Building survey advice

RachaelF

I'm currently in the process of buying a house which was built in 1938 in Gilesgate, Durham.

I was just going to get a home buyer's report, however I agreed to a buildings survey as the surveyor was insistent, costing £500.

Today I received a call from the surveyor telling me the findings of his report. There are several things that need doing in order to get the house up to standard, at lot of which I was aware about and am happy to fix as I believe these were reflected in the offer accepted.

Anyway the surveyor is fully insistent on me paying extra for a heave or shale test. He says the floors are uneven which could indicate that heave is present and he said something else about chemical reactions which he doesn't know if this will lead to the whole downstairs having to be ripped up so they can sort out the foundations. He doesn't know if this is the case or not, he's just telling me the worst possible scenario I guess.

My concern is that he's gone in there thinking he'd find heave, as he mentioned it several times on the phone and then he's done the survey and he's still saying he doesn't know if it's there or not, but I have to spend another £300 to find out.

Does anyone know anything about this and if so would you recommend me getting a one of these tests or do you think it is an unnecessary expense?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated! 😊

AndyTails

Your surveyor should advise things, not insist on them. By the sounds of it your surveyor has found that by being insistent he can get clients to spend more on surveys, hence creating more work and more income for him.


Ditch your surveyor.


I won't profess to being an expert on heave (I'm a structural engineer, but with experience of bridge deck design rather than any sort of foundation) but I've never heard of a "heave test" or a "shale test". Your surveyor may have made these up in order to try and get more money, but I'm really not sure.


If you're worried, I would recommend talking to another local surveyor and see what they say. If your original surveyor is talking rubbish they may want to raise it with RICS. (Your original surveyor is chartered with RICS, right?)