Should I get an independent home survey done for a property in Scotland

JonMitchell

Hi folks

Sorry for so many posts in one day! My remortgage offer for my property, in South East, just came through and the capital I raised is to purchase a property up in Scotland, for an offer that was accepted this week, outright purchase of the property in Scotland. While I have a small mortgage here in South East.

Ignoring the Brexit issues at the moment, I have few issues:

1.) It was my first time buying a property in Scotland and was not sure 100% of the procedure. I do know the bidding process, closing dates etc. But the property I put in an offer this Monday, I did not had a chance to view it in person due to work commitment. I was under the assumption that I could view the house again once offer was accepted (sorry this is a repeat from my last post). Won't be able to view the property again as many had suggested until completion, which is a bumper really, though I have possibly myself to blame + my solicitor up in Scotland.

2.) Home report - should I rely on the seller's home report to go through the process or am I allow to instruct the solicitor in Scotland to inform the seller that I wish to have another survey done before buying the property outright with my raised capital, in cash? For some reason, I don't seems to trust the home report that the seller had provided, looks more like a copy and paste.

The last thing I want is to open up a can of worms if I proceed any further.

Lesson for me, do more homework in future for uncharted territory!!!

Owain_Moneysaver

When you say your offer has been accepted, if you mean that missives have been concluded then there is no room for negotiation or withdrawal.

The home report is prepared by a qualified surveyor and you can rely on it to the extent of the limitations of the report, but they are prepared to a standard protocol and can be very formulaic. You can of course tell your solicitor to arrange another survey, but the vendor does not have to allow access.

For most 'standard' types and value of domestic property the home report single survey is usually considered adequate.

davidmcn

1. No matter what country you're buying in, it's a bit odd to submit offers on properties which you haven't even seen, isn't it? You said in your other thread that your only concern was carrying out measurements - and as I said, you should be able to do that once you've concluded missives, and before completion of your purchase. Or do you have another problem?

2. The norm is for purchasers to rely on the Home Report - that's the point of it, rather than the old system where purchasers would get their own survey before submitting an offer. As I said in your other thread, if you wanted your own additional survey, you should have made your offer conditional on that. Your purchaser might be prepared to put up with you now asking for a survey, but it's likely to cause some concerns about what you're up to.

JonMitchell

Thanks for your responses

Owain - it's just the beginning stage of offer being accepted, missive is still quite a way ahead. According to the home report, the property was built around 1900's, thus one of the primary reason I was asking if I should get another independent survey done.

Davidmcn - there is no other issues I have or cynicism that I might have been portrayed with, the property being built in 1900's near quite a bit of updating and all I was asking was a 2nd viewing for measurements (although I did not go to the first due to work committment and location. Have said several times its down to me not getting enough homework done for properties in Scotland in my other posts, so blaming no one nor am I taking any bites of me having ulterior motives).

I am now more incline to see if another survey + measurements may be done before signing the missive. If there are anymore constructive advises, thats greatly appreciated.

Thanks folks

davidmcn

Was your offer conditional on anything? If not then you could find the buyer sending you a straight acceptance, and then you're in a contract. Doesn't often happen, as they usually find something which they want to qualify, but it's possible. So if it's important that you're not immediately bound into buying, you may need to get your solicitor to withdraw your offer in order to protect your position. Which is likely to upset the sellers, though asking for a survey or additional viewings now may also make them suspect that you're looking for excuses to chip away at the price, and that they ought to be speaking to the other bidders.

JonMitchell

Hi Davidmcn - thanks for the note. The offer that I put into the bidding on this past Monday was without any conditions. If only I had done my homework better (including conditions) and if the Scottish solicitor had informed me earlier, then I won't have to land myself at this awkward situation at the moment.

No I'm not bound in anyway to buy that house as I've told the solicitor that I will only proceed when my remortgage for my house in South East has been offered (received a remortgage offer for my property in South East so I can release some capital to purchase the one up in Scotland). So at the moment, since Monday, nothing had progressed as yet.

No I'm not into gazumping with and after the 2nd viewing, if that is possible. I'm sure in England, 2nd viewings are a common thing.

davidmcn

JonMitchell wrote: »

The offer that I put into the bidding on this past Monday was without any conditions.

...
I've told the solicitor that I will only proceed when my remortgage for my house in South East has been offered

In which case I hope that your offer was conditional on that, unless you're happy to take the risk of unconditional missives being concluded (and it doesn't sound like you are!).

jennifernil

I am surprised the solicitor agreed to put in your offer if you do not have finance in place.

Missives are usually completed quite quickly, delaying tactics will not be appreciated by the vendor.

Even though your offer has been submitted and accepted, you are not bound to proceed, but you should not deliberately delay the process, it's just not the way we operate up here.

Best to either get on with it or withdraw without delay.

The time for second viewings is before submitting an offer, but as others have said, you can request a visit to take measurements once the missives are concluded.

JonMitchell

@Jennifernil - thank you for your advise, greatly appreciated.

Not sure where and which part in my posts did you see my finance not in place? FYI, I have stated my remortgage offer and not AIP/DIP (in my earlier posts), came through the other night. Again FYI, the offer was only put in and accepted on 27th June 2016! Not sure what gives you the impression that I'm playing tactics........definitely no need for any cold shoulder.

I do appreciate there is a different way of process up in Scotland and never in my posts that I've stated I am playing delay tactics.......

There is no need to snub people off by asking questions, be it I might be just a new noobie buying a property in Scotland.

Have you seen a Missive completed in 4days?? Counting from 27th June 2016.

jennifernil

JonMitchell wrote: »

No I'm not bound in anyway to buy that house as I've told the solicitor that I will only proceed when my remortgage for my house in South East has been offered (received a remortgage offer for my property in South East so I can release some capital to purchase the one up in Scotland). So at the moment, since Monday, nothing had progressed as yet.

This bit from your post above makes it sound like your offer was submitted before you had finance in place.

JonMitchell

AIP was in placed almost a month ago, while I started the remortgage full process previously, I don't see any problem in that or have I done something wrong illegally to be accepted in Scotland?

Do people then buy property in Scotland with outright cash or houses? No everyone has a pile of gold in their garden sheds.