need advice on survey for 9 yr old house

TerryJay

Have accepted an offer for my house and my offer been accepted for the one I want to buy. Will be a cash buyer as mortgage recently paid off. The house I'm buying was new build 9 yrs ago, I understand a full survey is recommended for houses over 50 yrs old, and a Homebuyers survey isn't worth having (also discovered that the 10yr NHBC doesn't cover much). I thought about asking a builder to give the house a thorough check, or is there any other way I can make sure I'm not throwing away my hard earned cash?

poppysarah

How do you mean cash buyer? You have cash in the bank?

Your cash - your choice.
Look at roof inside and out (Stand back and look rather than climb ladder externally) - is it sound. You can buy a damp meter for £15 ish and that's basically all a surveyor does. Although they will have experience of smelling out rot, damp, and other dodgy stuff.
In a 9 yr old property I'd expect it to be structurally ok, but having seen some new builds get put up with cardboard and masking tape (ok it's not but it looks flimsy) who knows.

Entirely up to you. What if the roof needs replacing (unlikely) - do you have cash for that.

TrickyDicky

Whats wrong with a homebuyers report? As I understand it - Homebuyers report points out the problems, full survey does this and tells you how to remedy them, plus how much they think it would cost to repair.

Our homebuyer's report was detailed, and they were quite happy to discuss how to get things fixed.

daveyjp

Homebuyer surveys are too generic.

My sister lives in a house about 8 years old. Following a fire she found out it was built with no insulation in the cavities and shouldn't have been signed off by Building Regs - a Homebuyers sruvey would never tell you this.