The wrong survey....opinions please!

fedupwiththehouse

We have recently bought a house and moved in over the New Year. (We had been in rent-free tied accommodation and were moving by choice as we wished to have our own home once again. ) Since moving in, various problems were becoming apparent with the house and so we checked back to the survey. It transpires that the wrong survey was carried out back in October as the Building Society had commissioned a valuation, rather than the Homebuyers Report that we had ordered and paid for. The Building Society then admitted the error and commissioned the property to be re-surveyed (5 months after the initial survey.) This identified even more work and recommended that' quotations should be sought before exchanging contracts' . We have been told today by the Building Society that they are basically throwing out our complaint as the overall valuation has stayed the same. Our argument is that we would not have bought the property if we had the knowledge that we now have- we didn't want a house that needed to be brought 'up-to-date'. The Building Society also suggest that we should have known the difference between a valuation and a home buyers report - (even though they do not provide examples and the descriptions on their website are pretty vague.) We would be very interested to hear what others think!

benood

Can you clarify that the homebuyers report was done after you moved in or exchanged? You probably need to give a bit more info generally - would the problems raised by the survey have led you to renegotiate? Surely you viewed the place - if it was that bad wouldn't you have noticed?

It does sound like a bit of a mess - you need to clearly establish that the building soc. messed up - your solicitor would be a good starting point.

silvercar

The Building Society then admitted the error and commissioned the property to be re-surveyed (5 months after the initial survey.) This identified even more work and recommended that' quotations should be sought before exchanging contracts' .

If they have admitted their error, I would have thought they should be putting you into the position you should have been.

So either they need to rectify all problems that weren't visible to you prior to purchase and weren't mentioned in the valuation or they need to compensate you for the higher price you paid based on the drop in price had you known about the problems.

Of course, they could say they will not charge redemption costs etc if you sell up; especially if you claim that you wouldn't have bought the house had you known about the problems.

fedupwiththehouse

Thanks for the responses - just to clarify, a 'valuation' was done instead of Homebuyers report before the offer was made. 5 months later, after we realised the error, the Building Society have admitted the mistake and carried out the Homebuyers report - we've been living in the property for 2 months, so they had to do it retrospectively!

The initial valuation picked up on a couple of maintenance items (e.g. small area of flat roof may need attention etc). The Homebuyers report picked up such things as 'external wood needs replacing, ventilation to be provided in downstairs cloakroom (easier said than done!), electric appears outdated and will need to be inspected, so items we wouldn't have known about when viewing the property. - in fact over 20 items that were marked as ' should be costed before exchange' . We weren't provided with this knowledge before exchanging, as we thought we had the correct report.

clutton_2

i would go back to your solicitor - and ask for their help - the are supposed to being all this stuff to your attention.

floyd

Didn't you see the report in full before you made your offer? We had a Homebuyers Report done and it was sent directly to us with 'Homebuyers Report' written on the front, we then had to take that to our mortgage providers.

Rick62

Its interesting that the 'valuation' picked up on a couple of items, because generally a valuation is NOT a survey at all, but, as the name suggests, is a valuation and the purpose is to tell the lender whether the property provides sufficient security for their loan. I think it is in your favour that it did pick up on a couple of items because it is then quite reasonable that you thought a survey (homebuyers report) had been done and that the couple of items were the extent of the work needed.

I personally think you should have a case and that the building society should compensate you. What is the costs of the additional work highlighted?

I would recommend making a formal written complaint to the lender with the items listed and costed and making it clear that you will take the matter to the FOS if you are not satisfied.

Tiger_greeneyes

Technically speaking, the building society was in the wrong, but their 'only' error was instructing the wrong survey, which isn't something they can particularly be held accountable for, especially as they've rectified the situation.

All they require is a valuation for mortgage purposes (a 'basic' survey) so they can issue you with a mortgage. Which is what they have done. I know it sounds harsh, but they won't care about any of the advice in the Homebuyers Report (or even whether you have one done). They only thing they're concerned with is if there are any major defects and the valuation figure - ie, it's a risk assessment on whether the property is worth what they're lending on it.

You can certainly get some advice from your solicitor - although they will argue that they asked you to check everything over prior to exchange, and if you were happy with everything, then to sign the documents so you can proceed to exchange.

I personally don't think you'll be able to take this further with anyone (although it's always worth a try), I think you'll be giving yourself a headache and bumping up solicitors bills into the bargain.

I may well be wrong but having managed survey offices for 12 years, and bought and sold six properties of my own, experience tells me otherwise.

Look into it, but don't please don't get your hopes up - or spend too much time or money on it in case of disappointment.

House buying can be a steep (and costly) learning curve sometimes. For future reference, a Homebuyers Report will be about 12 pages long and will be clearly marked 'Homebuyers Report' - a Building Survey (aka structural survey) will be about 25-30 pages long (depending on defects found) and will be marked 'Building Survey'.

I hope you get good news with any reports you have carried out

fedupwiththehouse

Thanks again for the responses.

I should point out that the Building Society arranged the survey with their 'linked' surveyors- we paid the Building society direct for this and they commissioned it. I don't see how they would have fulfilled their 'service' 5 months after the event (and after the offer was made and contracts exchanged.) I don't think there can be any argument that we were not in the best position to negotiate.

I have spoken to a couple of surveyors, and their opinion is that we wouldn't have necessarily known we had received the correct report as we had nothing to compare. Particularly as:

1. The 'valuation report' that was carried out does include some information about the condition of the roofs etc.
2. The last paragraph of the 'valuation report ' states something along the lines of "this is not a structural survey - we strongly recommend that you obtain a more detailed survey". We didn't order a structural survey - so this paragraph would have been relevant also to the Homebuyers Report.

I think it's also interesting that the BS said we should have noticed; they commissioned the report - wouldn't the same argument apply to them?

All comments and advice still gratefully received!

[Deleted User]

Homebuyers surveys always make you think that the house is falling apart. What you mentioned sound like what I would expect and I don't even know your house. They always scare you off and encourage you to get further checks for damp and timber, electrics, gas, roof, they do it to cover their back. I spent a fortune having further checks that were recommended by my Homebuyers report only to be told that there was no need for anything, it was absolutely fine. Now, this may not be your case, but I am just trying to say that your house may be just fine. How old is your house? Can you get a builder to have a look at it and give you his opinion?

With regards to your question, first of all I can't believe that your solicitor didn't pick up that you only had a valuation and that he didn't encourage you to go for a Homebuyer report, because mine kept on telling me to make sure I had at least a Homebuyers report and wanted to see a copy of it.

I am not sure you can get anything out of the bank for their error, I wouldn't think so, but your solicitor will be able to advise you. Best of luck and do not dispair until you know exactly what is wrong, if anything, with your house.

olly300

To be honest homebuyers reports are not worth that much, can be alarmist about things that they don't need to be done and miss things that are obvious. You better of viewing a property with a builder or someone who knows anything about house maintenance.

1. According to the people I brought from, the boiler in my flat is serviced every year by the freeholder. My homebuyer's report stated that I should get maintenance records from them. They didn't have them and told me this from the first viewing, the reason being is that my lease states clearly in it that the heating and hot water supply is maintained by the freeholder. There is no way the surveyor could know that.

2. A friend of mine has a newish house. It doesn't have ventilation in the bathroom which complies with building regulations. The homebuyers report didn't pick this up which it should have done because myself and a few other people she knows could see clearly that the main bathroom doesn't comply. (It needs an extractor fan as it has no windows or other natural ventilation.) The surveyor should have been able to pick this up but they would get round it by saying they don't climb into the loft. The lack of ventilation can be rectified but it doesn't affect the value of the house. She hasn't decided whether to chase the surveyor or the builders up but in the meantime she is looking at getting it sorted herself.