Homebuyer survey - advice please

Lulu_Bee

Hi all
First question: Is it fairly standard to ask for a homebuyers survey and valuation when purchasing a house (built circa 1910)? Our seller's agent was utterly incredulous when I told him we wanted this survey - he reckoned the mortgage valuation would suffice.

Second question: Having had the survey done, it has thrown up a few issues which need looking at (fissure in chimney, damp, drainpiping issues). The agent was quick to offer their bank of builders / plumbers etc to go in a have a look. Should I trust this guy and his contractors, or have my own independent contractor go and have a look? How much would this cost?

Thanks
Baffled by Homebuying Process:money:

ono_no_komachi

Lulu_Bee wrote: »

First question: Is it fairly standard to ask for a homebuyers survey and valuation when purchasing a house (built circa 1910)? Our seller's agent was utterly incredulous when I told him we wanted this survey - he reckoned the mortgage valuation would suffice.

It seems very reasonable to me. We had a full structural survey done on our current house (built probably no more than ten years earlier than the one you are looking at) when we moved in. We are now selling and our buyers have had a homebuyers' report. Seems odd that the vendor's agent should even have an opinion on this - surely the level of survey you want is up to you? It's not exactly a new build!

Lulu_Bee wrote: »

Second question: Having had the survey done, it has thrown up a few issues which need looking at (fissure in chimney, damp, drainpiping issues). The agent was quick to offer their bank of builders / plumbers etc to go in a have a look. Should I trust this guy and his contractors, or have my own independent contractor go and have a look? How much would this cost?

If you have contacts with reliable tradespeople I would use your own guys. That said, our agent has tradespeople whom they recommend; we have used their builder and were pretty happy with his work. Maybe the people the agent recommends could provide you with references from previous customers? Are you FTB or selling your own place? If the latter, maybe your own EA could recommend someone. Or sometimes the surveyors will recommend firms. (These will often be bigger firms who may charge nearer the top end though.)

We had two inspections, by a dampproofing company and by a structural engineer. I think they were both around £50, but that was five years ago. At least one of them then discounted the price of the job by the amount we'd paid for the inspection, when we finally had the work done after moving in.