Structural Survey Refund

anthonyharrison

Hello everyone,

I had a full structural survey undertaken on a property I was purchasing this time last year.

I did not end up buying the property but it has since transpired it sold a month later for 20K less than I had agreed to pay because the new owners surveyor detected subsidence, which my surveyor did not.

In short, I paid £900 for a comprehensive service that failed to detect a major structural problem.

Am I entitled to a refund and if so how should I best approach it?

The only problem is that I have no evidence that the property has subsidence other than the word of the Agents at Your Move.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

davidmcn

anthonyharrison wrote: »

The only problem is that I have no evidence that the property has subsidence other than the word of the Agents at Your Move.

I think this answers your question. Otherwise your only alternative would be to get a second opinion from another surveyor, which would (at least initially) cost the same again, and I doubt the purchaser will be keen to allow another survey to take place.

maninthestreet

You decided not to buy the property after the survey, so what loss did you suffer??

Miss_Samantha

The survey did not flag any issue and you did not buy the property.

Why would you be entitled to a refund?

dc197

It's possible that the subsidence occurred after your survey.

The only way you'll be able to even start complaining is if you can get hold of the survey from the current owners. Even then, though, it probably won't be valid because it was not prepared for you. So you'd have two documents which disagree but only one of which is valid when you hold them both, so you'd still not be able to compare. That's a sucky thing about surveys.

Unless my first sentence applies, it sounds like your surveyor was not not very competent, or perhaps took a bung from the previous owners to "miss" the issue.
Can you share their name so I can avoid them? You could PM me if you prefer not to go public.

davidmcn

dc197 wrote: »

Unless my first sentence applies, it sounds like your surveyor was not not very competent, or perhaps took a bung from the previous owners to "miss" the issue.

Or the purchaser's surveyor is not very competent and has spotted subsidence which doesn't exist.

anthonyharrison

maninthestreet wrote: »

You decided not to buy the property after the survey, so what loss did you suffer??

There is no loss as such, just trying to recoup costs where possible as the recommended surveying company bundled with the mortgage for the new place I'm interested in is the same one that failed to detect the subsidence on the last property.

I would like them to know they messed up in the hope that the next survey will be free of charge, and undertaken by a different surveyor.

anthonyharrison

davidmcn wrote: »

I think this answers your question. Otherwise your only alternative would be to get a second opinion from another surveyor, which would (at least initially) cost the same again, and I doubt the purchaser will be keen to allow another survey to take place.

I agree, however, they live pretty close so I guess I could drop a note through their letterbox with my number and take it from there.

anthonyharrison

davidmcn wrote: »

Or the purchaser's surveyor is not very competent and has spotted subsidence which doesn't exist.

That could well be true but seems unlikely.

anthonyharrison

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

The survey did not flag any issue and you did not buy the property.

Why would you be entitled to a refund?

I'm not assuming that I am entitled to a refund, I'm just wondering whether I could be because it would appear a big mistake has gone undetected and I would like it to be acknowledged.

Also, my mortgage company is recommending the same surveyors again. Thinking I might be able to negotiate a free survey next time.

anthonyharrison

dc197 wrote: »

It's possible that the subsidence occurred after your survey.

The only way you'll be able to even start complaining is if you can get hold of the survey from the current owners. Even then, though, it probably won't be valid because it was not prepared for you. So you'd have two documents which disagree but only one of which is valid when you hold them both, so you'd still not be able to compare. That's a sucky thing about surveys.

Unless my first sentence applies, it sounds like your surveyor was not not very competent, or perhaps took a bung from the previous owners to "miss" the issue.
Can you share their name so I can avoid them? You could PM me if you prefer not to go public.

Hi, I have considered contacting the owners but now you said it wouldn't matter even if I had a copy of their survey (as it wasn't prepared for me) I think I might just have to let this go. Thanks for your input though.