Which first......Searches or survey?

sleepymans

I have just had my offer on a property accepted and have instructed my solicitor (cash purchase, so no mortgage involved).


No chain involved as the current owner is relocating to rental, and am I keeping my existing home for a while so hopefully it'll be a quick straightforward conveyance (famous last words!).


The property offered on, is a recently extensively extended bungalow in an established residential location.


Anyway, bearing in mind how many prospective property transactions fail for any reason I don't want to waste too much money if the survey brings up something untoward, or if the survey uncovers serious issues. Apparently searches are £350 upfront to the solicitor and although I haven't had a quote, I'd imagine the survey will cost several £000.


Should I have the survey done before paying for searches, or vice versa??


What do I need to take into consideration, do you think?


Any thoughts welcome

ognum

sleepymans wrote: »

I have just had my offer on a property accepted and have instructed my solicitor (cash purchase, so no mortgage involved).


No chain involved as the current owner is relocating to rental, and am I keeping my existing home for a while so hopefully it'll be a quick straightforward conveyance (famous last words!).


The property offered on, is a recently extensively extended bungalow in an established residential location.


Anyway, bearing in mind how many prospective property transactions fail for any reason I don't want to waste too much money if the survey brings up something untoward, or if the survey uncovers serious issues. Apparently searches are £350 upfront to the solicitor and although I haven't had a quote, I'd imagine the survey will cost several £000.


Should I have the survey done before paying for searches, or vice versa??


What do I need to take into consideration, do you think?


Any thoughts welcome

IMO, this is the reason that house sales take so long, a month each for survey and searched instead of just getting on with it and doing them at the same time.

lee111s

You're honestly worries about potentially losing a few hundred quid when buying a property for hundreds of thousands (I assume)?

Get them both done at the same time, I guess something majory would have to come up to stop you buying?

phill99

If you are not willing to have them all done at the same time, it shows you are not that interested in buying the property. If I were the vendor, I would kick you in to touch and put it back on the market.

You are trying to hedge your bets, but unfortunately, house purchase doesn't work like that.

AndyT678

sleepymans wrote: »

I'd imagine the survey will cost several £000.

Unless you're buying a 12 bed manor house, rein in your imagination a bit.

And just do them both together; either could throw up issues.

ACG

I always advise clients to wait until the survey comes back.

If there are problems with it then you have wasted money on searches.

Some clients ignore that in order to speed it up, others follow it. Ultimately its your decision and a lot will come down to whether you want to protect that few hundred quid as much as possible - im one of those people.

sleepymans

AndyT678 wrote: »

Unless you're buying a 12 bed manor house, rein in your imagination a bit.

And just do them both together; either could throw up issues.

oops, yes, I meant a survey would cost £hundreds (not thousands!)

sleepymans

phill99 wrote: »

If you are not willing to have them all done at the same time, it shows you are not that interested in buying the property. If I were the vendor, I would kick you in to touch and put it back on the market.


errrrrr??? Wow...jumping to conclusions a bit there, I think!

and
You are trying to hedge your bets, but unfortunately, house purchase doesn't work like that.

again, no, you are wrong....I just dont want to spend several hundred pounds possibly unnecessarily. Also the location I am moving to is not exactly a property market hotspot, so there really is no hurry. I have found in the past its the mortgage provider thats the slowest piece of the purchasing process and that doesnt apply to this transaction.

sleepymans

ACG wrote: »

I always advise clients to wait until the survey comes back.

If there are problems with it then you have wasted money on searches.

Some clients ignore that in order to speed it up, others follow it. Ultimately its your decision and a lot will come down to whether you want to protect that few hundred quid as much as possible - im one of those people.

Thanks for your input AGC - My instinct was telling me survey first......:)

sleepymans

ognum wrote: »

IMO, this is the reason that house sales take so long, a month each for survey and searched instead of just getting on with it and doing them at the same time.

You may well be right, but I'm not rushing headlong into a £250k investment, throwing caution to the wind. There really is no great hurry.... its not like London property market!;)

vansboy

I've just asked the searches to be held off for the time being, until I get a response from the freeholders management company (actually the residents formed this) regarding the cracks in the walls of the flat I'm buying.

I've not had an actual survey carried out, as i intend to refurbish totally, anyway.

VB