Choosing a surveyor -

highjewelgreen

Morning all,

Daft question but how do you choose a surveyor. I need a homeowners survey done. I have had a google and found the website:

http://www.rics.org/uk/

Are all surveyors the same? Or should I be looking for something specific?

Thanks in advance.

kleapatra

If you're getting a mortgage you will have a valuation done by a surveyor, I think you just 'upgrade' that to a homebuyers survey and pay the extra on top of the valuation fee. If not - just google one in your area - they all do the same survey!

BlaEm

I'd definitely suggest using someone local to the area where the property is located - have a look on http://www.ricsfirms.com/
Give a few people a call to get quotes, you can ask them directly if they've surveyed any similar properties in the area.
Best of luck.

stator

On the website reallymoving.com you can get a few quotes and see reviews from other customers. But this is a 'pay for listing' website, so it's not entirely impartial. The surveyors pay a few pounds to be included in your search results. If you do it again you might get other surveyors.

Yell.com also have listings and sometimes people post reviews on there.

highjewelgreen

Thanks all,

We are getting our mortgage through Santander and I asked if they recommended anyone but no they don't.

Am I right in thinking that as long as the are on the RICS website then they are all as qualified and insured etc as the others?

GoldenShadow

I got quotes from reallymoving too. I had budgeted £500 and we are paying £295. The guy has 4.8/5 or something out of 80+ reviews and is not VAT registered hence is cheaper than some of the others.

Mine sent through RICS info and Ts and Cs which included explaining the differences between surveys and such when I instructed.

I was advised (by broker) not to do homebuyers via lender as if they are unhappy with something they might not lend the full amount or put a retention on, but if we instruct someone ourselves the report is our property so we don't need to share it with the lender to base their valuation on etc.

stator

highjewelgreen wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that as long as the are on the RICS website then they are all as qualified and insured etc as the others?

Unfortunately the RICS leaves it up to their members to decide what type of building surveying they are qualified to do. So anyone who is RICS registered can offer to do home buy reports or structural surveys in areas they might not have any formal training in.
The best bet is to look at reviews.

cloo

Choose someone well established locally who'll know the ins and outs of all local building styles well, I'd say. They'll be more clued up on stuff like flood risks etc.