what information shows up on a survey

jamminjamaica

i have just sold my house and i am buying a new one. just wondered what they look at in a survey.

i have heard rummours that there may have been a fire at the house we are purchasing.

jamminjamaica

there must be someone out there that can point me in the right direction.

Doozergirl

Ultimately, they are looking to see that the house is structurally sound. Depending on what type of survey you pay for, the closer in depth they look. They look up in the in the loft, in your drains, everything. A full structural survey wil list every tiny defect with the house. We had buyers whose surveyor pointed out that our leaded dormer didn't have a rose on it like next door. He was really grasping at straws then!

http://www.themovechannel.com/howto/buy/surveys.asp

There's a more detailed description of each type of survey if you click it's name.

jamminjamaica

thank you. i am a little wiser now. my husband wants to carry out a full structural survey on a house we are buying which is approximately 7-9 years old. i keep telling him it isnt necessary but he will not listen.

Doozergirl

A full structural seems great deal of expense for little reason. Even a homebuyer's report mightn't be absolutely necessary, but good for peace of mind. Your house should still be covered by it's NHBC guarantee for any big problems.

jamminjamaica

there were rummor that there may have been a fire at the house. would that show up on any kind of survey? or how could we find out?

Doozergirl

Would it really matter if it didn't show up on survey?

Fire causes differing amounts of damage, but even if it were significant, the buildings insurance would cover the cost of repair and the work would have to comply to building regs.

There's a house down the road from where I used to live that was completely gutted by fire, down to there being no roof left. It was refurbished, brought back to life and it's on the market for the second time now since. I bet the new owners would never know except for the fact it's a gossipy village and they'll know as soon as they walk into the pub!

jamminjamaica

i know what you mean. it is a gossipy village i plan to move to. this is how i found out this information.

Doozergirl

LOL.

I'd ask some more questions then. I'm sure your vendor will oblige if you ask. If you don't feel comfortable, then have your solicitor put forward some additional enquiries to get some more information.

huki

There is a down side to having a full structural survey done and that is that if they find some defects that are not particularly serious, that you maybe could fix up at a later time yourselves, the mortgage lender may withhold some of the monies untill these are rectified, or you may have to pay for a specialised check to be done to asses the defects in more detail. This in turn could hold up the process and cost you more money.
On the other side of the coin if you just have the valuation survey done and they dont pick up on a fault that could lead to a more serious problem then this could be very costly in the future, its a bit of a gamble.
If its any help I have just bought for £135,000 and had a valuation survey done. I will pay the consequencies if there are any, but heres hoping

Doozergirl

A valuation will look for major points which could cause the lender to retain some of the loan. It is doubtful that they would retain funds for anything that a more in depth survey would show up.

If you were really worried about the mortgage company witholding funds, then you can simply instruct a differnt surveyor to carry out the homebuyers or structural survey independently of the mortgage company's valuer.