Buying a house with a large tree <1m from the gable end wall

puddy

a full structural survey wouldnt look at the foundations in as much detail as OP needs (despite the name)

Toiletduck

puddy wrote: »

a full structural survey wouldnt look at the foundations in as much detail as OP needs (despite the name)

You can either get a building survey or a homebuyers report. I did do some research on this and there is no such thing as a "Full Structural Survey" as surveyors who conduct Building Surveys and Homebuyers Reports are not Structural Engineers and the ones I spoke to were at pains to point this out.
The building survey is a more detailed version of the homebuyers report, the main difference seemed to be the length of time the surveyor spends at the property and the detail they then go into when a defect is found. The example I was given is that the Homebuyers report would simply state that damp was present in the building, whereas a Building survey would point out its precise location and attempt to locate the cause of the damp together with an estimate for repair costs to rectify.
They also said that as a Building survey takes much longer to conduct its more likely they would spot something that they may miss during a Homebuyers report – but they couldn’t guarantee it!

In any case Id need a structural engineer to look at a tree roots subsidence problem, if the surveyor thought that it was needed. I think we will sleep on it, I wouldn’t say we were totally in love with the house but we do very much like its location and the price is quite tempting and if this wasn’t an issue I don’t think it needs much work to make it a very nice home. However perhaps it isn’t worth this hassle.

puddy

well regardless of terminology thats what i mean. the 'bigger' survey wouldnt meet your needs for the reasons you state, remember that they dont even move furniture to check stuff so its not going to be

Cheeky_Monkey

Maybe the vendor and/or EA are already aware of the potentially adverse issues relating to the tree and that's why the house is so attractively priced?