Surveys

JC_Derby

Please can you advise...
10 years since we moved here and are in the process of selling and moving again.
Our mortgage company (NatWest) have charged us £350 for a survey...now our conveyancing company are saying that that survey is only really for a valuation of the property to see if acceptable to offer the mortgage amount on.
Now I know the conveyancing company works for the estate agent.. and the were pushing to get us to do everything through them.


What id like to know is actually is the natwests survey going to be considerably different to that of the conveyancing one?

Kynthia

Whenever you buy a property you have to pay for the lender to have a valuation of the property. Thry will then decide if the property is worth what you are paying in order to assess their risk, and use that in part of their decision making in whether to give you a mortgage.

If you want a survey to assess the condition of the property then you can see whether you can get the person doing the valuation to upgrade to a home buyers or structural survey for a price. Or you can wait until your mortgage offer arrives and then find a local surveyor to go around.

Your conveyancer and the seller's estate agent have nothing to do with whether you get a survey and they have nothing to do with which mortgage lender you go through. The mortgage lender also needs a conveyancer to do some work for them, usually the one you have chosen for yourself is fine if they are on their panel, and you pay for this too. The estate agent works for the seller, the conveyancer should work for you and the mortgage lender works for themselves and you are hoping to use their service.

keith969

Err what 'conveyancing' one?

The lender requires a survey to ensure that the property is worth what they're lending. It won't go into a great deal of detail.

You might want to have your own survey carried out. But that's entirely up to you, as is who you choose to have carry it out.

AnotherJoe

There are two types of survey, one that vaguely establishes the value of the property and is for the mortgage company, the second type, which comes in a variety of forms, is about telling you what's wrong with the property. Depending how you spend will determine how thorough that second type of survey is. Though IME the surveys I've had have been so full of caveats as to be useless and they will advise you to spend more money on multiple specialist surveys such a s gas, electric central heating etc.

Sometimes you can combine the lenders survey with the second type, by paying more, in theory that will save money over two separate ones.

The last house I bought I went with a friend who has a lot of experience renovating houses and did a "self survey". Much better value and just as much come back as one that says "unable to lift carpets so cannot comment on damp in floor" etc etc.

JC_Derby

the £352 is a standard valuation fee for the NatWest...
which has been pre taken...should we give serious consideration to the home buyers report £586 or buildings survey which is £874..
or go for the conveyancers stuff.....which seems much the same


ive read this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1679441


and pondering going for the homebuyers now

Hoploz

There is no such thing as going with the conveyancing one/conveyancers stuff.

Conveyancing is the legal paperwork, often done by a solicitor. Conveyancing does not give you detail of the condition of the house you're buying, it is the paperwork side.

You can arrange a survey if you want one (could be done at the same time as the valuation if the lender offers the upgrade, or you can arrange your own separately) There are different levels of detail from surveys, either Homebuyers or structural/building survey. Whichever you choose, or indeed whether you get one at all over and above the lender's valuation, depends on your own preference/attitude to risk.

Chanes

We had a building survey on one property which was 27 years old and it was a big mistake (some of the rubbish that filled out building report was needless because there wasn't much wrong at all it was a young house comparatively!) it cost £850 and all that we really needed was a home-buyers report, and that is what we chose on the house we bought which is 25 years old. And that homebuyers report cost much less (can't remember) and had a traffic light system to draw attention instead of a novel explaining construction to pad out the building report.

If the house is old or unusual I would get a building report but a new (ish) house might not need it. Your choice because it's your money and your risk.

ajp1309

The £350 will be for the valuation to see if the property is worth the money lending. We wanted a full building survey doing on the property we are buying due to some cracks we noticed. So we upgraded the survey through Natwest. However we could of hired a local surveyor for around the same price.
Its up to you if you want a more detailed survey. We wanted to make sure we knew any issues before we bought, as our property needs renovation and didnt need any structual issues arising aswell.

G_M

Read

http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/consumer-guides/home-surveys/

JC_Derby

Hoploz wrote: »

There is no such thing as going with the conveyancing one/conveyancers stuff.

Conveyancing is the legal paperwork, often done by a solicitor. Conveyancing does not give you detail of the condition of the house you're buying, it is the paperwork side.

You can arrange a survey if you want one (could be done at the same time as the valuation if the lender offers the upgrade, or you can arrange your own separately) There are different levels of detail from surveys, either Homebuyers or structural/building survey. Whichever you choose, or indeed whether you get one at all over and above the lender's valuation, depends on your own preference/attitude to risk.

Thanks for this, was in a rush to write my post before I went out with family for the day. The conveyancing firm are pressing to arrange a survey..obviously as they would get paid for that too