Surveys

Lunary

Do most people generally get an independent Surveyor to do a buildings survey in addition to the mortgage valuation survey or do people pay for the buildings survey through the mortgage company? I was just wondering if there is often a big discrepancy in price when going through the mortgage company.

Also what benefits can be gained from a more thorough survey versus having a builder look at the house.

Thanks

clutton_2

a structural survey will be in writing, and you will have evidence if things go wrong later down the line. a builder will do a walk round and have a chat with you - so no responsibility later on.

what age is the property ? and what type ?

G_M

Depends. New or old property? How old?
How confident are you yourself to spot potential problems?

Some properties/buyers need full surveys, some don't.

Fire_Fox

The RICS website sets out what should be included in each level of survey.

EagerLearner

Hi all I would be interested in this too - the place we are looking at was built around 1930's, purpose built?

Lunary

Thanks for the comments, the house we have offered on was built circa 1965 and is a semi-detached property. My partner is a builder and has been for around twenty years and is fully versed on everything but electrics and plumbing. We are intending to do a bit of renovation as the house inside looks very unfinished although seems to be structurally sound. I notice on the RICS site, the buildings survey is recommended for properties where renovation is planned.

When you say responsibility, clutton, do you mean that there is a way of claiming back money if a property is later found to have something wrong with it, that wasn't picked up by the Surveyor? We feel fairly confident that my partner could pick up on a fair amount of problems, structural, damp etc. but I just wondered whether there was any sort of cover, besides piece of mind, that comes with have a full buildings survey?