Survey -valuation

Yellowhat

We have just paid for our valuation survey with C&G which cost £500. But are also going to get a homebuyers survey for our reassurance with a separate surveyor. We got told that the mortgage survey isn't detailed enough for a buyer. Best to be safe when you are spending so much anyway.

robatwork

For the £500 "valuation" that Yellowhat is paying for, you will get someone to drive past the house and ensure it's got 4 walls, so yes you need a better survey that you commission yourself.

I got a full survey that was couched in so many get out clauses it was almost worthless. I wish I had paid the money to an electrician, builder and gas engineer to check out their bits thoroughly.

G_M

Yellowhat wrote: »

We have just paid for our valuation survey with C&G which cost £500. ...

:rotfl:

For that price you could get a full structural survey, not just a Valuation!! :eek:

G_M

Very useful post..

trulys wrote: »

I work for a RICS chartered surveyors, and we'd recommend .....

The HBR covers everything from damp, subsidence, woodrot, chimneys, roofs, drainage,... the list goes on.

....

Out of interest, what do you mean by the above? Most reports I've heard of (we get many examples on the forum here!) say stuff like "It is recommended you obtain a specialist damp /worm / whatever inspection" and for subsidence they would recommend a structural engneer's report/

Are you saying you would investigate and report fully on these areas, or simply note possible indications and recommend further reports?

trulys

G_M wrote: »

Very useful post..
Out of interest, what do you mean by the above? Most reports I've heard of (we get many examples on the forum here!) say stuff like "It is recommended you obtain a specialist damp /worm / whatever inspection" and for subsidence they would recommend a structural engneer's report/

Are you saying you would investigate and report fully on these areas, or simply note possible indications and recommend further reports?

Well, if we find signs of damp, etc. we'd explain where we found them, what's likely to have caused them, and if we felt it necessary for them to obtain quotes from a specialist prior to exchanging contracts, we'd do so. The specialist will, of course, be able to tell you how much the repairs are likely to cost so that you can adequately prepare yourself! Here's an example of a couple of sections:-

E1 Chimneys

The property is provided with two brick built chimney stacks, flashed with lead at
abutment with roof slopes. Rear right hand chimney stack originally served oil fired boiler, but is now redundant. If this is to remain unused, we would recommend it either be removed or capped and ventilated to reduce the risk of rainwater ingress.

Left hand stack serves open fireplace, and appears to be lined with clay pots. This is provided with a single clay chimney pot. No major defects are apparent, although left hand stack is suffering some early signs of pointing wear to north face. Future liability will exist for repairs, but these are not immediately warranted.

E4 Main Walls

Acceptably plumb and generally satisfactory with no major structural defects apparent.

There are a number of mature shrubs and, indeed, trees near to the property, and certainly within influencing distance. In particular, an oak and ash tree are positioned approximately 6m and 8m respectively from the property’s main walls. These should be kept well controlled to minimise root growth and risk to building. The property is also likely to be located on a clay subsoil, and in this respect, your buildings insurance policy should provide adequate precautionary cover against the risk of any future ground or tree related damage that might occur. Smaller shrubs and conifers near to the property, in our view, should be removed to avoid risk of potential damage.

Typically, some light cracking has occurred above door and window openings, visible around the perimeter, although this is not of a structural nature, and most likely due to shrinkage of the type of brick utilised. A damp-proof course is generally visible, and reasonably well positioned, although ground levels to the rear right hand side are slightly high and would benefit from slight reduction. Ideally, ground levels where abutting a building, should be a minimum of 150mm (6”) below damp-proof course level.

We note that some of the lead flashings beneath window openings, where tile hung have begun to split due to expansion and contraction. We would recommend that repairs be allowed for, but again, these are not considered urgent. Also, the mortar ‘cheeks’ where tile hung are lightly cracked. Our view of the external walls was partially obscured by nearby vegetation.

Whilst there is no evidence to suggest that property is suffering from problems of
cavity wall tie corrosion or failure, pre 1982 twisted wire ties have been found to suffer from problems of premature failure due to inadequate galvanising. On present evidence, further investigation is considered unwarranted, but you should nonetheless allow for ultimately having to replace wall ties as part of longer term maintenance.

Whilst I can't vouch for what other surveyors put in their reports, that's the kind of thing we include!!

For things like services (i.e. electricity, gas, etc.) we can only comment on what we see as we're not qualified electricians, gas technician's, etc. So the comments we'd put under here is something like this:-

G1 Electricity

Board’s supply to meter located within plastic external cabinet. The cabinet is fairly poorly fitting into external wall, but shows no obvious signs of current leakage.

Internally, the consumer unit appears to be of more modern replacement type
incorporating miniature circuit breaking fuses and residual current operated devices.

There are also some signs of earth bonding, for example, to gas meter, but we cannot confirm continuity or quality of earth bonding installation without further testing.

Further enquiries of vendor is recommended to ascertain whether the electrical
installation has been checked/tested within the last 5-10 years. As general advice, the Institute of Electrical Engineers recommend that electrical installations are checked on a 5-10 yearly basis, dependent upon the age of installation. They also recommend that properties are checked upon purchase/sale. On grounds of age, we have no reason to suspect any major problems with the electrical installation, but precautionary checking and testing should be incorporated into ongoing planned maintenance.

Hopefully that helps?