Incorrect report by Surveyor

vnmd

PhilE wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your fathers loss, and I believe some posters on this thread should have more sympathy, or be silent.

You've asked for one type of survey and were given another. Also, in my experience a surveyor doing the homebuyers will notice and comment on cracks. The surveyor has been negligent, have a chat with citizens advice.

In the meantime, get yourself a good surveyor to do the full structural survey. Follow his/her recommendations and pass the observations on to the builder.

Small cracks dont necessarily mean a serious problem, a bit of movement in a house is to be expected.

The drains being clear is a good sign, make sure that your gutters are cleaned, in good working order and all rainwater is flowing to a drain or soak away some distance from the house, and not not near your foundations.

Hi PhilE,thanks for such a consierate reply. Yes, It was a hard time as I had to manage so many things at a time. Well thats life ! Yes, I am aware that the cracks maynot be a subsidence problem and I am certainly hoping for that. The thing I am worried about is the slope in the living room. Good advice on soak away, they are about 5 metre away from the home.

There is also a damp I noticed upstairs which was not caught by the Surveyor, which is in the same room where I saw the crack. This particular crack was hidden behind wallpaper.

G_M

What does drains are 'clear' mean? No blockages? That does not mean no leaks.... and leaks near the foundations can lead to subsidence.....

However if 'clear' means the CCTV inspected for leaks as well as blockages, and there were none, then that's OK.

Up to you which way you go. Either

* write to surveyor with formal complaint and see what response you get. They may come up with an offer you like, but I doubt it. Trouble is at this stage you still haven't really pinned down the issues

* pay for a new report and thencomplain enclosing he new report

I don't see that you need a solicitor, certainly not yet.

vnmd

G_M wrote: »

What does drains are 'clear' mean? No blockages? That does not mean no leaks.... and leaks near the foundations can lead to subsidence.....

However if 'clear' means the CCTV inspected for leaks as well as blockages, and there were none, then that's OK.

Up to you which way you go. Either

* write to surveyor with formal complaint and see what response you get. They may come up with an offer you like, but I doubt it. Trouble is at this stage you still haven't really pinned down the issues

* pay for a new report and thencomplain enclosing he new report

I don't see that you need a solicitor, certainly not yet.

Yes, no leakages.

NeilCr

Hmm

Totally agree that OP should have got what they paid for

Having said that the initial post says that the surveyor said there were no cracks. In post #9 it's now no significant cracks. So it may be down to interpretation - and, of course, there is the possibility the builders"noticing" faulty brickwork could have been a ploy

Not saying it is - like others, it would seem that a second opinion is the best way to go

Davesnave

vnmd wrote: »

I paid for a Full Building Survey and got Home Buyer's report from them!. I have emails instructing them for full building survey. I just cant believe that they can do this !

That's good enough evidence, I'd imagine, that you requested and paid for a service that wasn't provided.

As others are saying, you now need another report confirming what's wrong and an opinion on whether it should have been observed by the first surveyor.

You might also need the services of a structural engineer, but one step at a time.

vivatifosi

We booked and paid for a full structural survey of our house but after we moved in, realised it was in fact a homebuyers report (complicated by the fact it did not say either on the report).

Fortunately we do not have serious issues, nevertheless we did have a number of issues that were not picked up, due to the wrong kind of survey.

To put these things right in our house were judged at the time to be £4,500; however the price awarded is the estimated difference between the price paid and the price that would have been paid had a buyer known (judged to be about 1/3rd to 1/2 of the difference.

This is by going through the surveyors dispute scheme. We also got a second survey that we paid for. I think that the cost of their survey was refunded but this is about 10 years ago so I can't recall the full details. However as your case is similar I thought I should mention. I did not appoint a lawyer but did use the services of Which? Legal. The nature of my case though meant that I had access to the small claims channel and I'm not sure if yours may be too large. They settled before going to court.

vnmd

That is very helpful vivatifosi. How was the valuation number arrived at? By the arbitrator?