Survey - Is it Necessary?

todaymorning

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Perhaps because the £500 survey will be full of caveats, won't examine anything really key such as RSJs or structural stability, and thus practically worthless ?

The question I have for the OP is, what did your friends and builder say ? Did they suggest that a full survey was neeeded, or did they all say it seemed OK to them? Is there anything that is worrying you that you've seen, or are you just worried because you are a FTB? My first propert I may as well have burned the money I spent on the survey, at least it would have warmed me up.

No, both suggested survey wasnt needed. A good friend who owns few properties had a good look (not thorough such as checking roof etc) and the builder who looked into it too felt a thorough survey wasn't required. The recommendation is that wiring/plumbing needs to be done since its an old house and last modified was in 1980. I am just worried as FTB - i guess the various fear kicks in.

todaymorning

SparksAlive wrote: »

I paid £200 for a Homebuyers survey, which is the step above a basic valuation and the step below a full structural survey. I figured I didn't need the full structural one as there was nothing to suggest the house was in danger of having serious issues, but the Homebuyers survey did pick up some things I wouldn't have spotted like that the extractor fan in the bathroom doesn't work (£80 to fix) and the fuse box is seriously outdated and needs replacing (£350), plus some other minor things like a sticking hinge on the back door, and a hole in the roof lining.


It's a couple of hundred that gives me peace of mind that these are the only real expenditures I should have to make on the house in the near future. If it had picked up anything more expensive (there was a potential for damp in the bathroom for example, though it came to nothing) then I could have used that information to negotiate on the price a little. So it never hurts to know.

£200?? Wow if i can get that, it'd be great. any contacts from RICs quoting £500 onwards.

somethingcorporate

Is RICs the full structural?

Home buyers is usually £2-300 more than the basic valuation.

Surrey_EA

todaymorning wrote: »

£200?? Wow if i can get that, it'd be great. any contacts from RICs quoting £500 onwards.

That does sound unusually cheap.

todaymorning

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Is RICs the full structural?

Home buyers is usually £2-300 more than the basic valuation.

No contacts on RICs (at least in my area) provides £500 + VAT for homebuyers survey and £700 + VAT for structural.

AnotherJoe

SparksAlive wrote: »

I paid £200 for a Homebuyers survey, which is the step above a basic valuation and the step below a full structural survey. I figured I didn't need the full structural one as there was nothing to suggest the house was in danger of having serious issues, but the Homebuyers survey did pick up some things I wouldn't have spotted like that the extractor fan in the bathroom doesn't work (£80 to fix) and the fuse box is seriously outdated and needs replacing (£350), plus some other minor things like a sticking hinge on the back door, and a hole in the roof lining.


It's a couple of hundred that gives me peace of mind that these are the only real expenditures I should have to make on the house in the near future. If it had picked up anything more expensive (there was a potential for damp in the bathroom for example, though it came to nothing) then I could have used that information to negotiate on the price a little. So it never hurts to know.

Thats a peace of mind of the blissfully unaware, since there may well be something very expensive that the survey didn't spot. For example, you say the fusebox is old. (a) thats something you could have spotted yourself with a Mk 1 eyeball at a cost of zero, and (2) perhaps that indicates the house needs a rewire, at a cost of several thousand. Was that mentioned?

AlexMac

Lots of good advice, above, and you've probably made your mind up now, but for what its worth, I have never bothered with a survey (other than the lender's valuation) in any of my dozen or so purchases over 40-odd years...

... and I've never had a problem. We knew a couple of them were wrecks, but that simply meant new roof/wiring/plumbing. Structural collapse is only likely if there's been significant subsidence or unauthorised major building modifications, and these tend to be obvious. Most of them were 100+ years old (one over 300 years!) and older buildings tend to be very "forgiving".

On the other hand, friends who DID have a full survey found rampant dry rot coursing through brickwork, structural roof and floor timbers only a year or two later and had to move out for six months. They got no joy from the surveyor's indemnity either due to the insidious caveats. So unlucky or what?!