Newish house and surveys

RenStar

Evening all,

we're in the process of buying a newish built house. When we had the offer accepted and set about arranging the mortgage, we asked the EA when the property was built and they said in 2000 and that it still had a new homes guarantee on it. We sought some advice from our broker about the type of survey to get and if we needed anything over and above the lenders basic valuation and she said it'd be a waste of money as the property was still under warranty. So we paid for the lenders valuation and today we got a copy of the report. Under year of construction, it states approximately 1997 which means it is out of the new homes guarantee. I am now wondering if it's too late and whether we should get a homebuyers survey done. The property *looked* in good condition when we viewed it, nothing was amis which made us think we needed to know more but it is a huge purchase (198K) and obviously we don't want any nast surprises. At the same time, money is very tight at the moment so I will be gutted if we shell out for a survey and it's not necessary. Please help, should we or shouldn't we?

Thanks.

Ren

Doozergirl

How does you lender know when it was built? The valuer is probably guessing.

Your solicitor will have the priginal deeds by now and they will know when the property first changed hands. They should be asking for a copy of the NHBC policy from your vendor. If they don't have the policy, they can phone up and pay for a copy. Think it's £15.

RenStar

Thanks Doozergirl.

I don't know how the lender knows tbh, my broker put on our mortgage application that the property was built in 2000 and there was still a guarantee left on which our solicitors will have to ascertain. Is it normal practice for the valuers to guess year of construction? If so should I hold off instructing my own survey until I speak to my solicitors about getting a copy of the NHBC policy first? Would it be wise to get homebuyers survey anyway? Sorry, so many questions but I'm just very anxious about making a mistake.

Ren

Doozergirl

I think valuers put an estimate, yes. There is often a box to be filled in on reports I've seen. There is no real need for a valuer to know the sepcific year.

I can't really offer advice on whether you should or shouldn't have a survey but...

Personally, I wouldn't bother. You know the roof, windows, electrics, plumbing, damp proof course are likely to be sound because they are still new. A survey doesn't offer you a guarantee that the house is structurally sound, but NHBC does. If you think something doesn't look right, you'd be better off asking the specific tradesperson to look at it. It's hardly likely that everything is failing

RenStar

Okay, thanks. I think I will speak to my solicitors tomorrow to check actaul year of construction from the deeds and whether it does/doesn't have NHBC warranty still left. I will seek further advice after that.

marybishop

Sorry to put a spanner in the works but don't assume that because a house is fairly new it has been built to a good standard. We do surveys for clients who are buying new builds and they have pulled out on the results of the survey - one didn't have any form of warranty so don't assume that it will. A house is a big outlay so for piece of mind I would say get a survey done. If it shows nothing untoward then at least you know you won't get any nasty surprises!

RenStar

marybishop wrote: »

Sorry to put a spanner in the works but don't assume that because a house is fairly new it has been built to a good standard. We do surveys for clients who are buying new builds and they have pulled out on the results of the survey - one didn't have any form of warranty so don't assume that it will. A house is a big outlay so for piece of mind I would say get a survey done. If it shows nothing untoward then at least you know you won't get any nasty surprises!

Thanks for that, I appreciate it. My husband and I talked it through last night and pretty much decided the same thing. £350 is not a huge sum of money for peace of mind for the what is undoubtedly going to be the biggest purchase of our lives.