Surveyor to take up to 5 hours!!!! Doing what??

puddy

when we bought this place, i was on the phone at about 10 on the morning asking for the feedback. the admin lady said, oh no, he wont be finished until about 1pm, it takes about 5 hours.

the survey did cover things like ill fitting doors, problems with latches, locks etc on the windows, identified that kitchen doors not fixed properly, air bricks, loft, roof, it was a full survey, for that money i would expect him to look in the knicker drawer (joking)

picardygirl

When we sold our last house a 4 years ago, our buyers went for a homebuyers survey, a chap turned up and was there for 3 hours! Cut a long story short our buyers pulled out (not because of the survey!) and we sold again to another couple, who also went for a homebuyers survey (but a different lender) and the same surveyor turned up, it wasnt even a local company, he travelled about an hour and a half to our house ...... when he turned up the second time, he said he'd never gone back to the same house twice ...... but he still spent just over 3 hours looking at exactly the same things ...... writing the same report (there was a couple of months in between the two surveys).

We couldnt believe he spent so much time there the second time, but i did tell our buyers that they certainly got their money's worth for the survey, when he could have just a quick look round and updated his old report!

Fire_Fox

MoneyMoose wrote: »

We're 'up north' in Yorkshire, so unfortunately it is unlikely to be him!
Didn't know you could choose your own - as our (hopefully) new property involved a bigger mortgage, I thought the building society called the shots - they are providing the money afterall. Oh well, I'll know next time. Still hate selling.

The building society or bank decide who does the valuation as that is carried out for their benefit to ensure they are not lending on a complete turkey. The purchaser appoints the surveyor who does a Homebuyer's Report or full structural survey as that is carried out for your benefit to ensure you are not buying into any nasty surprises. Sometimes buyers think it is more convenient to have the same surveyor do both the valuation and full survey.

Bufger

MoneyMoose wrote: »

We're 'up north' in Yorkshire, so unfortunately it is unlikely to be him!
Didn't know you could choose your own - as our (hopefully) new property involved a bigger mortgage, I thought the building society called the shots - they are providing the money afterall. Oh well, I'll know next time. Still hate selling.

Lenders do a valuation to make sure the property is worth their investment (so they can recover their loss if the worst is to happen). They often say they can upgrade this for £X to a homebuyers for peace of mind etc etc but its always better to just let them do a valuation and get your own homebuyers as the lenders will look at the whole report but if its you commisioning it its your report

David_Aldred

Hi,
The more access you can provide to the surveyor the more accurate the report will be. This can however be a two edged sword - if the house is a wreck the less they can inspect the better as far as you are concerned and many folk with such dodgy houses cover up things with laminate floors throughout and nailed shut loft access traps.

If you know your house is fine then you have nothing to hide.

If the surveyor cannot look everywhere they should if they have any sense simply place the client on notice of the risk and recommend other people look in more detail so they have covered themselves from being liable as regards any horror stories the buyer may find once they move in.

The seller never wants the surveyor to find any faults, the buyer wants the surveyor to list every fault that is reasonable for them to find.

Most Chartered surveyors will not drill holes in walls as they do not in general carry boroscopes and if they are concerned about what is within a wall they recommend others inspect in more detail.

One point worth mentioning is that if a surveyor is prevented from looking somewhere by the seller - i.e. under a suspended timber ground floor, then they should advise the buyer to budget for the worst case scenario until proved otherwise in order to prevent the buyer suffering a loss.

So how much do you want to sell your house? Do you want the buyer to come back and say they want £10K off the asking price because they have to assume you have dry rot under the floor until proved otherwise or do you let the surveyor under the floor to look? The choice is yours and the surveyor is a guest in your home and will act accordingly but people who are obstructive to surveyors immediately tend to get the surveyors back up and make them think what has this seller got to hide?

Kindest regards, David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor