Is a full survey really worth the paper it's printed on?

Horseunderwater

Before you go to the expense of a full survey - go look around the outside of the house yourself. Look at guttering - is it complete - is anything growing in it - are there any areas of green on the wall nearby. Go over the road and look up at the roof yourself and see what the tiles look like. Do same in back garden. Are there any broken or loose ones. Are there any cracks in brick work or the mortar jointing? These are all things that you the prospective buyer can do with the permission of the vendor. Should be covered in the home buyers pack, but doing it yourself makes sense too. If the house is watertight then there may not be too much wrong with it.

kelleth

I would say go for full structural if it's a certain age. I had a Home Buyers Report done on an 1880's house and it really didn't tell me anything. Just listed flaws in the house without giving possible reasons for them. I felt I could have written it myself.

bouicca21

I found myself pondering this very question as I looked at a house yesterday. From the outside it looked fine. One crack running round (not through) a few bricks under the groudn floor bay window. Guttering ok, a few tiles missing on the roof. DPC ok. Inside more or less as built in the 1930s, no central heating. But: a few obvious patches of black mould, probably condensation. And the big but: cracks in the front master bedroom. If I had wanted it (and obviously it's cheap, though not I suspect cheap enough) I doubt that a structural survey would have told me what I needed to know. It was patently obvious that it needed rewiring, re-plumbing etc, but the cause of the cracks is problematic. I think I would have needed a structural engineer and I'm not sure even then that I would get a correct answer, or what comeback I'd have if the answer given turned out to be incorrect. (Were I a gambling person I'd have a small bet that the only bit of modernisation - plastic double glazing on the ground and first floors, with one enormous window replacing what would originally have been four - meant that the front wall was inadequately supported.)