Building Survery - irritation

DGJsaver

Seems strange he was so quick to offer the money back after travelling there , i asked to meet him there when i booked him , and he said no , it`s not a spectator sport , this could possibly have been avoided if i could have gone and chatted to him in person

I do believe he should be paid , once he goes back to inspect the drains

DGJsaver

dominoman wrote: »

I think the surveyor is perfectly fine to say that. If he's done all the work it doesn't seem fair to not pay him.

If you choose not to get the report written up (as he offered) I think you should at the least pay him half, even though he didnt ask for that. After all the inspection itself is 50% of the work, and the write-up is the rest.

Half ?? for no report ? are you minted or stupid ?

john_white

It seems clear,

either accept the refund or pay for the additional visit. Which answer would you like everyone to give you?

G_M

If you take the cheque and instruct another surveyor, my guess is the same thing will happen again!

I can envisage scenarios where a surveyor goes onto a neighbour's property and fiddles with their drains, and the neighbour sues! Or at least gets snooty.

In fact, thinking aboit it, I'd be p*ssed off if some bloke started walking roundmy garden without notice or permission, and started lifting manhole covers etc!

I think the surveyor has acted

a) professionally and
b) very reasonably

bitsandpieces

DGJsaver wrote: »

I do believe he should be paid , once he goes back to inspect the drains

Sounds like that's not an option, though - either you pay him to write a report with drains unseen, pay him extra to go back and visit the drains (with permission secured) or accept the refund offered. Your call. Even if you don't like his tone, he has offered a full and prompt refund - so it's not as if you can sue for the refund he has already offered!

Gloomendoom

If you do engage another surveyor, it might be a good idea to arrange the appropriate permission for access with your neighbour beforehand.

That is what I did when I had my house surveyed.

I also think the original surveyor has acted in a professional manner.

G_M

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I also think the original surveyor has acted in a professional manner.

and could quite justifiably have written up his report, excluding the drains ("I was unable to access/inspect"), and sent you his bill.

moneyistooshorttomention

Sounds like the surveyor really couldn't access the drains. Its obviously not possible to go onto someone else's property and he is being very fair to offer you a refund.

The only thing I noted was that he refused your request to come with him. I don't know how surveyors usually operate, but when I was checking out which surveyor to use on the property I am buying one of them outright offered to have me come with him and he would point things out to me as we went around the house. I would have taken him up on that offer, except I live too far away from the house I had surveyed to be able to do so anyway. So some surveyors are okay about the customer going round with them and, if that's important to you, then it would be wise to ask the ones you are having quote you at the outset if they personally allow customers to come round with them.

DGJsaver

I agree that a refund is fair , what bothers me is not even talking about revisiting , i dont know , agreeing on a £50 extra for fuel to come once permission granted , something about the episode leaves a sour taste

I should have swerved when he said he doesnt accept meeting anyone he works for , just talk it over the phone 5 days later when the report is ready

lessonlearned

If it is a Lender's Valuation it is the lender who instructs the surveyor and in these cases the surveyor doesn't usually encourage the purchaser to be present.

If the house is vacant and the valuer has to obtain keys from the EA then the EA will not allow the purchaser to be present because the EA's insurance only covers the presence of the surveyor and not the purchaser.:rotfl:

We had this issue over one of our recent abortive purchases. Luckily we commissioned the same surveyor to undertake a Building Survey in addition to the Lender's Valuation. He very kindly rang me both before and after the survey do discuss the issues raised.

We now have a dilemma with our next purchase. I shall require a either a full Home Buyer's report or a full building survey at some point because the property is a renovation project.

Before we start it would be useful to get a rough idea of what horrors might be lurking.......

However, because it is a probate house, still packed with furniture and personal effects, fully carpeted and with polystrene tiles covering the bedroom ceilings any survey is going to be very limited.

The surveyor will not lift carpets to inspect the floors, will not test the electrics and the boiler, will recommend we get a report from a damp specialist and will not gain access to the loft to inspect the roof timbers etc.

So there doesn't seem much point in throwing away £600 or so on a full report when he won't be able to inspect everything.

What would the report tell me that I don't already know. I can smell the damp, I can see the consumer unit is ancient. I want to shift the boiler which looks like something out of the ark and which will be inefficient, half of the radiators are in the wrong place, and the windows are well past their sell by date.:rotfl:

I will require a full assessment of the work that needs to be done but have decided to wait until the property is ours and empty and then we can get it checked out properly. Until then shelling out for a full report is just a waste of money.

The lenders valuation will show up any real red flags in the meantime.

Often a surveyor cannot get access to drains. If they did have concerns they would only recommend a specialist report anyway.

I sometimes wonder just how much value to attach to a surveyor's report. They have become so vague. The classic cop out seems to be to simply suggest that you get more detailed specialist reports.

In our case I can see with my own eyes there is work to be done so provided the lender is happy to lend then that will do for the interim. I will just press ahead and then get a full report when the surveyor can "access all areas" and do a proper job. I can be present to discuss the findings.

If the lender's valuation flagged up anything nasty then obviously I would need to think again.