Should you organise survey through lender?

GoldenShadow

We are thinking of going for a full structural survey. My broker said that it's probably best to get it done separately to the lender's valuation, as sometimes it's cheaper to do it this way and there is no need for the lender to do more than the valuation for their own satisfaction etc.

Is this usual? I've been seeing posts on here about lenders doing surveys and am new to all this so not sure of the advantages and disadvantages of all of it. Should I ask my conveyancer if he has any recommendations on who to approach for a structural survey if we do it this way?

Broker also said let lender do valuation (providing we get that far) before structural survey in case the lender's valuation throws up issues to save wasting more cash which seems sensible. Any major faux pas to doing this?

Thanks

stator

I agree with your broker.

Wait for the valuation to confirm the house is okay and then arrange your own building survey.
You can chose whoever you want and negotiate the price. But one of the advantages is that the report he produces is entirely for you and you don't have to share it with anyone. If your lender organises the home buyer's report or survey they will get to see it too and may not offer you the mortgage because of some minor issue. For example the surveyor may say that you should check who's responsible for a retaining wall and recommend that your solicitor looks into it and once your solicitor looks into it they might not allow you to proceed until the issue is resolved. Whereas if the survey is just for you, you can decide if the retaining wall is really important or not.

I think I chose one using quotes obtained via ReallyMoving.com, but it's one of those websites where companies pay to give you a quote, so you end up with 4 or 5 quotes and maybe they will phone you. You can also see other people's reviews, but I don't know how reliable they are

GoldenShadow

Wonderfully useful reply, thank you. Nicely filled in the blanks I think I was missing.

Hoploz

Got everything from stator, but just to add that often the banks don't offer a full survey. Ours said they only offer the valuation or the homebuyers, if we had wanted a full survey we would have had to organise it separately anyway.

Some years ago I used a site called local surveyors direct or something similar. When I entered my details it gave lots of quotes from surveyors who could do it, and and I chose the one I wanted

gazter

Yes. We got a full survey done from a quote from really moving. It kept us in control. He pointed a few things put, and decided not to renegotiate based on it. The bank though could have insisted that work was done before exchange.

csgohan4

Agree with all above, I also used reallymoving and the company we used was good, awaiting building survey, glad I didn't get it done through the lender, even though it's 70 pounds more expensive.

kingstreet

Lender surveyors have limited numbers of individuals who can do a full building survey, so combining this with the valuation may mean your valuation takes longer and you see a delayed mortgage offer.

I always suggest buyers contract their own chosen surveyor and separate it from the mortgage process to avoid unnecessary delays.

... and as Hoploz says, most lenders now only permit their surveyors to go as far as offering homebuyers reports.