Not impressed by RICS Homebuyer's Report survey...

gundo

Rang my surveyor yesterday to find out where the results of my RICS Homebuyers survey were. The survey had been done 9 days before!

"Oh it's just being typed up as we speak sir..."

Whatever, I went along later that day and picked it up by hand as I need the results pronto as a condition of the seller is that I must exchange contracts by next Friday (!).

Read the report last night and to be honest it looks like the survey and writing it up took all of 30 minutes, tops.

The survey says the heating and hot water are provided by a combi boiler in the kitchen. WRONG! The combi is upstairs in a cupboard off the landing, there is no boiler downstairs only a thermostat.

Seems like a significant error to me. Also they didn't mention that the downstairs living room ceiling is falling down and needs replacing (due to bathroom water leak). They also said the kitchen units are in good condition and failed to mention that the kitchen worktop is badly warped from water damage and covered in black mould and will need replacing (all the worktops will need doing as they're 15 years old and therefore you've no chance of getting matching material now). They also said the house was built in 1980's - WRONG! it was built in 1991. They also failed to mention a large tear in the roofing felt which is easily seen in the loft.

To me these seem like significant oversights and casts doubt of the rigour and accuracy of the rest of the report. What can I do, if anything? Is it worth complaining? Who should I complain to?

Needless to say I consider the report a waste of £318. A friend of mine who's a handyman and ex-plumber spotted more problems in a 20 minute look around.

chocomonsta

I tried selling a house 2 years ago. It was in good condition. The homebuyers report suggested that the buyers had a more indepth survey, it cost them another £400. THe results were that it needed new supports in the roof
the front brickwork of the house to be taken down and rebuilt
new damproofing and other scary stuff
I was so shocked, how could I be living in such a dangerous house? I got an independant building inspector to come in, he disagreed with everything, saying the house was fine.
Instead of dropping the price by £5000, which was being suggested, I told the buyers I was taking it off the market. Put it back on again the week later for £5000 more, got a new buyer, who had another survey done and it showed nothing, said the house was sound. House sold for full asking price.

When we bought our next house, we did not have a survey (cash buyers) we dont think they're worth the papaer they are written on.

dougk_2

Contact the surveyors and insist that they revisit today or monday to re-do the report as it is inaccurate or ask for a refund.

If arranged through the mortgage company also contact them and complain about the quality of the service provided by the surveyors and ask them to investigate.

You could also contact RICS and complain.

garysletters

As Doug said, presuming it is a "panel" surveyor for the mortgage company, I'd get onto the mortgage company first to make the complaint. they probably won't request a different company to do it again, but theres nothing like a kick up the backside from your biggest customer to get your !!!!!! into gear and get a proper report done.

I'd also ask the estate agents / owners if anyone actually visited the inside of the property (someone must have been there when the report was done). The basic mistakes sound as though the surveyor hasn't seen inside and is just guessing from the age and style of the property.

finally, if you can get into the property again, take some digital pictures of the property, scan the original valuation and send copies of them of to everyone to show how crap the report is. Estate agents, the mortgage company, trading standards, the surveyors themselves, everyone.
Getting things in the house buying process so wrong is scandalous and everyone should be masde aware of this companies ineptitude. people like this dont deserve to be in business.

however, if this post was started mearly as an April Fool,
then ......... oh sod it, just complain anyway!LOL

Norma_Desmond

These Homebuyer's Reports are generally inaccurate AND misleading AND expensive! When we bought our house the surveyor highlighted all sorts of problems including severe damp, and we HAD to employ a structural engineer and a damp and timber expert to obtain our mortgage. These two experts were both in agreement that the original surveyor was just 'covering his backside', and both said the house just needed living in and warming up (it's a 200 year old cottage with 3 foot thick stone walls which hadn't been lived in for 15 years) They were right and we've had no problems. Oh and the Homebuyer's Report got the date of the house wrong by 100 years too - 1900, when we know through research that it was built between 1780 - 1810! Any good builder will give you a better idea of what you're getting in to than some Tom, !!!!!! or Harry working for a mortgage company!

gundo

Rang up the surveyors and had a moan. After some to'ing and fro'ing they've agreed to revisit the premises and redo the report on Monday. No apologies or expression of remorse for being so rubbish and wasting my time...

In fact the surveyor wouldn't speak to me direct and relayed all messages via one of his lackeys/flunkys.

Only happened as I threatened to get another surveyor and send them the bill if I didn't have this sorted out by lunchtime today.

gundo

Norma_Desmond wrote:

These Homebuyer's Reports are generally inaccurate AND misleading AND expensive!

Everyone I've spoken to has said exactly the same, get a builder friend round to have a look.

In fact a friend had a full structural survey against the advice of his better half and that was a total waste of time too as it full of weasle words "as far as I was able to ascertain...", "further specialist advice is recommended prior to deciding to purchase..." etc etc

Norma_Desmond

gundo - to cheer you up a bit and show that not ALL so-called experts are rip-off merchants, the fee charged by my local damp and timber chap was......a cup of coffee and a home-made scone!

dougk_2

The main advantage of the Home buyers report is it acts like an insurance in some ways... you CAN sue the surveyor if you later find things are not what was said.

These always appear on surveys:
Have the electrics tested by a specialist
Have the heating / plumbing checked by a specialist
Flat roofs need replacing every 5 to 10 years and you should budget for replacement.

and 9 out of 10 times:

Should seek the services of a specialist damp company or timber treatment company.

Any other regulars?

garysletters

yes
xxx was showing signs of wear/age and will in due course need to be replaced

reverie

To give some light and shade, I had a very good experience with a Homebuyer's report. I paid just over £400 and lots of work required was highlighted (some of which was obvious, some wasn't), I negotiated £3,000 off of the purchase price.

I actually work for a firm of surveyors although we don't produce these reports so used a diff company. I notice mortgage company "panel" surveyors have been mentioned, I would suggest that if you do opt for one of these reports go for a local company who is not affiliated to you mortgage company and obviously make sure that they are RICS. People seem to generally get a much better service that way in my experience.