10 Days to get a survey done....is this normal?

dottiepeas

Hello,

First timer buyer here!!...hope someone can advise!!....

Just had an offer accepted on a house, and the EA has stated this offer is subject to us getting a survey done in 10 days? Is this normally what happens after an offer has been accepted?

The EA also said they will continue marketing the property until the survey has been done?....This seems alittle unfair to me, as I spoke to the bank who said it usually takes 2 weeks or more to get the mortgage approved!...so they can't do arrange the valuation until the mortgage is approved! (We also have to get the valuation/survey done by the bank)

Is this normally what is asked from the EA?...

I feel really pressured to get this survey done! But since I have to pay the bank for the valuation, I don't want to pay again for 2nd survey done to meet the EA's deadline!!...if you know what I mean!!

Thanks!!

tenke

EA also did that to us, when we were in the process of buying a house. They said they would keep the house in the market until survey was booked...

Yes it sounds unfair because if they accept your offer, they should take the house off the market...

chickmug

tenke wrote: »

Yes it sounds unfair because if they accept your offer, they should take the house off the market...

It is not in the seller’s interest to do this as the chance to get back up buyer is lost. We used to explain this to the buyers and 99% of the time they accept this and realise it is a question of trust on both sides. If they (the buyers) push the issue we would usually say to them the seller would be taking a very big risk taking it off the market so what would you (the buyer) offer, from their side, as an equal gesture of good faith?

dottiepeas

Thanks for replying! Wow- so EA's do ask for this as standard??....Guess I will just have to risk being gazumped over the next 2 weeks, whilst I wait for the mortgage to be approved and then sort out the survey!.....G-r-e-a-t.

tenke

dottiepeas wrote: »

Thanks for replying! Wow- so EA's do ask for this as standard??....Guess I will just have to risk being gazumped over the next 2 weeks, whilst I wait for the mortgage to be approved and then sort out the survey!.....G-r-e-a-t.

You need to do the survey and searches first (solicitor) and the mortagage offer is cookign meanwhile;)

I would assume once the survey is done it should be taken off the market

sandiep

You should move to Scotland - next working day, or two working days in very busy times

But then, you have to get your survey done before you put your offer in, so it's not all simple.

tenke

chickmug wrote: »

It is not in the seller’s interest to do this as the chance to get back up buyer is lost. We used to explain this to the buyers and 99% of the time they accept this and realise it is a question of trust on both sides. If they (the buyers) push the issue we would usually say to them the seller would be taking a very big risk taking it off the market so what would you (the buyer) offer, from their side, as an equal gesture of good faith?

I do understand that, but in our case, they made us go 1st thing in the morning after our offer was accepted and show we proof of deposit.

Now despite of showing that and informing the survey had been booked ( we had had a meeting in the bank that morning to show mortgage promise as well), they took well a 4 days before they took it off the market...

Now if another person had come on those 4 days, we would have lost our survey money as the surveyor took 4 days to go to the house...

If it is a question of trust, proof of deposit, mortgage offer and us going to their offices at 9.30 in the morning would have been enough i think, but each EA to their own

dottiepeas

But I have to do the valuation directly with my bank?....which means I would have to wait for them to approve the mortgage first before they can arrange the valuation?.....

Or have I totally got the wrong end of the stick?....is the valuation done by the bank, completely different thing from the survey??.....Confused!

sandiep

Valuation is done by the surveyor and provided to the bank. But here in Scotland at least, you are the client, not the bank. From memory, when i bought in England I instructed, booked and paid the surveyor. But was 10 years ago + and it may have changed since then.

dottiepeas

Ah ok.....well, I know that I HAVE to pay my bank for the valuation....which is £195 as it's part of the mortgage agreement! Which means if I had to meet the EA's 10 day survey deadline, I would have to sort out my own surveyor on the side, so in effect paying twice for the survey......hmm...not sure what to do!

charliee_3

hi, we are FTB too and just a little ahead of you by the sounds of it.. how it worked for us..
1. we went to the EA and saw the mortgage lady to give us an idea of what we could borrow
2. we looked at houses
3. very quickly we found one we liked (through another agency actually) and put in an offer staing that it was condiional on it being taken off the market. this was accepted and done
4. we saw mortgage lady and she did an an agreement in principal for the motgage
5. the EA mortgage man called and offered us a better mortgage and aranged it mostly all over the phone so we changed to them
6. i found a conveyencer and gave them instruction to proceed
7. i got a call from EA a couple of days after the agreement in principle to say the valuation surveyor was going in on the friday of that week
8. we hired a separate surveyer to do a homebuyers report for us (got a knockdown price ;-) )
9. mortgage is in process but the surveyors have both been round now- awaiting repots
and that is it so far.. its happening really quickly as they arent busy at the moment so everything is getting done in a couple of days.. eek!!

good luck
charlie