.

We need to make a decision quite quickly because the interest rates of this mortgage go up tomorrow. We are certain it's the mortgage we want but we're not sure what to do as far as the survey or valuation goes. If anyone could offer any help I would really appreciate it.

Doozergirl

I would be happy with the mortgage valuation. If there is even a hint of anything major being wrong, the mortgage company will not pay out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking your solicitor to request a copy of the NHBC insurance policy (I assume it's that or a Zurich) from your vendors before you even exchange. Not a problem. If they don't have a copy, they can request something in writing from NHBC, I'm sure.

silvercar

Round here a new estate was built, after about 7 years there was a big subsidence problem on some roads. The NHBC really dragged their feet in sorting it out and the houses affected couldn't be sold for about 3 years.

Personally I would never risk a valuation. For the extra £215 on a major purchase I would rather peace of mind.

frugglewump

beckstrous wrote:

The basic valuation costs £250 and the homebuyer's report (from the lender) is £465. I don't know what a full structural survey would be but if we chose that, we would still have to pay the £250. If we chose the lender's homebuyer's report we would have to pay £465 only.

Our structural survey cost £750 - this is in london and was doen by the lender's surveyor so included the valuation. I'm confused as to why you would have to pay £250 on top of the structural survey - is this actually spelt out by the lender.

Apart from that - I spoke to several surveyors in our area about structural vs homebuyers & they all said structural is really only worth it if the property is over 30 years old.

beckstrous

frugglewump wrote:

Our structural survey cost £750 - this is in london and was doen by the lender's surveyor so included the valuation. I'm confused as to why you would have to pay £250 on top of the structural survey - is this actually spelt out by the lender.

Apart from that - I spoke to several surveyors in our area about structural vs homebuyers & they all said structural is really only worth it if the property is over 30 years old.

Thanks for the response. Sorry, I didn't make it clear - if we went for the homebuyer's report rather than the basic one we'd not have to pay the £250 as well, so the total would be £465 including the valuation. I expect we could get away with just the basic valuation but I am thinking that for peace of mind maybe we ought to get the homebuyer's report...

frugglewump

beckstrous wrote:

I expect we could get away with just the basic valuation but I am thinking that for peace of mind maybe we ought to get the homebuyer's report...

Perhaps it would be worth ringing a local surveyor and asking a couple of questions. They would know the area and be able to advise what they look for in a homebuyers and what they know about local area. I tried this as our property is victorian, but the £700 was a lot to find so I wanted to be sure it was worth it - 1 firm refused to talk to me as they weren't on the panel for my lender, but the other 2 were happy to give advice on which survey to take - and as they don't know if they'll get the job it should be fairly neutral.

You can find you local surveyors through the chartered surveyors site:
http://www.ricsfirms.co.uk/

suki1964

The homebuyers isnt really that hot either to be honest. I had to have one when I bought this house (DIYSO) and because they said electrics and plumbling werent checked I also had to pay out for those. The HB survey picked up that the kitchen window was rotted and needed replacing - just didnt pick up the fact that the whole of the rear wall was soaking and the kitchen floor was under water because the vendor had built a patio above the damp proof course !!! Nor that the patio (poured concrete) was also covering the manhole

beckstrous

Thanks. I was also wondering what the disadvantages of having this homebuyer's report carried out by the lender might be. The obvious advantage is the cost - it is cheaper than getting an independent survey. But the mortgage broker said it only includes the general condition of the house and not the carpets, roof or anything like that - just a general overview. Would that be the case in any homebuyer's report as well?

beckstrous

suki1964 wrote:

The homebuyers isnt really that hot either to be honest. I had to have one when I bought this house (DIYSO) and because they said electrics and plumbling werent checked I also had to pay out for those. The HB survey picked up that the kitchen window was rotted and needed replacing - just didnt pick up the fact that the whole of the rear wall was soaking and the kitchen floor was under water because the vendor had built a patio above the damp proof course !!! Nor that the patio (poured concrete) was also covering the manhole

Oh crikey it's a minefield!!!!

suki1964

beckstrous wrote:

Thanks. I was also wondering what the disadvantages of having this homebuyer's report carried out by the lender might be. The obvious advantage is the cost - it is cheaper than getting an independent survey. But the mortgage broker said it only includes the general condition of the house and not the carpets, roof or anything like that - just a general overview. Would that be the case in any homebuyer's report as well?

IIRC then the HB was basically what he could see - went in the roofspace saw that it all looked fine, looked at the roof and identified that it needed air vents and a soffet board replaced, looked at guttering etc. Nothing like you would get if you went for full structual. But then if you still have 3 years NHBC then I would have thought that be enough and just stick with the valuation survey which will just say the house is as discribed and is worth blah blah

beckstrous

I still don't know what to do. My boyfriend thinks we don't need a HB but I noticed a bluish patch on one of the walls by the window, which I think must be down to condensation. I don't know if this is something that grows or that would be a serious problem likely to affect the selling price and because it is our first buy I am getting a bit worried about it.

There is black around the windows too - when I saw it I wasn't overly worried because we have that here in this (brand new) flat so i had expected it. But all I can see is what's on the surface so I don't know if the windows (which are made of wood) are rotting or not and whether a HB would point that out to make us more informed...