advice please on structural surveys

Caz2_2

Hi all, can anyone tell me if there is a way of finding out if a house i am intending to buy has already had a structural survey done on it in the past and would it be recorded anywhere if it had?. I am about to instruct one to be done at a cost of £500 on advice from the building societies valuer, as he suspects some movement in the property I want to buy. If anyone can help with some advice I would be very grateful. Thankyou

Debt_Free_Chick

A survey is not a "public" document so there is no central register and no way of finding out if one has been done in the past.

A survey is a private report that you commission from a surveyor. In effect, you own the report (with the surveyor having rights over it too) and it cannot be shown to anyone else without your agreement.

Anyway, a survey done for someone else might be of no use to you. In particular, movement might have occurred since the last survey was carried out, so you want an up to date report based on the condition as it now exists - not what it was like a few years ago.

HTH

Caz2_2

A previous buyer dropped out, the seller said he had a change of plan and this was only 6 months ago so... anyway thanks, i just have a feeling there was more to it and would have loved to save myself £500 but we will see. Ta

Doozergirl

If it's the same estate agent, you could ask if they have a copy or if they could contact the previous buyers to see if they would sell it to you at a nominal fee.

My second flat, the previous buyers pulled out but actually gave their Homebuyers to the EA, which was helpful! (This is far from ususal though, I reckon) They'd pulled out over a potential damp problem; turned out to be condensation which was entirely rectified by opening up the original fireplace and putting a new one in.

Mrs_Optimist

ooh sounds interesting - let us know what the survey comes up with. (Sorry I should be called Mrs Nosey, not Mrs Optimist!)

machofairy

Beware what the EA says ... we were really interested in a house but were beaten to it. 2 months later, it reappeared in the market. When I asked the EA's receptionist, she innocently said she thought it may have been a structural issue but asked me to ask a supervisor.
When I asked here, she said "oh, it was just personal circumstances".

With that cloud hanging over it, we decided not to offer on that house.

TJ27

This is one of the reasons why a survey was to be included in the sellers pack. There have been cases where a dozen surveys have been carried out on the same house, by the same surveyor, for different clients, at £500 per survey. Obviously only one real survey was required. Kerching!

Not surprisingly, surveyors didn't like the idea of the survey being in the pack and complained. So the survey is now not compulsory.

marybishop

Not all surveyors didn't want the survey in the pack - we think it should purely for this reason!

silvercar

I thought one of the standard solicitor's questions was "has there been any subsidence?"

courtjester

TJ27 wrote:

This is one of the reasons why a survey was to be included in the sellers pack. There have been cases where a dozen surveys have been carried out on the same house, by the same surveyor, for different clients, at £500 per survey. Obviously only one real survey was required. Kerching!

Not surprisingly, surveyors didn't like the idea of the survey being in the pack and complained. So the survey is now not compulsory.

I think that's the wrong end of the stick actually - surveyors would have loved to have the survey included in the pack - there aren't enough surveyors to cope with all the work it was going to create !

The main reasons that the survey has now become a 'voluntary' part of the forthcoming HIP, (but may be reinstated later) are (1) not enough surveyors /home inspectors trained by the time the packs become compulsory and (2) The Council of Mortgage Lenders objected and confirmed that their members would NOT accept a survey and valuation prepared by the OTHER sides surveyor as this did not adequately protect their interests in lending money on the property - they would still want their own report from their own surveyor on whether the property was mortgageable, not just take the word of the sellers surveyor...

TJ27

courtjester wrote:

I think that's the wrong end of the stick actually - surveyors would have loved to have the survey included in the pack - there aren't enough surveyors to cope with all the work it was going to create !

Indeed. But most of the "surveyors" who would have been doing the work were not the existing trained, experienced, RICS people. They were mainly hairy a*sed builders who were doing a quick qualification.

I take your point about the mortgage provider being satisfied. The buyer would inevitably have to get a valuation whatever. But given that not all that many buyers go for homebuyers or structural surveys even now, how many would get anything other than a valuation done if a survey had to be provided by the vendor? So RICS surveyors would have ended up simply providing valuations and competing for survey business alongside the builders. Although there would have been an awful lot of work to be had I guess. Too much, like you say.

Anyway, I'm sure this has been done to death and I think there are valid arguments on both sides. And the decision has been made of course. Sorry for going a bit off the topic!