House Survey

RachieB9

We are 1st time buyers and have just had the survey done on our new house.
The survey has brought back some issues: essentially some areas need repointing, a tile replacing & moss removing from the roof, some flashing replacing round the chimney & we have had a quote of £1,500.

Also the survey states that the electrics, heating, water heating and boiler should all be checked before we sign anything.

We went back to our estate agent with this information and he has said he has never seen so many questions & queries on a house and that it is because we are 1st time buyers. His opinion is that we should just exchange as the sellers are getting anxious as they thought as 1st time buyers the process would be a lot quicker.

Our solicitors are not the best so i am looking for some advice as to whether we are being overly cautious or if it is indeed best to get these things sorted.

fannyanna

Did your survey rate the findings - for example red for serious issues that need immediate attention and amber for other issues that are not as serious and do not need to be resolved straight away?

If so, what rating did these issues have?

R_P_W

Hi the first part which looks like some fairly straightforward TLC being required which as your quote says - isnt exactly going to cost a great deal in the grand scheme.

Surveyor is probably just covering himself by saying what he says about electrics, heating and boiler as he hasnt checked it as part of the survey. You could ask some questions of the seller like how old the boiler is, when was it last serviced etc.

I wouldnt be pressured by the EA though, him saying 'just exchange' is easy for him to say because it isnt his money and he wants his commission sooner rather than later.

Whe you viewed the property did you have a look at the radiators and the boiler? Did it look new and in a good state of repair? If yes then doesnt seem to much to worry about.

RachieB9

fannyanna - the ratings for the points in the survey were 2 (amber). For the electric/gas/heating checks it was 3 (red).

RPW - by eye the radiators and boiler did not look too old. I would just like the piece of mind that we are not going to need a new heating system/rewiring done which could be costly.

R_P_W

To give you that piece of mind I think you can commission an additional survey to inspect the heating and the electrics.

Might be worth you contacting the surveyor to clarify the findings in his report. Were heating and electric RED because he saw something wrong (you would have expected he would expand on that a bit more) or are they RED because it wasnt in his scope of the survey to inspect them?

RachieB9

Thanks for your help RPW. I will ask the surveyor more questions

fannyanna

I've just had a survey done and it highlighted a number of "flaws" but they were amber rated and in my opinion I deem them as general house maintenance. I will not be trying to negotiate with the vendor on these points.

Gonzo33

RachieB9 wrote: »

We are 1st time buyers and have just had the survey done on our new house.
The survey has brought back some issues: essentially some areas need repointing, a tile replacing & moss removing from the roof, some flashing replacing round the chimney & we have had a quote of £1,500.

That seems a little steep, might be a good idea to get a couple more quotes just in case. In all of this if £1500 is a reasonable quote I would expect the repointing to cost the most.

Also the survey states that the electrics, heating, water heating and boiler should all be checked before we sign anything.

The surveyor will always do this to cover their derrier, even in brand new houses. They are not qualified Gas Safe Engineers/Electricians therefore this line will be in every report you get (as with the EA advert). If you are particularly worried you could always commission a report from an electrician and a gas safe engineer. Gas Safety Cert will cost about £60 ish, have no idea about a Sparky though cost wise.

We went back to our estate agent with this information and he has said he has never seen so many questions & queries on a house and that it is because we are 1st time buyers. His opinion is that we should just exchange as the sellers are getting anxious as they thought as 1st time buyers the process would be a lot quicker.

Our solicitors are not the best so i am looking for some advice as to whether we are being overly cautious or if it is indeed best to get these things sorted.

At the end of the day this is going to be the most expensive purchase of your life, you are right to be cautious. You are also not knowledgable about this sort of purchase and need a bit of reassurance and guidance. Everyone does when they first start out.

If it were me I wouldn't bother with the Gas Safe or a Sparky, but I would have another viewing and turn the taps on and off. Check where the stop !!!! is, ask the vendor to show you how to turn the heating on and off, etc. This shows you that the systems are working currently, and would certainly make me feel more at ease as a buyer.

arbrighton

Gonzo33 wrote: »

At the end of the day this is going to be the most expensive purchase of your life, you are right to be cautious. You are also not knowledgable about this sort of purchase and need a bit of reassurance and guidance. Everyone does when they first start out.

If it were me I wouldn't bother with the Gas Safe or a Sparky, but I would have another viewing and turn the taps on and off. Check where the stop !!!! is, ask the vendor to show you how to turn the heating on and off, etc. This shows you that the systems are working currently, and would certainly make me feel more at ease as a buyer.

Spark will also be around £60ish to check. They will almost certainly say it doesn't meet current Part P regs but these seem to change about every 5 minutes so there's a limited time frame when any wiring is up to date. However, it can be fairly old but safe. Is there a fuse box or a modern circuit breaker set up- that'll give an idea of age/ likely safety.

DRP

RachieB9 wrote: »

We are 1st time buyers and have just had the survey done on our new house.
The survey has brought back some issues: essentially some areas need repointing, a tile replacing & moss removing from the roof, some flashing replacing round the chimney & we have had a quote of £1,500.

Also the survey states that the electrics, heating, water heating and boiler should all be checked before we sign anything.

We went back to our estate agent with this information and he has said he has never seen so many questions & queries on a house and that it is because we are 1st time buyers. His opinion is that we should just exchange as the sellers are getting anxious as they thought as 1st time buyers the process would be a lot quicker.

Our solicitors are not the best so i am looking for some advice as to whether we are being overly cautious or if it is indeed best to get these things sorted.

when we moved into our current house this is the exact same problem that our surveyor missed :mad:

Rapidly discovered that in heavy rain the inadequate flashing caused water to leak into the attic space and the reparation job cost us 1500 quid on its own.

When we mentioned this to our new neighbours they told us the roof had been replaced some years ago by one of the previous owners "and his mates" :eek:

RachieB9

The solicitors have just sent us an invoice from 2007 & some work that was completed & it was also tested. There is no certificate but I will ask for that as well.