Homebuyer Survey on house under NHBC

jc86

Hi!
Buying a 5 year old house with an NHBC warranty remaining. Anyone offer any advice about whether or not anything beyond the valuation is worthwhile?
Thanks!

SuzieSue

Definitely. Do not ever rely on the NHBC guarantee as they will always try to wriggle out of everything and you will have to take them to court with all the associated costs.

Building_Surveyor

An nhbc warranty does not cover items that are in disrepair or haven't been maintained properly or have been misused.

If you would buy one if it didn't haven't the warranty then you should treat this exactly the same.

jc86

Thanks, I guess for the amount we are spending, another £300 odd quid for a survey is worthwhile.

Lord_Baltimore

There may be a clue in the title when Building_Surveyor says you need a Building Surveyor .

A survey on a house still under guarantee is money for old rope. Keep your 300 quid and spend it on the house if you have to or buy a survey for 300 quid and then spend another 300 quid on something the surveyor will find.

It just depends if your insecurity gets the better of you.

cattie

I depends on you if you feel the reassurance of a survey is necessary. Personally I wouldn't bother. I don't see the point in paying out good money only for somebody to recommend you get things such as electrics, gas, timbers etc. checked out by a specialist.

Your own common sense should help you decide whether this looks to be a well cared for house & you have the remains of a NHBC warranty on the house, which should give you quite a bit of comfort.

SuzieSue

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

There may be a clue in the title when Building_Surveyor says you need a Building Surveyor .

A survey on a house still under guarantee is money for old rope. Keep your 300 quid and spend it on the house if you have to or buy a survey for 300 quid and then spend another 300 quid on something the surveyor will find.

It just depends if your insecurity gets the better of you.

And what exactly do you think the NHBC will do if the OP finds something seriously wrong with this property?

They are a builders' club and will never pay out unless they are forced to by a court or due to bad publicity.

Just google "NHBC problems" and you can see for yourself.

Lord_Baltimore

SuzieSue wrote: »

And what exactly do you think the NHBC will do if the OP finds something seriously wrong with this property?

They are a builders' club and will never pay out unless they are forced to by a court or due to bad publicity.

Just google "NHBC problems" and you can see for yourself.

And what exactly do you think a surveyor will do if the OP finds something seriously wrong with this property? They are expert at one thing only - covering their backsides.

A Homebuyer Survey won't identify anything serious because it isn't designed to do so; you'd need to pay a surveyor a lot more for a so-called detailed structural survey.

And it is you who will still pay for remedial works because you will have been told to get in a specialist. A surveyor is not a specialist and that will stand out like a sore thumb in the resultant report.

ging84

Something to be aware of
in the nhbc terms on what is not covered
"If you are not the first Owner, anything you knew about
when you bought your Home and which resulted in a
reduction in the purchase price or which was taken into
account in any other arrangement"

could cause a problem if it did show anything up and you bought anyway

Building_Surveyor

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

And what exactly do you think a surveyor will do if the OP finds something seriously wrong with this property? They are expert at one thing only - covering their backsides.

A Homebuyer Survey won't identify anything serious because it isn't designed to do so; you'd need to pay a surveyor a lot more for a so-called detailed structural survey.

And it is you who will still pay for remedial works because you will have been told to get in a specialist. A surveyor is not a specialist and that will stand out like a sore thumb in the resultant report.

Quite offensive actually but il let that slide... I'd love to know what you do exactly for a living! Let's start picking faults at your profession if that's what we're on here to do!

I don't come on here to give professional advice, I gave the OP an opinion based on what I would do if I had no clue about diagnosing the condition of something.

Lord_Baltimore

Building_Surveyor wrote: »

Quite offensive actually but il let that slide... I'd love to know what you do exactly for a living! Let's start picking faults at your profession if that's what we're on here to do!

I don't come on here to give professional advice, I gave the OP an opinion based on what I would do if I had no clue about diagnosing the condition of something.

No offence intended. What I do for a living is irrelevant: this forum is about houses and this thread is about surveys; all I'm doing is staying on topic.

You gave the OP your opinion and so did I. If you're not promoting the authority of your opinion why use the forum name you have chosen?