Buying without a survey?

MacMickster

I have always seen the survey as a fantastic negotiating tool to get a further reduction in price.

"Look at all of these (potential) problems that I wasn't aware of when I made my initial offer. I now want to reduce my offer by £XXX". In most cases the survey will more than pay for itself.

Sianybaby82

I had a home buyers report carried out on a property I planned to purchase. The report noted things that I hadn't on my first viewing including a sagging roof, extensive damp and asbestos. I went and had a second look and decided to appoint a damp and timber specialist.

From this, the costs to treat the damp would have been about 3K, the roof had two broken timbers but could be repaired. This survey also raised a possible structural issue (red ash) that had been missed by the home buyers report due to uneven flooring. I requested the vendor to pay for a test on the floor - this came back as positive and would have required significant expenditure and as a result I withdrew from the purchase.

If I hadn't had the surveys, I wouldn't have known.

ele26

Hello all,

we are first time buyers and we are wondering the same. The house that we are looking to buy is only 5 years old and it is still under building guarantee. Does it worth having a survey? I asked to have another view at the house and my partner is a plumber so he can pick up things around plumbing and general problems. Should we risk it?

AnotherJoe

ele26 wrote: »

Hello all,

we are first time buyers and we are wondering the same. The house that we are looking to buy is only 5 years old and it is still under building guarantee. Does it worth having a survey? I asked to have another view at the house and my partner is a plumber so he can pick up things around plumbing and general problems. Should we risk it?

No, and yes, in that order.

anotheruser

I'm surprised many are saying don't bother.

I was a FTB and paid to have the Homebuyers Survey.

Did I think it was value for money? No.
Would I look to have another one done next time? No.
But then I am slightly biased as the house was valued at exactly what we paid. There was no negotiation - no nothing.

But then I am considered reckless as I don't have critical illness cover. Don't have breakdown cover. Don't have mobile phone insurance. No pet insurance either...

wantonnoodle

We had a family member (uncle) who is a retired surveyor look over the house we're looking at buying. This was the day before valuation. He spotted that the roof needed recovering (its the original 1920s roof) and had suspicions about the lintel above the patio doors.

The valuation report picked up on a couple of things that he was unable to check, but mostly they were in line. The mortgage company then insisted we get a structural survey and a cavity wall tie and lintel inspection as they suspect subsidence and cavity wall tie failure.

These have just come back. Needless to say, the subsidence is historic and not a problem, however, the wall tie and lintel survey was not quite so good news; there are 3 lintels that need replacing and several wall ties are either missing or close to failure, so the recommendation is that secondary wall ties are added. This is all now being fed back to the mortgage company for them to review.

These surveys, while not through choice, have certainly proved their value. The valuers did pick up on the issue of the roof needing recovering but only had it down as a minor(!!) issue. As such, we now know that the house would need work in the order of £10,000 if we were to go through with it. We were not fully aware of this work needing doing as the house didn't look any more out of line than you'd expect for a 1920s building, so it now gives us some strong negotiating tools to try and get the price reduced accordingly, or make a decision whether to walk away or suck it up if they don't. At the very least, we are going into this with our eyes wide open.

So, I would recommend getting the valuation done, then seeing from there if you want a survey - indeed you may have no choice.

AnotherJoe

anotheruser wrote: »

But then I am considered reckless as I don't have critical illness cover. Don't have breakdown cover. Don't have mobile phone insurance. No pet insurance either...

Do you have a pet?