Survey??!!! Money for old rope....

Victorthe2nd

Just had a survey done on a flat I am buying with help from the Woolwich. Cost over £300. The report is 29 pages long. 26 of those are no more than general comments on property maintenance and are doubtless repeated on every survey. The actual report tells me virtually nothing. I know this is more for the lender than me, but it really does look like money for old rope. I doubt the surveyor spent more than 15 minutes looking at the property.

Rant over.

lawriejones1

What report did you get? Was it a general valuation survey or a homebuyers report?

I guess you get what you pay for - and it ain't cheap!

kingstreet

The mortgage report and valuation for the lender is one page of A4 and that's it. That sounds like a Homebuyer's Report and a lot of it is standardised, pre-printed copy & paste and the limitations to the inspection can be worrying.

Victorthe2nd

Even worse, the valuation is over £10k lower than the agreed purchase price which itself was around £10k lower than the advertised price!! I know this is a London property, but there is something very strange about a system that allows a property to be so patently incorrectly valued for sale in the first place! Plus, it mucks up the mortgage offer which was based on loan-to-value and, in turn, based on agreed purchase price. Am now being told that, if I want to proceed at a price higher than valuation, even if lower than what has been agreed, the mortgage rules will change, I won't get the fixed rate deal previously offered, the interest rate will be higher and my monthly payments rise. Great.

Conrad

Head office costs. Transport costs. Insurance. Employment tribunal costs. Taxation. Wages. Paternity leave. Legal costs.

£300 sound like an absolute bargain to me and we all say we want people to earn well and not have to scrimp don't we?

lawriejones1

The survey itself should be used as a bargaining chip to go back to the seller and negotiate a discount. One would hopefully assume (although this isn't always borne out in practice) that the valuation would be consistent across surveyors leading to the fact that the flat is too expensive. You never know it, you might you may get it for a bit less than you expected!

Victorthe2nd

Appreciate the replies and, yes, we're happy to use the valuation as something to try and reduce the cost. The thing that interests me is that the property was originally on the market at £25k MORE than the valuation. When we viewed it, the agent suggests that "£185k" should get it...and that a previous offer of that amount had been accepted but had fallen through because the "buy to let investor had run out of money". Hmm, little porkies being told here??? I sort of suspect the valuation might have put them off....So, the interesting thing is that it seems that the vendor and / or the agent are simply being greedy and trying to inflate the price...no wonder London prices are so stupid, I wonder just how much inflation is caused by greed. In the meantime, we've spent (and probably lost) money on the valuation fee, the vendor is likely to have yet another sale fall through, the agent still hasn't earned his commission. If the property goes back on the market, assuming the same price, then the whole cycle starts again and someone else spends money only to find out that the asking price is ludicrously incorrect....The only people making money here are the valuers! Oh, and in response to Conrad, I'm thoroughly aware of costs of running a business but to take over £300 for a 10 minute inspection (so that equates to £2,000 per hour!!) and production of a 30 page report that is 90% standard stuff about "how to look after a property" is just, well, greedy....oh, there's that word again, it's becoming common in the property business...

Let_Us_See

Estate agents.................don't you just love 'em!

However, possibly not the end of the road and the down valuation should be used to re-negotiate selling price. Especially, as the vendor (and possibly the agent) maybe fed up of sales falling through, and this may allow you to maintain the same LTV and your selected mortgage scheme.

I have to agree valuation fees are ridiculously high and difficult to defend.