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To Survey or not to Survey?

I have a property under offer and Im looking at the costs for a Homebuyers Survey and frankly its a bit steep, my Father and I have both looked over the property and it appears in good condition, he has been a tradesman for over 30 years and worked on roofs, building, drainage, etc

The house is only 30 years old and our thinking is, £400 is a lot of money, what exactly does a surveyor find with the Homebuyers Survey? Do they guarantee their findings? If they only check things like obvious drainage issues, cracked walls, pointing, roof, etc then I can do this myself.

Any thoughts?

Kyle
«1

Comments

  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 34,078 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The surveyor will have insurance, but they will word the report so that the onus is still upon you to have the relevant professions inspect things themselves and produce more specialised reports on things like damp, structure, elcetrics etc.

    We know property pretty well now, we think, so rather than pay for a survey aswell, we'll ask the relevant professionals to look things over for us.
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • What price peace of mind? Being as this is one of the biggest purchases most people make £400 seems quite reasonable.
  • clairehi
    clairehi Posts: 1,352 Forumite
    If the survey picks up on significant problems, you can use it as a negotiating tool to get the price reduced.
    £400 is not a lot compared to the price of the house Ill bet, and how much you have to pay out on stamp duty, estae agent fees etc.
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,841 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I tend to only have surveys carried out on older properties & rely on my gut instinct where relatively new properties are concerned.

    Personally if I felt reasonably confident a 30yr old property had been well look after & maintained, then I'd only go for the lenders valuation survey.
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • I would get a survey (the basic one just for mortgage purposes) and get the specific professionals in, too. I've only had experience of buying a house once (so far) but the details of the survey I got back didn't impress me much so I wouldn't want to spend anything other than the basic amount.
  • Mortgage valuation is not a survey. There are only 2 types of survey - Homebuyers and full structural. Funny - I'm typing up a survey report on a property that the client thought was wonderful because it had been 'refurbished' (for that read coat of paint slapped on). Problem is it ain't - full of damp which they had tried to hide. I'll leave you to make up your mind as to what is best to do.
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,841 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    marybishop wrote:
    Mortgage valuation is not a survey. There are only 2 types of survey - Homebuyers and full structural. Funny - I'm typing up a survey report on a property that the client thought was wonderful because it had been 'refurbished' (for that read coat of paint slapped on). Problem is it ain't - full of damp which they had tried to hide. I'll leave you to make up your mind as to what is best to do.

    I think the majority of people realise that the lenders valuation is just that, a valuation of the property. The trouble is that the majority of lenders will refer to it as a basic survey when asking customers what kind of survey that they wish to have carried out & pay for.
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • Thanks for all the advice, I can see that £400 is little in £200000 but asking around family and friends reveals a HB Survey tends to be a tick list of the electrics, plumbing etc. For now Im holding back on the survey and Im going back in to view and see what we can find first, if we suspect damp or old electrics, old boiler with no maintenance records then Ill get the HB Survey.

    If we cant find a fault then I think Ill skip it this time.
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,660 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    if we suspect damp or old electrics, old boiler with no maintenance records then Ill get the HB Survey.

    Damp - we've just had a room painted white that was murky yellow/ orange. Turned out the colour was to hide a previous damp problem.

    old electrics - I thought great flippy switches & lots of plug points. Flippy switches had been put into an old consumer board and had to be replaced. Plug points were DIY jobs all plugged into each other.

    old boiler - home buyers report will say boiler is not new, advise getting a CORGI to check it.

    The reason we pay surveyors is because they are the experts, let them do their job.
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • Homebuyers reports are spot on. We paid for one on an 80+ year old house and it really opened our eyes. Money well spent. Price still being negotiated on the back of it.
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