Any way of accessing a previous survey on a property?

richimgd

Hi there, I am new to the forum. I've been reading a few posts and think it would be best for me to join as I have a few questions to ask.

I am a first time buyer and therefore totally new to all the different procedures that I will be going through with buying my first property. I have been trying to educate myself about what I need to know but I still have plenty to learn.


Ok, I have seen a 2 bedroom flat that I am interested in. It is currently empty and been on the market for about 8-9 months. The landlord bought it about 4-5 years ago. It has had a new roof put on it 10 years ago. Its a 2nd floor flat (in the roof) and being in the top floor, the roof would be 100% my responsibility rather than in many cases where everyone is expected to pay say, 25% towards any future work to done to the roof (and elsewhere in the structure). The flat has apparently not been rewired recently, so I am keen to find out if this is something that would need to be done in the short term future or not. Anyway, there's plenty more that could be wrong with the property, but it does look nice and clean as it has been newly painted and carpeted - not something I would have done if I knew it was in need of an imminent rewire - although I am quite concerned this could be why the flat is currently empty and not let out.


What I was wondering is, is it reasonable to ask for any previous survey / report done on the building? There are 2 other flats as part of the property, so was wondering if its not unheard of asking to see if there were any previous reports of any major structural problems, or any major work carried out recently?


I am not trying to get out of paying for a property survey, I would of course get one if I was serious about putting in an offer / buying the place. I just wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for a survey only to find out some information that I could have obtained for free. If there was a major issue 5 years ago, perhaps that issue will still remain, or at least it would be the first place to look or pay particular attention too. I am perhaps being a bit cheeky asking for this information that someone at one point would have paid good money for, but of course being a first time buyer, I am having a hard enough time getting a deposit together, so I want to make sure that when I do pay for a survey, I want to be as sure as possible that the property wont have any nasty surprises that I could otherwise have found out for free.


Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Rich

ormus

you can ask anything you want, whether you get anywhere is another matter.
if any previous survey shows up in a bad light, why would the vendor/LL show you it?
easiest way is simply to ask the neighbours. they may know of any past problems.

richimgd

Fair enough - makes sense. I suppose even if there are only minor issues nobody will really want to advertise them. I will have to try asking the neighbours then who might be less biased.

Thanks!

savageHK

We're in the buying process, and have had a survey done. My survey conditions expressly prohibited me from sharing the survey with anyone aside from my professional advisors, so I don't think you've got much hope...

k3lvc

savagehoutkop wrote: »

We're in the buying process, and have had a survey done. My survey conditions expressly prohibited me from sharing the survey with anyone aside from my professional advisors, so I don't think you've got much hope...

Just out of interest what is the penalty if you did choose to share it ?

phill99

k3lvc wrote: »

Just out of interest what is the penalty if you did choose to share it ?

It becomes a breach of contract issue and the Surveyor undertaking the survey would have the right to take an action against the people who commissioned the survey.

k3lvc

phill99 wrote: »

It becomes a breach of contract issue and the Surveyor undertaking the survey would have the right to take an action against the people who commissioned the survey.

And the potential penalty is ???

Hopefully it's not a stupid question but I'm struggling with who loses what and therefore what an appropriate penalty would be ?

macman

The 'penalty' (were the civil action to be successful) would be an award to the surveyor to put him back in the same position he would have been had you commissioned your own survey, plus costs.
Your roof maintenance responsibility (100%) seems most unusual in a leasehold flat. I'd run that past your solicitor/conveyancer before going any further.

richimgd

Thanks for the posts everyone. Interesting to know that there are conditions also on (at least some of) these surveys. I've often wondered how much of a survey is based on previous data and how much of it is a 'fresh investigation'. As I understand there is a cheap survey/valuation where somebody turns up and has a quick look round the property, then there is a full structural survey where any issues should be revealed. Also there is a middle survey where the cost should be somewhere in-between while still giving a good overview of the current state of the property and what work might need doing and when. My mortgage advisor suggested to go for this middle survey with a view to pay for a more in depth look at anything that looks like a potential problem. This seems fair enough and would work out the most cost effective - or at least that is how I understand. Would that make sense?

macman wrote: »

Your roof maintenance responsibility (100%) seems most unusual in a leasehold flat. I'd run that past your solicitor/conveyancer before going any further.

I did wonder about that. On the plus side the roof is quite recent (only done 10 years ago) so in theory would be fine for many years to come - although not sure what warranty you would tend to get with a new roof and hopefully a good survey would tell how sound it is - if there is a problem I am sure it would probably be a huge cost to sort out..! On the flip side if there was a problem with the foundations, that would be the responsibility of the garden flat where the garden is also their responsibility to maintain, so no additional costs there (although probably insignificant compared to a new roof!). No additional costs other than building insurance as far as I know. Not sure if this arrangement happens often? I have only looked at about 5 flats and they all seem to have the arrangement where everyone shares the responsibility if there is a problem with the building. Does this seem like something which would be best avoided or clarified, with a view to negotiate a better / shared responsibility regarding the roof?

Thanks for the advice anyway

Leif

richimgd wrote: »

As I understand there is a cheap survey/valuation where somebody turns up and has a quick look round the property, then there is a full structural survey where any issues should be revealed. Also there is a middle survey where the cost should be somewhere in-between while still giving a good overview of the current state of the property and what work might need doing and when. My mortgage advisor suggested to go for this middle survey with a view to pay for a more in depth look at anything that looks like a potential problem. This seems fair enough and would work out the most cost effective - or at least that is how I understand. Would that make sense?

Probably. The cheapest survey is for the mortgage lender, and it spots gross issues such as subsidence. The middle survey, or House Buyers Report, goes into a bit more detail, tells you about the condition of carpets, floors, loft, etc. The one I had done was not much use really, as it was full of caveats to avoid responsibility along the lines of "The drains seem okay but to be sure we recommend a full survey". Hi ho. It missed a lot such as potentially asbestos containing vinyl floor tiles beneath carpets, tanking of walls due to damp issues and so on. It seemed a lot of money for not that much work to be honest. But probably better than nowt.

richimgd

Leif wrote: »

Probably. The cheapest survey is for the mortgage lender, and it spots gross issues such as subsidence. The middle survey, or House Buyers Report, goes into a bit more detail, tells you about the condition of carpets, floors, loft, etc. The one I had done was not much use really, as it was full of caveats to avoid responsibility along the lines of "The drains seem okay but to be sure we recommend a full survey". Hi ho. It missed a lot such as potentially asbestos containing vinyl floor tiles beneath carpets, tanking of walls due to damp issues and so on. It seemed a lot of money for not that much work to be honest. But probably better than nowt.

Oh right, well in a way the phase "if a jobs worth doing its worth doing right" springs to mind - although I think the cost would be about double for a full survey would it? Its definitely made me think twice or at least to ask my mortgage advisor to explain the difference again and confirm what he would recommend.