Survey missed subsidence

2boysmum

I don't know if anyone will be able to give us any advice but here goes, we stay in an ex-council flat in Scotland, we stay on the ground floor and there is 3 other flats above us. We bought our flat from the council 7 years ago and had a basic survey done, on that survey there is a part that says evidence of movement and the no box has been ticked, there is no other mention of subsidence or movement anywhere else on our survey. On discussing our surveys with our neighbours due to another matter (the roof is in major disrepair and a piece of it collapsed this morning) one of them mentioned subsidence on her survey, it also mentions the cracks in the walls etc, she bought her flat 5 years ago, so 2 years after me, I then approached our other neighbour who has stayed there for over 15 years and it also mentions movement and subsidence in her survey too. My question is, can I do anything about this now, as we would never have bought the flat otherwise as we have had nothing but problems with it.
Sorry for the rant but I am just so angry as it is just one thing after another with this flat, any help would be very appreciated

Fire_Fox

Unless you paid for a full structural survey to be completed or you can demonstrate the council deliberately withheld information you don't have a leg to stand on. What do you mean by 'basic survey' - valuation report from the bank, Homebuyers Report or a Scottish alternative? Who are you angry with?

2boysmum

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Unless you paid for a full structural survey to be completed or you can demonstrate the council deliberately withheld information you don't have a leg to stand on. What do you mean by 'basic survey' - valuation report from the bank, Homebuyers Report or a Scottish alternative? Who are you angry with?

It was a valuation report for the bank by a chartered surveyor. The council had nothing to do with it, I'm angry because on my other neighbours paperwork it clearly states on several occasions that there is subsidence in the building, however there is no mention of it on mine and there is clearly a question asking about structural movement and it has been answered no

chickmug

http://www.rics.org/contactus.html

Why don't you call the surveyors professional body as per contact details on this link?

The_Plush_Doormat

"A valuation is a simple property inspection carried out with the sole purpose of determining the value of the property. The lender can assess how much it may lend based on that information. A valuation is NOT a survey. The buyer who receives a copy of the report usually pays for the valuation. A valuation is a very LIMITED inspection compared to a survey. A valuation should NOT be used as the only indication of whether to buy a property."

Above text taken from an article about valuation reports on the House Wizard website.

Fire_Fox

2boysmum wrote: »

It was a valuation report for the bank by a chartered surveyor. The council had nothing to do with it, I'm angry because on my other neighbours paperwork it clearly states on several occasions that there is subsidence in the building, however there is no mention of it on mine and there is clearly a question asking about structural movement and it has been answered no

You paid for a valuation report which does exactly what it says on the tin. The valuer has a responsibility to report any grossly obvious structural defects that may affect the value of the property for mortgage purposes - for example the property has no roof. If the subsidence is not obvious on first glance (you clearly didn't notice) then it won't be reported.

If you wanted the property to be examined in detail and to be protected by the surveyor's insurance you should have paid for a full structural survey which, again, does exactly what it says on the tin. You cut corners and you are unfortunately now having to pay a very high price - you have no right to be angry with anyone but yourself.

LE3

Sorry - this is a classic case of know what you're getting.
You chose not to have more than a valuation survey & are now suffering the consequences. If the subsidence was not obvious (ie there wasn't a massive crack in the wall) then teh valuer was correct in ticking the "no obvious signs of movement" box - all he was asked to do was look & see if was worth £10, £10K or £100K ... a valuation survey would not have picked up on any subsidence that wasn't so glaringly obvious that you would have seen it yourself!