Solicitors, Survey & Valuation

aj9648

Hi

I had my offer accepted the other day. I have sorted an AIP with YBS for a 5 year fixed which seemed reasonable and now getting to the hard part of things....

The first thing is around the valuation and survey. Is this done together by the same people? YBS have quoted £1400 for a Home Buyers Report - is this reasonable and do I have to get this through YBS? Also what about the valuation - does it have to be done through YBS?

Secondly with regards to solicitors - how much do they charge on average? - I know some can be cheap, other really expensive. But on average? Also what do they actually do? For eg the house I am buying is joining onto a large field which is owned by a farmer. From what I have found from the council that this land is Greenbelt and there is no planned use for it - ie no planning permission has been granted. Will the solicitors check this out and confirm this? What else do they do?

Sorry for the dumb questions?

sonastin

Valuation and survey: Your mortgage lender will require you to have a valuation carried out through them. You have the option to "upgrade" their basic valuation to either a homebuyers survey or a full survey, which means their surveyor doing both the valuation and the survey. The RICS website does a good spiel explaining the difference. As an alternative, you could instruct an independent local surveyor to carry out your homebuyers or full survey separately from the lender's valuation. It is worth phoning round to get some quotes for this as £1400 sounds high but it does depend on purchase price and your area. Independent surveyors in my neck of the woods were charging less for a full survey than Nationwide charged for the basic valuation. The combined cost of the 2 was about £50 more than upgrading via Nationwide - I paid the extra £50 because I thought it was worth it to not share the details with my lender if the more detailed survey picked up something that would affect the valuation which wasn't noticed on a basic check. You need to compare the combined cost of a separate survey + YBS's valuation to the £1400 they have quoted and decide which is the best option for you.

Solicitors: Best advice is to check exactly what is included and what is extra when you are getting quotes - they will all quote a "fee" + "disbursements". Some will put things in the disbursements which ought to be in their fee, so that the headline fee looks lower. Make sure you compare like-with-like and don't get suckered by this. Disbursements should be things like the charges made by the local council for searches or bank transfer fees. Completing the Stamp Duty form (which needs doing whether you pay SDLT or not) should be in the fee.

BitterAndTwisted

The valuation and the survey can be done by the same person at the same time if that's what you agree to. The Home Buyers Report at £1400 seems very high to me. I would expect to pay that for a full structural survey rather than a HBR, which under the circumstances I would recommend you have done. You will be charged for the valuation whether you appoint the lender's Surveyor to carry out a survey or not. You need to check your agreement with the lender to ensure that you are able to appoint your own Surveyor. The issue of land adjoining can be done by the Surveyor when they do the searches for you.

TrickyDicky

I paid £450 for a homebuyers report from a local surveyor in Surrey, while HSBC wanted around £800. Its normally cheaper to go local, even when you include the cost of the basic valuation.

bruciebounus

I paid around £300 for my homebuyers report. The company who were doing the basic valuation for the bank called me in advance and asked if I wanted them to do a more detailed survey on top.

amblondon

The valuation will have to be done through YBS. If you want a homebuyers or full building survey you can arrange this through anyone. The options given on this page (ybs.co.uk/mortgages/guides/arranging/costs.html#Valuation) seem to indicate that YBS offer valuation only or valuation + Homebuyers.

Whether the £1,400 is reasonable really depends on the value of the property you are buying. They costs vary *significantly* depending on value of the property.

Cheers