Survey advice please

redbabe

I am a FTB in the process of buying a house. Once bought one of things I'd want to do would be extend the kitchen into the outhouse which adjoins it. The outhouse looks to me to be in good condition (same condition as the house anyway) its also got electricity and water plumbed for a washing machine hence the idea to extend. However I am just a normal person and know nothing about building etc

The surveyor is going round on Friday and one of my colleagues has suggested getting them to check the outhouse to see if its suitable for an extension. Do they do this? I'm getting a Homebuyers Report using Nationwide's (mortgage lenders) surveyor so if I ask them to look at the outhouse (if they will do it) will it cost me more money?


Thanks

ono_no_komachi

Definitely contact the surveyor and ask if they can do this for you. They may want to make a nominal extra charge, or they may just include it in the service they are already providing to you. To my mind it's a bit like specifically asking them to look at a potential problem you have noticed on viewing, which you are definitely allowed to do (in fact I would say it's advisable to do so).

If the surveyor is reluctant to look at this specific issue, you could ask a local builder to give you a quote for the work. Our purchasers did this in relation to a loft conversion before we agreed a price (clearly it did not affect what the house was worth but may have affected the affordability for them.) If your vendors are the co-operative type you may be able to go to the house when the builder is there for the quotation and then you could discuss with the builder how suitable the outhouse is for what you want to do with it.